Equality Under The Law Gonchar Analysis

Improved Essays
In the article, “Equality under the Law? Investigation Race and the Justice System,” by Michael Gonchar, he states that under the fourteenth amendment all human beings should be treated equally, but there has been proof that contradicts that right. The theory that we can fit into this article is social conflict theory. Social conflict theory refers to the imbalance of equality. An environment where the rich and powerful benefit more than the poor because of segregation of class, race, gender created by institutions. We believe that the author has made an argument that supports social conflict theory because there are a variety of Times articles that examine how our system treats black citizens and minorities in comparison to white citizens. …show more content…
Undocumented workers are taken advantage of by being put into some of the most labor intensive jobs. In the Yakima Valley, we notice this occurs to a lot of Hispanic workers who need to make an income for their families. The landowners, are aware that they are not documented and often times use their power of authority to retain them for minimum pay. The mindsets of those in power consists of “they are better off now than they were before.” All of our parents have migrated from different countries in search of a better life, but because of lack of education, they are forced to work in the fields to be able to provide for our families. Our parents have experienced harsh conditions as lack of restrooms, no lunch breaks, dehydration from the exposure to the sun, as well as a demand for longer working hours in a day. Hispanics are taken advantage for their labor which is worth a lot more than they are being paid. The fourteenth amendment was designed to provide all American citizens the equity among people. People who are rich and powerful are able to provide their children with the education so that they can stay in …show more content…
Within the education system principals of Hispanic, African America, and Native American cultures receive a lower pay than white principals. We have noticed that before in history after Brown vs. Board of Education, school systems in the United States are still separate and unequal. For example, doing our last group presentation, one of the groups showed statistics of how much the principles of four different elementary schools are being paid within our area. The principle that is being paid the most is race white, but he had less experience compared to someone else who had more experience but was being paid less because she was part of a minority. In conclusion, we agree with the authors arguments and find them to provide support for conflict theory, because we have observed that in the case of the jobs, and the educational systems, the wealthy continue to have a lot more benefits over the types of job benefits and education that they receive and how much richer in power the continue to get. Those with the most power are able to live a better life and remain protected, reinforcing that those who are wealthy obtain power from the poor. Our observations clearly support our argument, and show that there is proof in our experiences that support conflict

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    Plessy V. Ferguson Trial

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Butler Community College Trial of the Century Noah Stewart U.S. History 2 Mr. Clark 3/27/17 Concerning the late 19th and 20th century, there have been many famous court cases regarding civil rights issues and the precedents they have set in years to come. However, no such case has accomplished both so easily as the trial of Plessy v. Ferguson.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The New Jim Crow Summary

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Book review: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander In the book, the New Jim Crow, Alexander Michelle gives a descriptive information of how the American government is set up to put down the Black community. She argues that the current system is just a successor of the other past system of slavery. For each chapter, the author makes detailed explanations of her points. With subtitles, she is able to touch on every component within her topics.…

    • 1444 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The unjustifiable sufferings of migrant farm workers in the United States These days, even though we are fighting strongly for human rights issues such as human trafficking, racial equality, asylum seekers and refugees, child abuse and LGBTQ rights, we have to admit that not everyone is equal. We worked hard to ensure that the people around us have the rights they deserved, but we are ignorant to the suffering of others. In his book Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States, Seth Holmes explores the lives of the Mexican workers who cross the border illegally to come to the U.S and provides an interesting idea on how “the fault lines of class, race, citizenship, gender, and sexuality” have shaped the experience of…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ethnography Analysis: The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness was written by civil rights litigator, legal scholar and author Michelle Alexander. The book discusses the history of race and mass incarceration in the United States specific to African American man. Alexander argues, “We have not ended racial caste in America, we have merely redesigned it” (pg. 2), there has been a rebirth of a caste system in the form of mass incarceration since the years of slavery, Jim Crow laws and black codes.…

    • 2230 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Character Analysis 42

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The author continues by talking about how minorities really don’t have the same abilities as whites to control, order, or alter their own life chances. She explains in this theory that because of differences in community or culture, whites often are born with much better “chances” than those of color. In An American Dilemma (Myrdal. 1995.), Gunnar Myrdal talks about how there is something called the “White man’s Problem” (p. lxxxiii). Myrdal continues and says that the “negro problem” isn’t a problem from the blacks themselves, rather it is a problem from the whites because “practically all the economic, social, and political power is held by the whites” (p.lxxxiii). He ends by saying “The Negro’s entire life, and, consequently also his opinions on the Negro problem, are in the main, to be considered as secondary reactions to more primary pressures from the side of the dominant white majority” (p.lxxxiii).…

