Firstly, in both black and white schools student were at least partially educated. However, the level of education between the two schools was extremely different. Only one out of eight black adults in the nation had completed high school and four out of ten white adults had gotten their diploma. Black students were not encouraged as much as white students were to complete school.
In the United States, it is believed that if you get good grades you will get into a good college and obtain a degree and a high paying job. Education is the great equalizer among students to achieve upward mobility many think. But is this true? Is the racial gap in education really something to worry about? In the readings that follow, supporters say that the education gap does matter and is widening state.
Do African American people still face racial discrimination for getting a job or even getting their basic rights in The United States of America? Many incidents in our daily life prove that African American still faces discrimination than white people faces. According to the poll from the public religion research institute, “Over 85% people still feel that African American people get discriminated to get the basic rights. But not many white people agree to this. Only 49% of the white people believes that African American does not face racial discrimination at any place”(www.
This segregated America to this day and made it impossible to invest in the future of African-American neighbourhoods. Property taxes fund schools, which means that families who live in nice neighbourhoods - ones they could afford because of government backed home loans - get a better education. Better education means more opportunities, more resources and better jobs. The lack of educational opportunities meant that many African-Americans were relegated to low-wage manual work widening the wealth disparity that already existed. Part of being white is the privilege to reject a political consciousness.
Whilst the civil rights movement improved the life of African American’s in many ways, it was not until later that such minorities felt true improvement in their lives. Life during the 1950’s had only improved to a small extent, and despite more opportunities and higher wage earnings, there was only limited progress in solving the problems of segregation: violence continued, new employment opportunities and voting rights were not readily available and whilst there was change in the areas of transport and education, many important areas were still lacking. Many of the problems African American’s faced stemmed from the Jim Crow Laws enacted from 1876-1965, which were passed to separate blacks and whites in as many aspects of life as possible. This act was supposedly aimed at making separate but equal accommodations for both races but in reality these laws created segregated barriers and discrimination, where blacks were often treated as inferiors and put at a disadvantage ultimately making racism and prejudices systemic.
King’s letter called “Letters from Birmingham Jail” generally talks about how justice appears to be a threat in American society based on race. Dr King mentions “ A law is unjust if it inflicted on a minority that, as a result of being denied the right to vote, has no part in enacting or devising the law” (king 4). Dr.King exposes how the white America did not allow Black people to vote because the White America at the time did not see blacks as equal. Dr. King points this out that this appears to be a threat to the White American society because Black people are on the rise to have equal equality and same benefits as Whites. Dr. King also discusses about towards the Black population the law is very unjust when it comes to having a permit on the street because it appears to be a threat to the American society.
The Asian Americans are one minority group that is underrepresented in crime statistic (McNamara & Burns, 2009). This could be due to the fact that they value education and prepared themselves for higher paying jobs making it less likely that they will turn to crime. Even though many own a business, many work long hours and still earn a median income lower than White Americans (McNamara & Burns, 2009). One problem with the positive perceptions about Asian Americans as a group is that it diminishes the problems faced by other Asian Americans in attaining
That racism has only gotten stronger through the years. After the civil war ended slavery, many white folks started being really racists to the free blacks. This racial injustice has gotten out of hand and the movie 13th has provided us with the truth that the white men have been trying to hide from us. First, racial injustice has really developed into a worse thing. Numerous black people get sent to jail for crimes they didn’t commit, while crimes white men have committed go unpunished.
The racists argued that the Japanese Americans’ stuck to values such as a proclivity for hard work, a reverence for learning, and profound respect for authority and parents which shaped a psychological achievement orientation to prove that the Japanese performed well in school. The model minority stereotype rose as a model as a way in which the minority groups could rise to success in the society, despite that it was based on the success of less than one million Asian Americans. The model became a direct critique of the Black Americans who applied for relief in the federally supported social programs. Therefore, the Asian Americans could also not get relief, from Welfare programs, because they could make it on their own. The implication of the model minority was that those who had not yet made it were portrayed as not good enough, including their culture.
The following year Johnson enacted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which allowed federal employees to register voters, prohibited any change in voting stations unless permitted, and eliminated voting barriers like taxes and tests. Voting centers were no longer allowed to inhibit black voters by making up their own rules, otherwise they would be investigated. Allowing African Americans to do their civic duty and be heard in the federal government was exactly what many civil rights movements were fighting for. The government would hear more than just the white man’s voice with this new law, they would also hear the voice of many oppressed peoples. The inability to vote was exactly what led to the creation of the United States, and allowing another population to vote is undoubtedly a turning point in the country’s history.
These Supreme court cases are related because one case set precedents for the other. Plessy versus Ferguson stated that separate but equal was not violating the Constitution, and that whites and African Americans can sit in different train cars, and as long as they are equal it does not violate the constitution. Not much change happened after that Supreme Court case, whites went one way, and African-Americans with the other. But years later that changed. After the Brown versus Board of Education case, they realized that African American children probably felt inferior to the white, so they changed that precedent, and after that case, not wanting any race to feel inferior to anyone else.
As a result, we had in 2011 nearly half (48.1%) of all Dane County’s Black third graders failed to meet proficiency standards in reading, compared to 10.9% of White third graders. In other words, Dane County Black third graders were 4.4 times more likely NOT to be proficient in reading than their White peers. In other words, because of this large difference between rich and poor property taxes payment, rich communities receive more school funding and give great opportunities to their children to have higher quality education than poor communities. In “School funding inequality makes education separate and unequal”, Klein Rebecca (2015)
Hayes became president of the United States, the first decision he made was to end reconstruction by removing all the Union troops from the south, but that led to the ex-Confederates gaining control of the south. With racist ex-Confederates back in power, the southern African Americans were destined to be segregated, in regards to their place in society. According to the Supreme Court, segregation did not violate the fourteenth amendment as long as blacks had access to accommodations that were “separate but equal” to those of white people. Jim Crow laws were implemented as a way for white people to treat African Americans unfairly. White people did not want to accept the fact that they had to share public places with black citizens, so these Jim Crow laws set some boundaries by segregating black and white people in public schools, restaurants, trains, sports stadiums and movie theaters.
Both Tocqueville and President Obama saw education is important ways to eliminate barriers amongst the classes. Yet it appears to have become a barrier itself, namely through the institution of structural poverty. In his description of what has equalized the poor and rich classes, Tocqueville cites the diffusion of education across the United States. Equal access to people regardless of their income was instrumental in allowing the poor yet intelligent youth gain equal footing in regards to the work force. However, for many students today, this equal footing is nothing but a dream.
In the United States caucasian people still have advantages over other minority groups because of how society puts caucasians on a pedestal. Research proves that african americans are less likely to receive a job even with the same credentials as a caucasian and “research by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) [also] shows that people of color receive less information from real-estate agents, are shown fewer units, and are frequently steered away from predominantly white neighborhoods” (Jenkins 1). Since minority groups cannot get access to these white neighborhoods they are forced to live in the poor neighborhoods where they are forced to do illegal activities because of the influences around them and that is the main source of income in these bad areas. The problem with these forms of discrimination are they are not provable in the court of law and most of the time the victims do not even realize that the discriminations are occurring. This is still an improvement from the direct discrimination that the minority groups were much aware of that MArtin Luther King helped eliminate, but this form of discrimination is still apparent and shows inequality is still present in the world today.