Racial Segregation in the United States

Introduction

The Civil rights were signed by president Lyndon in the year 1965; it was meant to end the ill-treatment that Blacks and other minority groups were being subjected to. Though there has been a change that has been noticed over the past years since the signing there is still more that is left that has to be done. As the world marks the beginning of the 21st-century segregation is still rampant in the United States society.

This is characterized by the high rate of Black kids dropping out of schools. The fact is also characterized by disparities in income between the blacks and whites, a number of people in jails whereby the number of Blacks in Jails is so high as compared to the whites, and also in jobs whereby more whites have well-paying jobs as compared to Blacks. The last fact is the electoral press which has seen more whites voting than blacks.

Contemporary Segregation

The changes in segregation in the United States are minimal even after thirty years after the civil rights act signing. Segregation can be witnessed in residential areas whereby Blacks and whites occupy different neighborhoods of different qualities. Many Blacks and other minority groups are being denied access to major services such as banking, insurance, jobs and healthcare. Also, small black businesses are being denied to access loans even after proving that they are creditworthy.

Research carried in the year 2005 shows that race is a factor that is affecting the insurance industry and that Blacks living in the Ghettos had a difficult time in finding a job as compared to the whites who lived in the suburban areas. The research also shows that there are living patterns witnessed in the United States which are motivated by race. Blacks who are willing to buy homes in white neighborhoods have been treated in an ill manner which suggests that they are not required there.

The reason that many whites have opted to live in the suburban residential areas has been the fact that they don’t want their children to mix with children from other races. Recent studies carried out in San Francisco show that many white people tend to live in areas where they will mix with other people who have the same educational background as them and are also from their race (Anthony, 302).

In the 1990s legal barriers existed but the government efforts of replacing them with a decentralized system that would have seen white people pay more than Black people to live in white-prone areas failed. The social and residential separation of whites and blacks in America bars the existence of a good relationship between the two racial groups; the separation also makes the whites practice a separate lifestyle from the rest of the other racial groups and they develop negative views about them.

Segregation not only affects the low-class people but also affects the upper class; a survey carried out in the year 2000 exposed the fact that middle-income black Americans lived in neighborhoods that had more whites than poor people do. But the hoods did not resemble those white middle-income earners. Even though it is evident that middle-income Blacks were less segregated than the poor blacks, segregation still played an essential part when it came to residential options (Anthony, 302).

Residential segregation

Racial segregation is mainly practiced in housing that is though Blacks and whites may be seen working together they live in separate neighborhoods. It is evident that the main cause of poverty experienced by most black Americans is segregation. The segregation traps Black people and hinders them from joining the upper class. Black neighborhoods have also been negatively portrayed because many youths in the hoods have exhibited an inner-city culture that is associated with crime, prostitution, and other forms of bad behavior. The use of the Black Slung language has made it very difficult for Black kids in schools and also for other blacks in the job market.

The slung language arose due to residential segregation, which has made it very hard for black children to differentiate between Standard English taught in Schools and the slung language they use at home and with friends. Racial segregation has played a huge role in social and political tensions (Carson, 86).

Residential separation phenomena are mainly caused by what is referred to as white flight whereby whites leave neighborhoods because of the existence of blacks. The problem associated with this is that as the wealthy white people leave these hoods poverty surfaces, Jobs in such hoods become scarce and crime rates increase. With the wealth having left the inner cities tax in such areas reduces and this, in turn, leads to fewer funds being distributed to these areas to fund projects such as education and health care.

As a result, Blacks who can leave the hoods for enhanced schools leave decreasing the tax fund even more. Businessmen shun these areas because they would not like to invest in areas that have less money and is prone to high rates of crime. Therefore most of the people left in these hoods are poor blacks who have no opportunity for education or employment (Carson, 86).

The fact that Blacks live in hoods that are isolated from the rest plays a huge role in reducing the social networks that they may have to gain employment. Because the more people an individual may know the more chances he may have to get a job. “This is a major reason why most blacks remain poor” (Carson, 86). Research carried out in the year 2005 shows that even Blacks who may have connections in the job market are afraid to utilize them because the connections are capable of risking their well-being while vouching for another. Segregation also applies to Blacks who try to live in the hood for better housing; they are subjected to harsh treatment which is meant to see them go back to the Ghetto.

