Racism is a century-old system of subordination and discrimination in Portland, designed by Europeans and white Americans to exclude African Americans from full participation in matters of the society, economy, and politics (Feagin and Hernan 10). This ideology was formed to omit African Americans from major economic, cultural and political institutions. For the last century, the ways of thinking, and living in Portland have been widely entrenched in a white society. All institutions and daily rhythms of life are engrossed against African Americans. Anti-African feelings and ideas are widely disseminated from generation to generation by parents, peers, education system and the media. This tendency has been insistent for the last couple of centuries. As a matter of fact, the whites are more than ready to avail themselves on evolving this racialized thinking further when needed (Feagin and Hernan 12). Though, the color of white Americans is associated with purity, innocence, and privilege; the above qualities do not even exist in them, rather they are a social construction fashioned, to humiliate African-Americans.
Read also How Is Racism Explained From A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective?
In this mention, racial divisions form a significant part of the social design that orients further the imperial act of racism. The broad availability of prejudices and ethnic categories helps to advance negative views towards African Americans, to new immigrants in Portland. This chapter probes cases of determined racism to African Americans in Portland. Considering the scenarios, an in-depth analysis is developed of how white Americans believe and feel regarding African American children and adults. Moreover, the chapter explores different aspects of racism, such as active and passive acts of discrimination, the motivation between the acts of racism, and misconceptions and myths regarding African Americans in Portland.
Acts of racism Against African Americans in Portland.
Discrimination on employment to African Americans in Portland. Victor Pierce is an African American worker in a North American enterprise, a place he has worked for the last two decades. He loves his work, and he is a royal member of the company. However, in the recent past, depicting from an interview conducted by him by the Atlantic group, things seem to have taken a new paradigm shift in the company setup. The White co-workers have started: challenging him to meaningless fights, referred to him as a “boy’, sabotaged his workstation, carved some funny black images on the washrooms or even wrote some absurd words on the factory walls (Alana 1). Victor’s case is one, among other six African Americans, employed in the Portland companies whom, the lawyer representing in a series of many lawsuits against the enterprise. The assertions may seem forged owing to the reputation of Portland towards real progressivism. However, many African Americans employed in the region are not stunned, when they learn about such acts of racial discrimination in employment. Such acts are perceived to be prevalent in the region, more than any state in the north, for the last two centuries. Though, in the present Portland has esteemed the aspect of inclusion. The history of this city clearly establishes it as a white state that developed laws excluding the black people from participating it its economic life (Feagin and Hernan 20).
Read also A Comparison of the African-American and Asian-American Racism Experience
The effects of discrimination and inequalities in employment are prevalent in most companies and employment agencies in Portland. African American workers, take on average less work than their white peers, fail to receive deserved promotions or they are subjected to coercive supervision. On the same note, it is observed that the rates of unemployment among African Americans, has always been twice as that of white Americans. Conversely, the recent recessions have seen African American workers laid off, twice more than their white peers. Some rough estimates indicate that a fifth of all black workers is either underemployed or unemployed (Feagin and Hernan 12). This statistics clearly suggest that the employment rates in Portland are not just based on qualifications and skills but rather race, color, and origin.
Racism in Accommodation to African Americans in Portland. Many African Americans have complained of unfair treatment while seeking accommodation, owing to their race. In the recent times, this city has continually undertaken renewal projects, such as the construction of Emanuel Hospital (Alana 2). The project is quite valuable to all residents in the region. However, such a project is initiated at a place commonly occupied by black people, completely decimating their residence (Alana 2). The invitation created here is an array of questions, on why the city would initiate such a move to a minority group. Moreover, racism persists greatly in this town, with regard to accommodation affairs. In a report prepared for an audit in 2011. Property owners and leasing firms discriminate against African American tenants. Acts such as citing higher rents or deposit fees to African Americans are rampant, as compared to the local natives (Alana 8). As a matter of fact, an estimated 64 percent of all landlords in this region do not rent their property to African Americans. Lastly, financial services, such as mortgages to buy homes and other assets, are inhibited from African Americans in the region. Companies offering such services treat, African Americans as minorities, and they create many complex legal formalities, that deny the black people easy access to such finances (Alana 13).
Violence against African Americans in Portland. Acts of violence, like police brutality, vandalism, cross burning, and community-based gang action are observed against African Americans in Portland (Feagin and Hernan 20). Although such acts are rare and limited, they are usually perceived by the white Americans as significant social practices. The government also awards impunity to proprietors of such vices. Studies of supremacist publications have found out that several groups of white males engage in aggressive racist actions against African Americans. On this mention, the region has a rich history of violence against African Americans. Between 1860-1190 thousands of Africans Americans were murdered by a group of white Americans (Feagin and Hernan 22). This came about with the help of police authorities in the region, clearly implying that the authorities in the area supported such vices. In the modern times, Portland is held in a nasty bout of mob violence, directed against African Americans. The US Department of Justice investigation has recorded acts of excessive force by the Portland Police to blacks in the region. With only, Six percent of this city residents being black, a third of all the fatalities of police brutality are African Americans (Alana 15). This outlines a racial issue in the town, with regard to police investigations.
Health inequalities to African Americans in Portland. Most African Americans living in Portland believe that health care is a “white system.” They additionally, explore that the provision of health services is streaked with racism, delineating from an extensive study of 30 African Americans in Portland, (Randall 1). This notion is grounded in experience and substantiation. Portland has few health care providers and professionals of African origin. The health professionals prevalent in the area exercise the system of racialization in offering their services. As a matter of fact, white patients attending this hospital are given preferential treatment as compared to African Americans.
