M5 Group Discussion

Student Professor Course Due Date M5 Group Discussion: “Is Racism Over Yet?” Drawing on what we learned across the modules, the group discussion aimed to analyze a social issue using interdisciplinary perspectives. In my proposal for the discussion, I decided to focus on the idea from the video: Is Racism Over Yet? The issue challenges misconceptions that racial inequality is something from the past, although there is overwhelming evidence against this position (Finney et al. 3173). It provokes strong feelings, as it is a significant historical and cultural issue that continues to affect discriminated populations in contemporary times. The discussion presents how racism can be viewed from various disciplinary perspectives, including analyzing and identifying the core problem and how solutions can be sought. Historical Context (M2 - Historical Studies) When viewed from a historical perspective, racism is still prevalent and is not close to coming to an end. Therefore, there is a need to understand the current landscape of racial inequality in America. One must consider the country's historical background and the role of racial issues in it. Aspects of unequal racial relations, including slavery, Jim Crow laws, redlining, and segregation, affected American’s rights to wealth, education, healthcare, and justice (Michener and LeBrón 112). Through these issues, policies such as the GI Bill, which aimed to assist veterans, excluded African Americans who suffered from generational poverty due to discriminative policies. The historical lens shows how racism has long-term consequences, using intergenerational trauma to explain why racism is still prevalent today. This trauma, passed down through generations, can be recognized by the present population stratification using socioeconomic status. Understanding this historical perspective helps individuals understand why the idea that ‘racism is over’ is not only wrong but also dangerous (Vaught and Castagno 97). This is because it makes people deny that ‘systemic barriers’ are still experienced by people today as they were in the past years. Social Sciences Perspective (M3 - Social Sciences) An understanding from a social sciences perspective allows for dissecting racism as a structure and system. For instance, there are theories such as structural racism and implicit bias, which suggest that inequality is still ongoing today despite the progress made after the Civil Rights Movement (Solórzano and Huber 19). It is for this reason that today, although we do not see precise forms of racism, there are covert forms that persist in institutions like law enforcement, health services, housing, and school systems. As an example, the experience in the Black Lives Matter movement provides evidence that Black Americans are targeted with excessive force by the police...