    • 1570 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the United States’ past, many groups have been victims of discrimination; Native Americans, African American, women, and many other peoples have felt the sharp pain of intense hate and oppression. Naturally, they have struggled to alleviate those constant, stabbing pains. Fortunately over time, the oppressed have made many successful attempts at teaching the oppressors the error of their way, and their efforts have led to Congress instituting legal restrictions against discrimination. The Fourteenth Amendment was one vital set of restrictions that introduced three clauses — the Equal Protection Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the Citizenship Clause — that Congress thought to be vital for the protection of many groups of people.…

    • 475 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Separate but equal is a common phrase heard throughout history based on the discrimination against African Americans at that time. This ideology of segregation was especially enforced by the U.S. Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896. The case starts with Homer Plessy’s decision to sit on the white only side on the railroads even though he is a person of color. Plessy ended up being arrested for his refusal of sitting on the seats for African Americans since it is a Louisiana law to use facilities designed for one’s race. To defend himself, Plessy argues that segregation of people is a violation of his freedom.…

    • 1298 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Race, racial inequality and racial hierarchies exist in modern society and perpetuate a divide between races and social classes. Additionally, social and judicial structures contribute to marginalization, inequality and poverty as well. Therefore, conflict Marxism and critical race theory would state that the Manes case is not about five dollars, it is the result of a much larger socially constructed…

    • 1201 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Institutional Disparities Data Report On the off chance that we consider back the historical backdrop of the United States, we appear to have made some amazing progress in the battle against racial disparity; we even have our first African American president in office. No doubt we are near accomplishing the equity we have been exercising as a country, if we have not as of now accomplished it. In any case, despite what advancements we have made, the racial disparity is still a critical issue in today 's public, and it is clear when we investigate our criminal equity framework. The United States detains a larger number of individuals than any other nation on the planet, however that is just the start of our issue.…

    • 1297 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Theory Analysis Inequality and crime have been closely associated with one another for some time. The Untied States has displayed and continues to display long-standing patterns of social and economic inequality by race and ethnicity. Major theories have been developed and applied to the inequality displayed within criminal behavior. The conflict theory is a theory that purposes the powerful, Caucasians, use of the criminal justice system is often utilized to enforce power over minorities.…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Immigrant workers come to America in search of a better life. However, when they arrive they are faced with many hardships: inability to speak English, discrimination, and unfair wages in the worst jobs available. Due to earning low wages, immigrants live in unacceptable housing conditions. Because of their illegal status in the United States, immigrants are constantly taken advantage of. In spite of all the pain and suffering, field workers still work very hard to pick the fruits and vegetables American shoppers demand.…

    • 1360 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Police brutality and court systems and structural violence This world is arranged by tiers according to race, culture, gender, sexuality, and many more individualities. If you are perceived to be on the “better” or more preferred side of these characteristics, you are treated tremendously different than those of the lower hierarchy. This is the structural violence. When one group of people is treated better than another group of people because of their characteristics.…

    • 1428 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Conflict Theory and Michael Brown There is no arguing that recent police shootings of minorities have generated a great amount of controversy among minority communities. This sort of controversy leads to civil unrest which can explained through the conflict theory. Conflict theory is the belief that the Criminal Justice administration reflects the realities of social inequalities (Delone, Spohn, and Walker, 2012). This is evident in the recent shooting of Michael Brown. The people of the minority communities saw that an unarmed black male is was shot down by police.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Horkheimer and Adorno (H & A) look at how technology is helping progress society. They came up with the Dialectic of Enlightenment in which they view technology like Weber’s instrumental rationality and Marx’s profit view of capitalism. The Capitalists are using technology to help gain profit. As consumers, we are constantly using some type of technology in our everyday routine. We access social media to keep in touch with our friends, we use Google to search for information, and media which influences our decision making and points of view.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Short Answer Question #1 How is the conflict perspective used to analyze social issues? Who in society is most likely to adopt the conflict perspective? Provide an example from the course to illustrate your answer.…

    • 1204 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays

Related Topics