Structural Racism and Racial Discrimination

Structural Racism and Racial Discrimination

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Structural Racism and Racial Discrimination

Racial and ethnic diversity in the United States’ population has had a long history since time immemorial. With the ever increasing number of immigrants to the US, diversity will definitely accelerate. Different races have different cultures, beliefs and identities. For instance, members of a particular race can be identified by their surnames. Also, these communities value their traditions and cultures deeply. Cases of individuals being identified by the color of their skin, hair texture, their surnames, ethnic origin, and accent have increased tremendously.

The changing population composition will alter the way we define race and ethnicity. The biggest contributors to racial make-up change are immigration and intermarriages between different races. This might force the society to embrace diversity and appreciate other races because of the blurred boundaries between communities and increased population of individuals of mixed ancestry. In addition, as individuals form different races interact on personal level, they get to know each other; the myths and negative perceptions they had are also demystified.

Change in population diversity will not cause significant change in structural racism and racial discrimination. Most of the schools and colleges are categorized and only admit students who meet the set qualification standards or from a particular race. Students who do not meet the qualifications feel discriminated.

Sports is an important social aspect in our society; almost everyone participated in sporting activities at some point in their lives. In professional sports, there is a lot of incidents of discrimination and most kids have sportsmen as their role models. When these kids see their role models discriminating others racially, they will emulate their models because they think discriminating others is acceptable. Once the kids develop the norm of discriminating other races, it becomes almost impossible to change it.

Lastly, stereotypes and negative attitudes among certain races are persistent. With these attitudes and stereotypes, a particular race will always feel they are more superior to the other races. As long as these negative perceptions exist in our society, discrimination will always be present and deeply rooted in people’s minds.

Reference

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2000; 27:146-161