Blacks who try to buy houses in white neighborhoods are discouraged to do so by being told that they are sold or the price of the houses is hiked. Black individuals who manage to move in the white neighborhoods are intimidated by their white neighbors who are afraid to lose their properties because their view is that all Blacks are Thugs. The whites then opt to shift from that neighborhood and the process of ghettoization begins all over again.

The South is not only the region that is greatly affected by segregation the North also experiences it. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. declared that Chicago was the most segregated state in the whole of the United States. The separation problem became even hard to handle at the beginning of the twentieth century when many Blacks from the south moved to the North to live with other minority groups that were settling there at that time.

The beginning of the 21st century has seen an increase in the problem of segregation since many whites are willing and able to pay high prices of houses in white neighborhoods. The whites shut out the Blacks because the Blacks are unable to and unwilling to pay for the high cost of houses in the white neighborhoods (Bruce, 211).

Unequal education

The number of black children attending integrated schools has been on the decrease since the year 1968. The word American Apartheid can best fit to explain the current disparity between white and blacks’ educational centers in America which have seen fewer funds being allocated for Black schools. “For example in Chicago in the academic year between 2002 and 2003, the percentage of Black and Hispanic children enrolled in public schools was 87 percent while white children formed less than ten percent of the total number. “In Washington DC public schools enrolled 94 percent of Blacks and Hispanic children while white children enrolled were less than 5 percent” (James, 352).

In St. Louis 82 percent of blacks and Hispanic children were enrolled in public schools; Philadelphia and Cleveland enrolled 79 percent, Los Angeles 84 percent, Baltimore 89 percent while in New York the number of Blacks and Hispanic children enrolled in public schools where three-quarters of the whole student population” (James, 352). These statistics show how many Black and other minority groups’ children are deeply isolated.

The United States’ drug and Criminal policies are aimed at Blacks due to the race factor. The American Znet magazine covered a number of articles on the new American apartheid in which it drew a close relationship that existed between the ill-treatments of blacks with the apartheid system. The 21st century still sees Black prisoners occupy the lowest rank of the social ladder. The century prison system is a compilation of ghettos that are preserved for the uneducated, unskilled and powerless. This means that the system is preserved for minority groups who have little access to the education system. It is unfair for the government to target black youths for involvement in drugs since they are faced with the problem of income reduction and it’s hard for them to find legitimate ways of fending for themselves (James, 352).

Prisons

Most prisons in America are filled with Blacks and Hispanics, it is estimated that about 70 percent of all inmates in the United States are Blacks; this indicates that most black youths are destined to be in Jail because it is hard to understand how a minority group of individuals who form less than 20 percent of the population could have the highest number of inmates.

Although separation in prisons was banned in 1968, there are some States in the United States that still practice it; a good example is the California State where it is practiced during the first days of imprisonment and the time of prison transfer. “For example, in the year 2004 Garrison Johnson who was a Black inmate, sued the California prison department on segregation allegations; on February the same year the court ruled against the California State and indicated that the segregation practice in prisons must come to an end” (Jaynes, 57). This has not been possible since there are many instances of separation that have been witnessed in prisons of the other American states (Jaynes, 57).

Drug policy

The United States drug policy is sometimes referred to as the 21st-century American apartheid. The policies target mostly Black youths who are imprisoned and this has significantly led to a high increase in the number of Black inmates who are jailed every year. It’s unfair for the American government to arrest youths from minority groups who have no access to education and jobs because of the limited funding they receive from the government. It is evident that white youths also use drugs but they are least affected by the drug policies made by the government (Jaynes, 57).

Conclusion

It’s evident that segregation practices have not ceased even after the signing of the Civil rights act that was signed in the year 1965 by then-American President Lyndon. The beginning of the 21st century has not seen any improvement either since blacks are still being faced with the same problems they have been having in the past. Some of the main problems that are still being faced by Blacks include; high school dropouts of Black youths, low incomes, increase in the number of Black youths in American prisons, and provision of less funding by the government to finance education and health in Black hoods.

This and many other reasons have played a huge role in increasing the poverty level of Blacks. It is the year 2009 and still, there is little effort being applied by the government to tackle Black people’s problems.

References

James, H, and segregation the rising cost of America, McGraw publications (2008), Page 352.

Anthony, B, Housing segregation in suburban America, Clifford publications (2005), page 302.

Carson, C, “Eyes on the prize” Clifford publications (1991), page 86.

Bruce, K, “Redefining urban and suburban America”, Princeton press (2003), page 211.

Jaynes, D, “Immigration and Race: the new challenges for American Democracy”, Clifford publications (2000), page 57.

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