Analysis of Race and Ethnicity Essay Paper

By Day 3
Post an analysis of race, ethnicity, racial relations, and racism in your immediate environment and your experiences, addressing the following:

How does your racial and/or ethnic identity affect your life?
Share an example (or examples) of negative and/or positive race relations you have experienced or witnessed.
What is the source (historical, structural, political, cultural) of racism in your environment?
What underlying values support the nature of the race and ethnic group interaction you’ve observed?
How might positive social change be encouraged to improve race and ethnic group relations in your immediate context?

Analysis of Race and Ethnicity

How does your racial and/or ethnic identity affect your life?

My racial and ethnic identity has had a profound effect on my life, particularly how I interact with others. The recent racial tensions that have rocked the country have forced me to be overly cautious with what I say and do as well as where I go. Analysis of Race and Ethnicity Essay Paper  The people around me have also been forced to be overly cautious. Overall, any racial and ethnic differences can easily serve as the basis for discrimination accusations thus forcing me to relate more authentically with persons of my ethnicity and less authentically with persons of other ethnic identities.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

Share an example (or examples) of negative and/or positive race relations you have experienced or witnessed.

I have experienced both negative and positive race relations. I have experienced negative race relations on occasions when I get lost in new neighborhoods and have to ask for directions from persons of other racial identities. In most cases, I am treated with suspicion for being a stranger. Similarly, I have witness positive race relations when strangers helped me simply because I was of the same racial identity as them.

What is the source (historical, structural, political, cultural) of racism in your environment?

The cultural source of racism in my environment is the equality issues that are yet to be addressed even centuries after slavery was abolished in America. There is a perception that African Americans are not intellectually gifted simply because their history as slaves created the mentality that they have a lower intellectual capacity when compared to other races. In addition, America has a long history of racial discrimination that shifted from individual rights to voting rights, segregated schools and buses, as well as other injustices. This checkered cultural history and racial prejudice is slowly being confronted in the process of addressing racism (Schaefer, 2015).

What underlying values support the nature of the race and ethnic group interaction you’ve observed?

The public system has provided good forums for supporting racial and ethnic interactions. Public activities such as school, transportation, voting and politics, religion and workplaces have provided forums for persons of different races to interact as peers. This has created opportunities for racial equality (Schaefer, 2013).

How might positive social change be encouraged to improve race and ethnic group relations in your immediate context?

There is a need for social change in three areas to improve race and ethnic relations. The first area is in law enforcement that has typically relied on racial profiling to conduct its activities. Minority races feel targeted by law enforcement. The second area is in politics whereby it is not uncommon for political candidates to play the race card when seeking support and discrediting their opponents. The third area is in public policies whereby some ethnic groups have been disproportionally affected by these policies (Pinder, 2013; Schaefer, 2015). For instance, it is not uncommon for African American neighborhoods to lack security and basic amenities.

References

Pinder, S. (2013). The Politics of Race and Ethnicity in the United States: Americanization, De-Americanization, and Racialized Ethnic Groups. Palgrave Macmillan.

Schaefer, R. (2013). Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the USA. Pearson Education.

Schaefer, R. (2015). Race and Ethnicity in the United States (8^th ed.). Pearson Education.  Analysis of Race and Ethnicity Essay Paper