Health inequalities in Portland are not only ascribed to the present acts of racism but also to past acts of deprivations. Limited educational opportunities, low wages, high-risk occupations are delineated as the main sources of this inequalities. Also, the state authority has not efficiently, enhanced measures that reduce the perils of exposure to African Americans. Alcohol and tobacco outlets and illegal dumping sites are greatly found in the settings of African Americans as compared to white Americans (Randall 1). Additionally, many regions inhabited by African Americans lack grocery stores with fresh foods, but rather they have shops that stock foods with high fat and salt content mounting the exposure of African Americans to health problems (Randall 2). This Such measures, of institutional discrimination, protect the health of the whites at the expense of African Americans
The life expectancy of African Americans is critically below that of white Americans. Social determinants are the greatest facilitators of good health. Depriving such acts to African Americans is precarious to their welfare. Appropriate measures and laws must be enacted to eliminate discriminatorily apply with regard to social factors in Portland.
Educational discrimination to African Americans in Portland. African Americans in Portland have vastly experienced educational disparities like any other city in the region. In an article presented by The Oregonian live. Paul Antony, a board member at Portland Public Schools, filed a complaint alleging racial discrimination against African American students (Barnes 1). Paul’s complaint denunciates, Superintendent Carole Smith, of discriminating against African-American students, by tying upgrading electives and other success factors to past academic achievements. Paul, who was selected by the board committee several years ago, observed that Miss Carol Smith, allowed the school staff to discriminate based on race, and origin in access to educational offerings and programs. Furthermore, Paul also details data to substantiate that students of African-American origin, cannot access courses matted to long-term academic accomplishments.
In a school set up at Portland, research indicates that African American learners, are punished more often, and they receive more suspensions and dismissals from schools than the White scholars. Incredibly more upsetting is the analysis of a finding conducted in 2010 where over 70 percent of all students involved in school-related arrests were African Americans. The study also shed light on the fact that, only 18 percent of those enrolled in the schools are African Americans yet, they account for 35 percent of suspensions and expulsions (Rudd 3). The reflection deliberated by this study was that students of non-white American origin were three times more likely to be suspended or dismissed than their peers. Also, the research designates that African American students as young as age five are consistently suspended from schools for minor infringements, like making noise or writing on their desks (Rudd 4). When the school administrations are probed on this issue of possible discrimination, the response is that the black students are getting just punishments. However, one can easily delineate that such actions are based on racial disparities.
Neoliberal racism against African Americans in Portland. This is the most common, yet the most overlooked form of racial discrimination against African Americans in Portland. Though the city has marked significant progress in fighting racialization, the government has, on the other hand, smoothed the dominance of the natives’ supremacist sentiment in areas such as business, housing, incomes, and culture. An analysis by prepared by Portland State University and the Coalition of Communities of Colour portrays, that the African American society’s lag far behind their peers, in the Portland region in employment, health care, and education (Goodling and McClintock 504). Additionally, persistent racial inequalities are observed between the incomes and wealth of white Americans and the African Americans. As a matter of fact, the ordinary income for African-American families is only 58 percent that of the white American family (Goodling and McClintock 504). Furthermore, the poverty levels among African Americans is much higher than that of the whites. This data greatly underscores the drawbacks of being black in Portland. In lieu to the elevated levels of poverty, and the lack of material needs of life forces many African Americans are forced to crime. Most of the delinquencies committed by African Americans can be seen as customized efforts to revolt against joblessness, discrimination, and other financial scarcities. The government is pure to blame for the lack of adequate measures that enhance the welfare of this communities.
Another instance where neoliberal racism, is greatly observed is in the legal systems and procedures enacted to this societies. A study, from a non-profit organization that mined data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, found out that the African American race, make up more than 9 percent of Portland prison inmates, withstanding the fact that they only comprise of 1.8 percent of the general populace (Goodling and McClintock 514). These up shots are alarming, the criminal justice system in the region portrays neither equality nor transparency. The invitation created here is that the government has created a justice providing system based on racial disparities. The legal system should help lessen the discrepancies occurring to African Americans in the region. However, the system has been corrupted, and it only aids in propagating the issue.
The Reality of Racism against African Americans in Portland
The true ideological context of racism against African Americans in Portland is that it is not exiting any time soon. African Americans, have advanced into an integral portion of the American society and precisely Portland. Nonetheless, they persist as a minority group as compared to the native residents. Research has it, that all African Americans face discrimination in many aspects of their daily lives. Enacting measures that constructively address racial disparities can be hard, especially in a region like Portland where the native residents have a little acquaintance, to people who look dissimilar to them. Perhaps this is why Portland has experienced more cases of racial discrimination than other regions.
Though the government and the white society substantially feel that proper measures have been enacted to stop this disparity, more action need to be advanced with regard to their welfare. Social determinates like education, health, and income need to be upgraded to a level equivalent to their white peers. More importantly, the federal government needs to shun facilitators of such vices such as the media, subjective beliefs and religious. Lastly, this chapter only illustrates a tip of the racist iceberg, a more comprehensive research, need to be advanced so as to give a more distinct view.
You can order a unique paper on Racism Against African Americans in Portland at an affordable price.
Get Your Custom Paper From Professional Writers. 100% Plagiarism Free, No AI Generated Content and Good Grade Guarantee. We Have Experts In All Subjects.
Place Your Order Now