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Racism
In the recent years, racism has become one of the greatest issues affecting many nations.
Countries have developed the tendency to treat people based on their race, ethnic groups and
cultural backgrounds. For instance, black people living in countries dominated by the whites are
discriminated due to their race and the perceptions that white people have about the cultural
backgrounds of the black people. The whites tend to believe that their skin color, race, or their
groups regarding religion and ethnic identity, is superior to the other people in humanity. In the
United States, the issue of racism and discrimination are prevalent throughout the nation.
Racism has been prevalent in the US since the colonization of North America by the
Europeans in the 17th century. There are many groups of people beginning from the society level
to national politics that have demonstrated racism in their operations. The existence of
discriminatory laws and social practices directed towards a specific target group are just but a
few examples. The groups of people that frequently face discrimination are the African
Americans, Muslims, and the Hispanics. Moreover, there are minority groups such as the Jews
and other immigrants that also face discrimination due to their ethnic identity. Even if since the
days of slavery in the US many steps have been made to promote equality, racism still affects the
nation to a great extent. There are times that racism can be observed openly but at times the issue

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appears to be more subtle. For instance, law enforcement officers and other government officials
have demonstrated racial profiling in their operations. Moreover, in America, it is almost
impossible for some people and especially the blacks to recover from poverty.
Racism against the Native Americans existed in the US (Rensink, 18). The discrimination
against the Native Americans began in the 17th century when the Europeans invaded the North
American region with an aim to subdue and conquer the land. The colonialists believed that the
Native Americans were heathens and savages and that they needed civilization through
Christianity and the culture of the Europeans. As a result, there was mass cultural genocide, theft
of land, and numerous attempts to wipe out the traditions of the American people. Besides, there
was forced assimilation through institutions such as schools and Indian reservations. The long
term effects that came with such racism have affected the nation to date. For instance, according
to the National Institute of Mental Health, the Native Americans have been reported to have the
highest suicidal rate than any other group in the US (Rensink, 20).
As said earlier, the other groups of people that face racial discrimination in the US are the
African Americans. In the period of colonization, many Africans were brought to America in the
form of slaves that were kidnapped from their native homes (Bonilla-Silva, 25). However, not all
the African Americans were slaves. Some of them were free, but the discriminatory laws in the
nation denied them their human rights. Even if slavery was abolished in the US and laws
prohibiting racial discrimination adopted, racism still exists. For instance, a report by the Fair
Employment Practices Commission in Washington found that the black people face
discrimination in every job interview (Bonilla-Silva, 34). Moreover, the American Sociological
Association reports that currently, the employers tend to use various phases of hiring employees

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so as to discriminate against the minority groups. For example, they recruit majorly from the
schools dominated by the white people rather than use the recommended job training programs.
The Japanese Americans also face racial discrimination in the US. Discrimination against
this group intensified in 1941 with the bombing of the Hawaii Pearl Harbor (Miller & Ann, 276).
The Japanese people living in America became the targets of harassment, racial discrimination
and surveillance by the US government. They lost their homes, businesses, and jobs. The worst
racial discrimination was experienced in 1942 when the president signed an executive order
authorizing the confinement of all Japanese people living in the nation. They were viewed as the
enemies of the nation. They were put in camps where some of them died, and others were killed.
Racial discrimination against the Japanese still exists though not as prevalent as in the past
decades. The Jewish Americans are the other group of people that have experienced racism in the
United States. They faced discrimination at the workplace where important positions are only
reserved for the white people (Miller & Ann, 280).
The Muslims are the other people that have experienced racism in the US. There has been
hostility towards the Islamic religion that has been manifested in harassment, prejudice, and
discrimination. According to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life report, it has been
noted that positive opinions of Muslims among the Americans have significantly declined since
2005. Besides, discrimination against the Muslims has been intensified by wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq. The Muslims in the US have gone through over 700,000 FBI interviews, government
surveillance, wiretapping, and racial profiling (Miller & Ann, 304). They are often linked to the
issue of terrorism that has affected many nations across the globe including the United States.

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The issue of environmental racism also exists in the US (Bonilla-Silva, 46). Race plays a
significant role in determining the environmental policies regarding the use of land, zoning, and
other regulations relating to the environment. In that case, the minority groups in the US such as
African Americans, Hispanics, and Muslims are more likely to live near the power plants that are
fired by coal, landfills, refineries, and other highly polluted areas. The communities living in
such areas face the burden of toxic contamination due to the pollution around their
neighborhood. Moreover, they have inadequate rights to fight against such discriminatory
policies. The African American children are more likely to suffer from asthma attacks than the
white children due to the poor environmental conditions surrounding them. More so, the elderly
black people are more likely to die from diseases related to lungs but they are less likely to
smoke. It is, therefore, evident that environmental racism is prevalent in the United States.
Racism in the United States is a fact that cannot be denied on whatever grounds. Studies
have shown that the people of color in America are more likely to be frisked than the whites due
to the wrong perception that the white people have towards the black people (Bonilla-Silva, 106).
Moreover, the white people are more likely to engage in drug abuse but the black people will be
more likely to be imprisoned due to drug abuse. The black people are imprisoned for longer
periods than the white people who have committed the same crime. Racism is widespread in the
US, and the white people underestimate the consequences that come with racism. It is, therefore,
time that the US adopted laws that prohibit any form of racism if the nation is to progress in all
its endeavors.

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Works Cited
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. Racism Without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of
Racial Inequality in America. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. Internet
resource.
Miller, Joshua, and Ann M. Garran. Racism in the United States: Implications for the Helping
Professions. Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 2008. Print.
Rensink, Brenden. "Genocide of Native Americans: Historical Facts and Historiographic
Debates." Genocide of Indigenous Peoples, Genocide: A Critical Bibliographic Review 8
(2011): 15-36.