Dorothy Nyswander: An Open Society

The United States is known as the place to achieve the American Dream and one of the attributes that make the U.S. distinctive is variety of races and ethnicities from people all across the country. According to Romesh Ratnesar in his essay “Beating the Wrap”; he believes that people of mixed-race ancestry should not identify themselves as belonging to one race or another, but as “multiracial.” On the other hand, I do not agree with this statement. I believe that how people choose to define their race is their personal decision. If they want to consider themselves multiracial, that is acceptable or if they want to consider themselves another race that is acceptable as well.

Society is a dangerous and ruthless beast. A person’s wish to belong in society can ultimately be their demise to not only their financial stability but as well as their social status which is ironic, for the actions they take to belong only further separate them from society. These actions are particularly common amongst poor folks as they wish to be a part of society, but their poor financial decisions to spend all their earnings on exquisite items only drags them further away from society’s acceptance. In Tressie McMillan Cottom’s Reading, “The Logic of Stupid Poor People”, She describes her life as an African-American child born into a poor family who were able to manage their funds wisely and live comfortably while families similar to her’s, but to only manage to dig themselves into deep and unforgiving caverns of financial debt. I agree, for I have witnessed many cases of poverty stricken people drag themselves further into financial debt all for useless status symbols.

Nearly a century after the abolition of slavery in America, the discrimination and prejudice behavior conducted by caucasians was still prevalent in the lives of African Americans. Certain racial laws that contradicted the human rights set in the Constitution prohibited blacks from living regular lives along-side white Americans. Several iconic individuals within the black community, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X, have left behind legacies and ideologies that have impacted and still strongly influence African American culture tremendously. Martin Luther King Jr’s less violent and peaceful approach along with Malcolm X’s affirmative action behavior, shaped the Civil Rights movement and the Black Power movement that eventually

Stereotypical images have for long existed. Stereotypes are images or ideas about certain groups of people or things that in most cases are not true. Hispanic Americans are one of the many groups that are targeted the most with stereotypes. Hispanics are said to be drug dealers. Many Americans claim that Hispanics come to this country to sale drugs and as a result of this the country becomes in danger.

The Declaration of Independence (US 1776) showed that all Americans deserve equal opportunities in life when it proclaimed that “all men are created equal”; however, slavery continued to exist for over 80 years. Inequality continues to haunt African Americans in the present day in numerous aspects of life, as is apparent with police brutality and higher poverty rates than their white counterparts.

In the world right now, there is still inequality for all. People are criticized everyday because of how they look, speak, dress, act, etc. In America, although there is people that are changing, there with always be that small group of people that won’t change their views on what they believe is right and wrong in our society. You can also see this in the book, To Kill A Mockingbird, written by author, Harper Lee. All throughout the novel, you can see how white people are superior to the African Americans that live in the same town.

African American Reparations: A Conceptual Research Aims and Objectives Racial differences in socioeconomic status (education, income, occupation, health) are well-documented. Research by Gaskin, Headen, and White-Means (2005) found that black people have a higher rate of cardiovascular diseases, breast cancer, and diabetes compared to the rest of the population. They are less likely to receive optimal care for their health conditions, therefore, they are more likely to die from their diseases. Furthermore, black people are three times more likely to live in poverty than white people, and their median household earnings are significantly lower than whites. Slavery, Jim Crow laws, and other forms of discrimination contributed to African Americans’

Throughout American history, African Americans have been treated as unequal to whites and were not given the same rights. People suffered through this belief for a long, difficult time. During the twentieth century, African Americans realized living in a segregated society was unjust and finally decided to make a change. Several individuals rose to power to speak out against segregation and give a voice to those unheard. African Americans unified and fought to create a future in which they were equal.

How Racism Affected Medical Treatment Introduction Medical treatment in the 1950s was not the honest and fair practice it is today. The way in which African Americans we treated for their illnesses, if treated at all, the treatments would be extended over an unneeded amount of time or the treatment wouldn’t even be treatment. It would worsen the illness or have no effect. Today the medial field is much more equal and have more rules to prevent discrimination. A main change that has occurred is that now the doctors can not refuse to treat African Americans.

“The New Jim Crow offers a devastating account of a legal system doing its job perfectly well. We have simply replaced one caste system with another one.” — Forbes Magazine “The New Jim Crow” sheds light on the racial amplitude within the war on drugs. It contends that federal drug policies unfairly target minorities, i.e. people of color. Due to this discrimination, people of color, black men particularly, are kept in a never ending cycle of living in poverty or behind bars.

America, as full of mixed races as it can be, carries on racial discrimination since the beginning. Black men and women were perceived as unequal to those with light skin and placed far below them, serving for those with pale skin as slaves. They were kept unknowledgeable and mistreated till around Lincoln’s presidency when slaves were freed and black men were given the same rights as white men. However, years of slavery had planted a negative connotation on all of America, convincing white people that they were superior. Segregation was abolished in the 1960’s when the Civil Rights Movement took place, allowing black people to have the same rights as any other American citizen.

In the Declaration of Independence, it lists the right that Americans and health care did not include but it should be. When in grade school, you learn about the three things that are essential living: food, water, and shelter. And none of these essentials fix in the category of being a right. Americans should not be afraid that if they lose their jobs or get another job then they will lose their health insurances. The poorest people are unable to pay payment that comes from hospital services, or even just a basic check-up.