Racism has become a major issue today; it comes in all degrees, types, and amounts. Based on the gun violence that has been going on with the police. Racism in America has not been solved; it is very much alive and a problem that many American’s pretend doesn’t exist. Economic inequality between black and white is far greater than members of either demographic. Those who endure racism can be made to feel they have less freedom or are second class citizens, the consequences of racism is to never develop public goods, public institutions, safety nets, and the economy stagnates. It is hard to fix the racism problem to better the economy when racism is a touchy subject and often not discussed.
Fighting discrimination requires setting standards for both individuals and collective behavior, educating everyone about those standards and creating consequences for violating them. According to Sen “ Government represents a huge number of institutions and sets the rule for a huge number more. These institutions are key to closing discrimination gaps based on race, gender, sexuality, national status, disability and age. Such institutions reflect the power relations of a society, but they also provide important leverage points for changing those relations” (Sen, 2012). The racism problem definitely exists; what Sen has stated confirms that the government can solve the problem of racism that is affecting the economy because it is causing a divide amongst people of color, and different cultures.
Diversity at work is essential, and it is everyone’s responsibility. Diversity in the workplace consists of a wide range of different cultures, viewpoints, and backgrounds (Mangan, 2017). Diversity incorporates how people recognize themselves as well as how others see them. There are many benefits to having a diverse workplace; employees from a diverse background come up with creative new ideas and perspectives knowledgable by their own experiences. Companies attract top talent, improve their customer orientation, improve decision-making, and are able to secure their license to operate. It also helps organizations understand their target consumers better, and customer satisfaction. Companies that encourage diversity when hiring gain access to a larger number of applicants. Oliver Ralph and Laura Noonan states that “48% of companies in the U.S. with more diversity at senior management level improved their market share the previous year, while only 33% of companies with less diverse management reported similar growth” (Ralph and Noonan, 2017).
In the graph above it shows the financial performance of an ethnic diversity of an executive team and the board of directors. A mix of ethnicities is 33% more likely to outperform their peers on profitability. When companies have a diverse work group they have a better financial performance than when they don’t.
There are a lot of reasons for disadvantages in the workplace. According to Linda Emma “Old ways of thinking and entrenched prejudices may hinder your efforts and create tension and conflict” (Linda Emma, 2018). Coworkers in the workplace may not be open to change and can be stuck in their ways about new people with different cultures and different skin colors, working at the same organization. To resolve this issue companies need to create an environment where workers feel valued, included, respected, and safe. By having diversity training in the workplace, it brings cultural issues to the light. Current employees are able to understand someone else’s background that they will only learn during training. It also increases employee engagement.
Another issue would be black men having a hard time escaping poverty. African American men struggle with becoming poor in their adult life than any other race, whether they have been raised in a poor or wealthy household. The median household in 2016 income of black American’s was $39,500 compared to $65,00o for non-Hispanic white American’s (C.K., 2018). Black girls and women are not facing such hardship as black men. Although, they do experience inequality, black and white girls that are raised in a family with similar income earnings gain similar individual incomes as adults in the future (Badger, Miller, Pearce, and Quealy, 2018). For men it seems to be more of a race issue on why they are earning such low income and why they are in poverty, even if they are educated or have attended a prestigious school.
The graph shows the large income gap between black men and white men, but not women. As I explained previously black women and white women have similar incomes raised in similar households, so it will be very rare to see an income gap between that genders. It seems that no matter what the income level of their parents are, black men do worse than white men on average proving that there is a an economic disadvantage among black men. According to Eli Day “ The roots of black folk’s economic disadvantages run deep. Across nearly every measure of economic wellbeing, black Americans remain years, even decades, behind their white counterparts. The racial wealth gap alone has yawned to point where black families would need over two centuries to catch up with the wealth amassed by white families”(Day, 2018). Black men are more than twice as likely to be in the lowest quintile than white
Black males are extremely stereotyped in a negative way, black men are “known” in the public eye as being angry, violent, and intimidating. The racist stereotypes hurt black men economically because many times they are not able to obtain jobs or when they do their salaries are below average. “New data shows that 21% of black men raised at the very bottom were incarcerated – Black men raised in the top 1% by millionaires were as likely to be incarcerated as white men raised in households earning about $36,000” (Badger, Miller, Pearce, and Quealy, 2018). The reasoning behind black males being incarcerated even the ones, who were not raised in poverty, shows that there is a huge racism or discrimination issue within many of these arrests. This also means that by black men having a high rate of unemployment, they are absent from the labor force and when they are released from prison they have a hard time obtaining a job because of their past record. Black males are easily targeted when walking down the street; they are usually stopped and frisked or harassed by police officers just by their appearance.
