Systemic racism is a real thing that affects minorities in the United States, especially black Americans. Its effects create inequality and oppression. “Systemic racism includes the complex array of anti-black practices, the unjustly gained political- economic power of whites, the continuing economic and other resource inequalities along racial lines, and the white racist ideologies and attitudes created to maintain and rationalize white privilege and power.” (Cole, 2015) Because of its presence in society, it reflects onto how individuals act towards each other in everyday life. It is even incorporated into the school system; according to National Public Radio, a non-profit media organization with over 900 radio stations throughout the U.S.,
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In fact, 51 percent of Americans express anti-black attitudes, which is an increase from 48 percent in 2008 (Ponds, 2013). Systemic racism has constantly torn down black Americans’ ability to live equally in society, and it is getting worse. Jesse Williams, an actor from Greys’ Anatomy and an activist, said, “I think a larder ideological war is happening, an ideological question of humanity. When you systematically dehumanize a people, over the course of centuries – through every single avenue that we have, through school, through media, through ever single way we process information – we make certain people’s value and life worth less. Then we are able …show more content…
“Progress against discrimination – particularly racial discrimination — seems to have largely stalled out. And there are signs that other forms of discrimination are getting worse,” says David Futrelle, a writer for Time Magazine (Devega, 2013). People must recognize that racism is more than just a personal prejudice – it is intertwined with our political system, school system, work force, economy, military, and every other aspect of our society. Affirmative action has been implemented in order to put a stop to systemic racism. As defined by the National Conference of State Legislatures, affirmative action policies are put in place at an institution or organization in order to improve opportunities for minorities (“Affirmative Action”, 2014). It mostly focuses on education and employment; colleges must accept a certain number of minorities and employers must hire a certain number of minorities. These “minorities” include blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, women and any other historical minority in the
In fact, 51 percent of Americans express anti-black attitudes, which is an increase from 48 percent in 2008 (Ponds, 2013). Systemic racism has constantly torn down black Americans’ ability to live equally in society, and it is getting worse. Jesse Williams, an actor from Greys’ Anatomy and an activist, said, “I think a larder ideological war is happening, an ideological question of humanity. When you systematically dehumanize a people, over the course of centuries – through every single avenue that we have, through school, through media, through ever single way we process information – we make certain people’s value and life worth less. Then we are able …show more content…
“Progress against discrimination – particularly racial discrimination — seems to have largely stalled out. And there are signs that other forms of discrimination are getting worse,” says David Futrelle, a writer for Time Magazine (Devega, 2013). People must recognize that racism is more than just a personal prejudice – it is intertwined with our political system, school system, work force, economy, military, and every other aspect of our society. Affirmative action has been implemented in order to put a stop to systemic racism. As defined by the National Conference of State Legislatures, affirmative action policies are put in place at an institution or organization in order to improve opportunities for minorities (“Affirmative Action”, 2014). It mostly focuses on education and employment; colleges must accept a certain number of minorities and employers must hire a certain number of minorities. These “minorities” include blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Muslims, women and any other historical minority in the