Racial Discrimination in present day scenario

Racism is the belief that there are inherent differences in people's traits and capacities that are entirely due to their race. Racial discrimination typically points out taxonomic differences between different groups of people. Racial discrimination was seen prevalent in the early days in many countries like the United States of America where Racism was legally sanctioned imposing heavy burden on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and, at times, Latin Americans as well. European Americans were privileged by law in matters of literacy, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure over periods of time extending from the 17th century to the 1960s. Formal racial discrimination was largely banned in the mid-20th century, and came to be seen as socially unacceptable and/or morally repugnant, yet racial politics remain a major phenomenon. Racial stratification continues to occur in employment, housing, education, lending, and government. Racial discrimination against the blacks is seen till date but was more prevalent in the early times from the 17th century till the recent 1950s, where farmers were denied loans provided to white farmers in similar circumstances and they were not even allowed in schools where the white people studied. Discrimination against the African Americans is Perhaps the most prominent and notable form of American racism, which began with the institution of slavery, during which Africans were enslaved and treated as property. Prior to the institution of slavery, early African and non-white immigrants to the Colonies had been regarded with equal status, serving as sharecroppers alongside whites. After this institution was established many African American were enslaved mainly for agricultural purposes for growing tobacco and cotton. In some cases for African slaves, a term of service meant freedom and a land grant afterward, but these were rarely awarded. Slavery was banned in the northeast of America in the 19th century and many wealthy white families owned these slaves. About 4 million black slaves were freed in 1865. Ninety-five percent of blacks lived in the South, comprising one third of the population there as opposed to one percent of the population of the North. Consequently, fears of eventual emancipation were much greater in the South than in the North.[36] Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white males aged 13 to 43 died in the civil war, including 6% in the North and an extraordinary 18% in the South. The new century saw a hardening of institutionalized racism and legal discrimination against citizens of African descent in the United States. It was so prominent that even the court and its jury was not in favor of the Blacks, for eg. If a negro was accused of any crime by a white person/group and the evidence put against it was in favor of the African American still the jury would find him guilty and the lawyer supporting him would also be taunted in public place and their families be tortured and black mailed the same way how Harper Lees family suffered when her father took a case in support of two black men accused of murder who were convicted, hanged and mutilated. While substantial gains were made in the succeeding decades through middle class advancement and public employment, black poverty and lack of education deepened in the context of de-industrialization. Prejudice, discrimination, and institutional racism continued to affect African Americans. African Americans have improved their social and economic standing significantly since the Civil

Rights Movement and recent decades have witnessed the expansion of a robust, African American middle class across the United States. Unprecedented access to higher education and employment in addition to representation in the highest levels of American government has been gained by African Americans in the post-civil rights era. Nevertheless, due in part to the legacy of slavery, racism and discrimination, African Americans as a group remain at a pronounced economic, educational and social disadvantage in many areas relative to European Americans. Persistent social, economic and political issues for many African Americans include inadequate health care access and delivery; institutional racism and discrimination in housing, education, policing, criminal justice and employment; crime, poverty and substance abuse. In 2008 we saw Americas first Black President Barack Obama who got wide support of the white people in the elections. One of the most serious and long standing issues within African American communities is poverty. Poverty itself is a hardship as it is related to marital stress and dissolution, health problems, low educational attainment, deficits in psychological functioning, and crime. Racial Discrimination is also seen in countries like India. . The Indian caste system is a system of social stratification and social restriction in India in which communities are defined by thousands of endogamous hereditary groups called Jatis. In India people are discriminated on the basis of caste , though it has been reduced prominently In the recent years but still its found in the