Race And Racial Inequality Essay

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Race and racial inequality have powerfully shaped American history from its beginnings. It has been a crucial line of division in American society since the settlement of the American colonies in the beginning of the 17th century. Racial discrimination is still present and obvious, as it remains a daily and pervasive fact of life in the United States today. Here we will focus on four domains where discrimination takes place: everyday life interactions; housing; education; and the criminal justice system.
Perhaps the most persuasive form of discrimination occurs in ordinary, daily interactions on the street, in work, in stores, in classrooms. It was proven that in stores, black customers are more likely to be monitored and treated with suspicion by store employees than are white customers. Furthermore, white people walking on city streets frequently cross the street when there is a black man behind them or to avoid passing a black man. One of the best documented forms of on-going discrimination is traffic stops police for the “offense” that is ironically called DWB – driving while black. In
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According to numerous data, white people are more likely to have done illegal drugs than blacks, but are far less likely to go to jail for it. A 2011 study from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive found white people were significantly more likely to use illegal and prescription opiates, hallucinogens, and cocaine than blacks. Yet, a 2009 Human Rights Watch study found that each year from 1980 to 2007, blacks were arrested on drug charges at rates 2.8 to 5.5 times higher than whites. Furthermore, Black men are sentenced to far lengthier prison sentences than white men for the same crimes. A 2012 study by the United States Sentencing Commission found black men were sentenced to prison terms nearly 20 percent longer than white men for similar or even same