Abstract

This literature review covers four different aspects of racial discrimination in the United
States of America. First, we gave a definition using the journal, Psychological Trauma. The link
was made in connecting racial discrimination to trauma when minorities were exposed to
different forms of racial abuse. For example, racial discrimination, verbal abuse, and past
traumatic experiences. On the same page, uncovering a startling discovery about politics that
made it difficult in defining racism. Politics interferes thus prolonging a definition. Second, we
took a look at how relevant racial discrimination was in the United States. This led us to the
current criminal justice system, and how medical drugs are prescribed. Third, how difficult it was
to find out how the implications of racial discrimination came to be. Using a study showing how
the people felt about racism, and how slacktivism was an ineffective tool in addressing the
problem. And finally, searching possible solutions, such as the use of the arts and
communications, and effective leaders like Bernie Sanders.

Racial tensions have always been a prominent force in the United States of America. A
force powerful enough in creating turmoil amongst each other, leading to be one of our nations
most difficult challenge to overcome. Whereas it is uncontested that we have clearly had serious
racial issues in our past. Concerns have been raised in the last couple of years that have several
scholars very concerned. As our nation moves forward in electing a new leader to continue the
path to a prosperous and rich future, tensions have never been higher. One question seems to
linger with not only the presidential candidates, but the rest of America. Has Americas racial
divide resurfaced? In analyzing the literature uncovered through extensive research, our focus
will lead us to making sense of several questions brought forward. In todays Literature Review
we will try to answer the four following questions. What is racial discrimination? How relevant
is racial discrimination in the U.S.A? What implications would arise from racial discrimination?
And finally; how could racial discrimination be resolved? This review will hopefully bring light
to what has been one of Americas most prominent issue.
In analyzing our first question; what is racial discrimination? We take a look at the
journal, Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. This journal focuses on
the theory that people who face racial discrimination experience it more as psychological trauma.
In a study conducted for the journal, a group of ethic-minorities the ages 18-29 completed a
series of trials from self-reported measures of racial discrimination, responses to racial
discrimination, traumatic life events, and dissociative symptoms. The results, Frequency of racial
discrimination was positively associated with dissociative symptoms in regression analyses
adjusted for demographics and other traumatic life events. (Polanco-Roman, et al. 2016). To
break this down, minorities groups we given several tests simulating racial discrimination. With

the assumption that these are events in which the minorities go through day in and day out, we
can assume the results are fairly accurate. There were positive signs of racial discrimination
within the minority groups that was then compared to trauma, leading to more minorities with
dissociative symptoms. This is important in defining racial discrimination, because the
comparison can now be tied to a psychological impact, instead of just an idea of rhetorical
arguments. However, the question of politics being a serious factor of defining and addressing
racism has seemed to be linked to rhetoric. In the 2001 issue of the economist, an article
underlined the issue of racism and politics. The article stated that the UN held world conferences
to address racism. One conference in particular raised several concerns in the world of politics
when the UN wanted to equate Zionism with racism. Israel did not attend in protest, and given
the U.S being its strongest ally, they opted out too. To accommodate to having the U.S attend a
conference, the UN decided to not equate Zionism to racism. (The Economist, 2001). This article
highlights that is may not be as easy to actually define what racial discrimination is. Given the
first article underlines that we can simple equate racism to psychological trauma, it is not a clear
definition. And the second article adds that even the best way to define racial discrimination
through rhetoric may be difficult given politics affect these important decisions. However these
two articles give somewhat of an idea of what racial discrimination is, and that idea is that racism
is a problem.
Moving forward, our next question is how relevant is racial discrimination in the U.S.A?
Our first question uncovered what racial discrimination is and how difficult it may be too clearly
define and address. With this in hand, our focus shifts to our homeland, and if racism is a
problem there. In Michelle alexanders book the New Jim Crow we analyze how the author
brings light to the current U.S racial problem (if there is one.) To start off, according to the U.S

Census Bureau it was reported that in 2002 there were 3 million more black adult women in
black communities then black men in communities across the United States.(Alexander, pg.179).
This finding prompted many articles coming out asking, where have all the black men gone? The
answer to that question was unsettling. A majority of these black men are incarcerated under our
current criminal justice system. (Alexander, pg. 180). Examining this book we find that in the
United States, one of the biggest racial issues is the mass incarceration of black men. This began
with the war on drugs. But it seems that black men are being targeted more because of racist
bias. Many believe that this is simply a coincidence and doesnt really prove that blacks are
being targeted. However an article by Business Insider seems to dismantle that belief. The article
highlights a study to why more whites are actually abusing prescription drugs than blacks. The
study finds that doctors are more reluctant to prescribe drugs to black men, then compared to
white men. (Smith, 2016). Making the point that even though black men are not abusing as much
compared to their counterpart, their incarceration rate is way higher.

