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The Failure to Amend Predisposed Racial Discrimination

Growing up in a very diverse city, I was exposed to many different cultures, ethnicities,
and of course, races. This has forced me to listen to and witness discrimination in many different
ways, but between blacks and whites was the most prevalent. The discrimination was difficult to
avoid and even more difficult to understand at times. It just seemed to happen without conscious
thought.
I believe one of the biggest examples of this I observed during my four years of high
school was at my class junior prom. At our prom there were two sections of tables set up on
either side of the dance floor. Once students began to arrive, the dance floor immediately
became a barrier between blacks and whites. To me, this was not intentional, it just happened
because everyone is so used to being with others of their own color and do not find it necessary
to expand their group of friends to people outside their color. It was not by design that each
white person went to one side while each black person went to the other. It happened because as
people arrived they decided to do this. I argue that racial discrimination is still a problem in
America and many young people do not have the desire to change this problem because they are
often predisposed to discrimination due to their upbringing from their previous generations.
The problem, that most fail to acknowledge, is the segregation and discrimination of
people that are not of the same color. It exists because previous generations have not yet let go of
the differences between races. Parenting styles and even just the way others live carries on to
each generation after. Most often, people look to make friends with their own race; they look at
other races as a whole other species because they dress differently or because they eat different
foods. This is most likely because their great grandparents, grandparents, or even their parents
are subconsciously putting the idea that other races are not ones to socialize with into their heads.
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The idea that people of different colors and races should not mix, to me, is definitely
something that needs to be put to rest. A lot of times it serves as the reason why there are
numerous fights in very diverse schools or why some people are not getting the job they want
even though they are the most qualified candidate. Assault is a crime regardless of the color of
the perpetrator or the victim and a qualified candidate will always be qualified for the particular
job no matter what color they are, but this is not always the case due to racial prejudice..
The goal of the civil rights movement was to end racial discrimination towards African
Americans to a certain degree, but racial discrimination is still present in America. Racial
discrimination maintains a strong presence in America because it carries through generations.
Too many white grandparents dont want their children or grandchildren to date a person of a
different color and vice versa. Often times, one will find people who still believe that races
should not be intertwined in any aspect, whether it be as friends or spouses.
Iyiola Solanke states in her book Making Anti-Racial Discrimination Law that many
people are accustomed to racial discrimination. She believes that even though discrimination
against mainly blacks was not a law, it is still a big part of society. The law contains many
different clauses that apply to, of course, all people living in the country but fail to acknowledge
some other rather large problems that go on between people of different races. Solanke supports
my claim by arguing that racial discrimination is predisposed to us. She writes, English Law,
for example, did not compel people to discriminate against others because of their race or colour,
but it likewise did not prohibit such discrimination.
1
Solanke may not believe that we
discriminate because of our previous generation but she does believe that we discriminate by

1
Solanke, Iyiola. Making Anti-Racial Discrimination Law: A comparative history of social action and anti-racial
discrimination law. (New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, 2009).
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default. This is because there is nothing written in stone that racial discrimination is prohibited or
frowned upon; it is just something that is brushed off as nothing.
Carey McWilliams argues that there are two general types of discrimination Passive
segregation based on custom and tradition; and active segregation, that is, legally sanctioned
segregation.
2
McWilliams states that there are still forms of legal discrimination such as
residential restrictions and denial of occupational opportunities. He suggests that these laws are
visible everyday but not being taken care of by the law or by the people. This argument that
McWilliams makes supports the second part of my claim that many people do not have the
desire to amend the problem of racial discrimination seeing as there are types of segregation that
are being noticed but not being fixed. Since there are laws that are made to avoid this type of
segregation and discrimination that are ignored, no one takes into consideration that this is
actually a real problem. This would be the first step to recognize that this is the problem. On
account of no one admitting to this, the problem therefore fails to be corrected.
According to the Panel on Methods for Assessing Discrimination, most people have a
similar goal to achieve equality among all races. However, they also state that this goal has yet
to be achieved, which is a clear observation. It is indicated that racial discrimination is a problem
due to differences in socioeconomic status, differences in the opportunities of one race over the
other, and differences of institutional policies and practices.
3
This study basically shows that
discrimination against people of other races is not yet a problem that has been overcome, but
merely a problem that most of society wants to eliminate. Although this article recognizes the
problem of racial discrimination, it is the complete opposite of my original claim. The members

2
Carey McWilliams, Race Discrimination and the Law (Science and Society, 1945).
3
National Research Council, Measuring Racial Discrimination (Washington DC: The National Academies Press,
2004).
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of the Panel believe that racial discrimination is a problem that most of society wants to amend.
However, I believe this is not the case, as stated in my argument. If the people of society wanted
to fix the problem of segregation and discrimination then there would be more people looking to
make a difference by starting things such as protests and anti-racial discrimination groups.
Despite what the Panel on Methods for Assessing Discrimination believes, I still argue that most
people of society, younger or older, do not want to change the way races are separated due to the
different levels of power each race has over the other. Whites hold power in most government
settings, repressing the type of influence blacks have in congress for example.
What emerges from an examination of predisposed racial discrimination that is still a
considerably large problem is that many fail to notice the problem still exists. Seeing as most
Americans believe that racial discrimination is not a problem anymore, my claim that
discrimination is predisposed to the younger generations is further supported. I have noticed few
articles stating that some people believe that there are others out there that want equality for all.
However, other articles and books have said that since the prohibiting of racial discrimination
has not yet been made a law, people still do not notice discrimination and segregation as a
problem, but merely a way of life. Since my claim is that younger generations are predisposed to
discrimination and that no one has the desire enough to amend this problem, discrimination can
be seen as something normal that happens daily. Although I argue this, I do see how people think
of discriminating against other races as a normal event in their everyday lives. This is most likely
because racial discrimination is unnoticeable, it has been around for so long and has traveled
through so many generations that it does not phase anyone anymore.
Discrimination serves as a large problem still to this day. Each generation of people
disregard discrimination as anything but a normal event in everyday life. This can be due to the
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manner in which they grew up, the people they are surrounded by, and their ignorance towards
the affects it has on others. Not many from our up and coming generations will chose to protest
against discrimination against their race or even against other races due to the way they were told
how to live. Some families are more discriminatory than others but there are most likely little to
none that will actually open up to another races way of living. Like my experience at my high
schools junior prom, those kids sat where they did because they thought that that was right due
to the way their families had raised them. It only takes a few people to mix up the seating
arrangement to change everyones view on that day just like it only takes a few people from one
generation to carry on the belief that discrimination is not something one should consider as
lawful to fix this particular problem.