This graph shows the total amount of black men incarcerated in 2010, it also gives a visual to of how black men have a higher number of incarcerations whether they are raised in a rich family or poor.
Unemployment in the black and Hispanic community is also a big issue. “ Black unemployment rate reached 6.8% in December- the lowest it has hit since the early 1970s when the U.S. Labor Department first began keeping track of the data” (Dupuy, 2018). Donald Trump wants to take credit for the low rate of unemployment, however recovery of the unemployment rate began under former president Barack Obama. Gillian B. White (2018) states that the unemployment declines are a reflection of the sound economic policy of the past decade. Although. Unemployment rates for African Americans have improved over the past year; they are still higher than the rate for white Americans.
Jobless black Americans have averaged more than twice the rate for whites. One in ten African Americans are unemployed (Democratic staff, 2015). The highest unemployment rates are seen amongst young African Americans. Blacks are 2.5 times more likely to be long term unemployed. The jobless rate for African Americans equals to lower income in the household, the average median income of a black families household is $34,600, which is $24,000 less than white families who earn a median of $58,300.
Racism in school is another huge issue that the government should take seriously. Blacks students are more likely to be suspended or expelled from school than white children. During the 1940s only a limited number of colleges and universities accepted African American students. Nadra Kareem Nittle suggest that “Poor children and children from minority groups are not only less likely to be identified as gifted and talented but more likely to be identified as requiring special education services by teachers”(Nittle, 2018). African American children who come from poorer backgrounds tend to lash out in school, which results in teacher proposing services for the child. It is also reported that white teachers overlook giftedness in black and brown children. Students who are black tend to have unqualified teachers, so they are not getting the same education as a white student would if they attended public school. They are also less likely to enroll in advanced science and math classes, which reduce their chances of being accepted to a four-year college (Nittle, 2018). “They are more likely to attend schools with a greater police presence, increasing the odds they will enter the criminal justice system” (Nittle, 2018). Being exposed to police enforcement in school and walking through metal detectors can increase the risk of students being subjected to police violence, and that also makes them want to act out because they may feels as if they are already in prison with such high volumes of the law enforcement in and out of their schools. Students of color in large cities are more likely to attend schools that most of their peers are poor or in a low-income family. “The over whelming isolation of students of color in schools with mostly low- income classmates threatens to undermine efforts both to improve educational outcomes and to provide a pipeline of skilled workers for the economy at a time when such students compromise a majority of the nations public school enrollment” (Boschma and Brownstein, 2016). Public schools are greatly looked down upon because it is known for educating students that come from poverty. It is seen as a divide or educational segregation, students are not getting the best education or they are not getting help to improve on their education, that is why many of the public high school graduation rates are low in black communities. “Only in 35 of them (or almost 37%) do most white students attend schools were majority of their classmates qualify as poor. At least 80% of whites attend majority of low income schools in six cities, compared to 54 cities for African Americans and 55 for Hispanics” (Boschma and Brownstein, 2016)
The segregation between the races of black, Hispanic and white at public schools are always being compared, but the graph shows educational expectations are lower for black children because they are not expected to attain much education as white students, especially with parent whom are less educated.
These issues discussed in this research paper are issues that government can improve on particularly people of color with issues of unemployment, incarceration, and the education system. By hiring teachers for public who are well educated and have a good background to increase the rate of high school graduations and college enrollments for black students.