This chart shows the death of four races due to drug abuse. It shows that white deaths have
increased vastly within that timeframe. This goes to show that blacks are not the only ones

affected by racial discrimination. More whites are dying due to the ignorance of our racial
climate. In An Interview with Dr. Luis Miguel Carcoba, from the University of Texas at El Paso,
he told personal stories of his time at Texas A&M and how he being Mexican affected his
relationship with several colleagues. He stated, Several doctors didnt enjoy my presence
simply because I was Mexican, it was a difficult climate to adapt to. It seems that all of these
sources hold very impactful information that lead to the relevancy of racism in the United States.
Our third question is, what implications would arise from racial discrimination? Mass
incarceration, deaths, and hateful rhetoric have already been established as the implications that
arise from racial discrimination. However, having identified that very early on in our review, our
focus now shifts to why have these implications gone on for so long? According to a CBS News
article, more whites are sharing views held by minorities on racism. The study found that polls
have shown a decrease in the number of people who believe race relations are "very or fairly
good." In January 2009, a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showed 79 percent of whites, 76 percent
of blacks and 64 percent of Hispanics held this view. The same poll seven years later showed 33
percent of whites, 26 percent of blacks and 38 percent of Hispanics felt the same way. (CBS
News, 2016). This article shows that as a whole the community is recognizing that there seems to
be a racial issue in the United States. But one question lingers, why hasnt anything impactful
been done about it? As our society continues to develop our acts of protesting become what is
referred to as slacktivism. Slacktivism is using social media to engage in social issues, In hopes
of making change. For example #BlackLivesMatters has been a trending hashtag in the last year.
But many scholars have slammed slacktivism as useless. In the book The Net Delusion by
Evgeny Morozov, we take a look at why slacktivism has been ineffective. With our tech savvy
society, we have created an illusion of actual change when engaging in slacktivism. (Morozov,

2011). It goes to show that although people have become aware of this issue, and try to make
change, the tactics they use have been rendered useless. Action seems to be ineffective due to the
severity of the implications.
Finally, how could racial discrimination be resolved? It seems that only rhetoric and
politics can truly resolve the issue of racial discrimination in the United States. In Prince Eas
poem I am NOT black you are NOT white we take a look at how this influences people. I was
taught to be black, and you were taught to call me that, along with whatever you call yourself,
its just a label. (Ea, 2015). Prince Eas video has already received 8,000,000 views in just 4
months. He is a credited activist that has influenced people into taking part in activism. He uses
rhetoric and the arts to grab peoples attention, and tell them that there is a problem in the United
States. In this particular poem, he focuses on how labels are the roots of racism and that in order
to make meaningful action, we must first, destroy the labels. While this form of rhetoric may
only make a decent size dent in the problem, we look at a more prominent force, politics. In
cities like Chicago and Baltimore, the people are looking to the government for meaningful
action against racism. This has prompted several officials to take action, such as reforming the
police departments in their community, and enacting laws to protect minorities when it comes to
incarceration. But only one presidential candidate is actually addressing the issue. Bernie
Sanders has made it known that there is a racial issue in the United States. Since the 60s Bernie
has been an activist for civil rights, walking with Martin Luther King Jr. and holding protests at
the University of Chicago. (Sanders, 2016) His impressive resume and actual concern regarding
racism has helped him keep alongside front runner Hillary Clinton. Regardless if Sanders wins or
not it is abundantly clear that a very powerful movement is underway.

In this Literature review we have analyzed the four questions regarding Racial
Discrimination. For the first question using the journal, Psychological Trauma, and the
Economist, an opportunity for defining racial discrimination was made possible. Looking at the
second question using the book The New Jim Crow, the Business Insider, and a personal
interview with Dr. Carcoba, we analyzed the relevancy of racial discrimination in the United
States. The third question using CBS News, and the book The Net Delusion we made sense of
the reason for the implications to arise. And for the final question using Prince Eas poem and
Bernie Sanders website, solutions seemed possible in addressing the issue of racial
discrimination. Overall the sources proved creditable in proving that there is a sense of racial
instability in the United States of America.

Sources
1.) Alexander, M. (2010). The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.
New York, NY: New York Press.
2.) Carcoba, L. (2016) M.D, PH.D, University of Texas at El Paso
3.) Ea, P. (Director). (2015). I am NOT black, you are NOT white [Motion picture on YouTube].
United States: YouTube.
4.) Economist, T. (2001, August 30). Battling over racism. Retrieved April 01, 2016, from
http://www.economist.com/node/760184
5.) Morozov, E. (2011). The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom. New York, NY:
PublicAffairs.
6.) NEWS, C. (Ed.). (2016, January 28). Whites share views held by minorites on racism.
CBSNEWS. Retrieved February 7, 2016, from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/racialpolling-analysis-white-americans-racism-us/
7.) Racial Discrimination as Race-Based Trauma, Coping Strategies, and Dissociative Symptoms
Among Emerging Adults.
Polanco-Roman, Lillian; Danies, Ashley; Anglin, Deidre M.
Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, Mar 10 , 2016, No
Pagination Specified.
8.) Smith, A. (2016, January 25). There's a disturbing theory about why America's overdose
epidemic is primarily affecting white people. Retrieved April 01, 2016, from
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/heres-one-experts-theory-why-205435837.html