Institutional discrimination is the unequal rights and opportunities
for minority groups that have been built into the rules and norms of
society and institutions. A lot of the problems of institutional
discrimination started with the founding fathers, even though our
country was allegedly built on the prospects of equality and freedom.
The Declaration of Independence says that “All men are created equal”
yet this did not include women, poor people, or anyone who wasn’t white.
Minority groups in the United States are negatively stereotyped, like
the assumption that anyone on Welfare is too lazy to find a job and is
taking advantage of government help, or that all Muslims are terrorists.
This sort of discrimination affects minorities around the U.S. in many
ways, from the racial profiling attempted by SB 1070, to denying
homosexuals from legal marriage.
What stereotypes and ideologies promote
this type of discrimination?
I agree Kiara. Our founding fathers rooted discrimination in this country by exclusion. I believe that when our founding fathers used the word “men” in “all men are created equal” they were referring to men like them. They were not including all races, economic classes, or women. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitutions preamble are vague and can be interpreted differently by perception. For instance, “we the people”. Is this referring to the white men in the power positions or every person that resides in the United States? Same thing can be said about the 14th amendment. Depending on your beliefs or maybe even prejudices you can twist and interpret those words in different ways.
ReplyDeleteStereotypes and ideologies have promoted institutional discrimination in this country since it began. This kind of discrimination is embedded in our economic institutions, political institutions, educational institutions and religious institutions.
Racism is a reality in America. Racism is more than just specific socially unaccepted behavior against a specific race or ethnic group, as long as the prejudiced mind exist, this concept of racism will never cease to exist.
ReplyDeleteRacism is a reality in America. Racism is a cog in the wheel of how the American system works. That cog is the marginalization and oppression of groups or individuals based on factors related to racial or ethnic heritage or identity. This is racism can that is part of the American social, economic, and political landscape. To believe that this systemic racism in America longer exists, is a choice to be ignorant. It appears that most individuals who make such claims are failing to recognize that the social status that they identify with, actually has "status" because of the systematic oppression of generations of non-whites that have come before them. This is the racism that we can eradicate.
Racism becomes a politically charged concept intentionally so that the concept itself can be used as political distraction. Rather than using politics as a tool to address the root of racism, many politicians use racism as a tool for their own political motives or those of their campaign funding sources. It appears that the political "norm" means perpetuating systemic racism by pretending to be ignorant of it's very existence.
Despite the progress to reform the system racism within America, these successes have are piecemeal fixes to an American political system that is obviously broken, and rigged to be oppressive. Acknowledging this is the fist step toward real social change and rebirth. However, this acknowledgement must come with a guiltless honesty motivated to make active and affirmative changes.