Contemplate a life where inconveniences, major or minor, are a perpetual dissonance to your path to achieve the American dream. For a society masquerading as a one-size-fit-all promise of domestic tranquility, has only recently started to apply that to you. Through biased laws or generational bigotry, people of color have faced trials and tribulations throughout their lives. These troubles originate as soon as they are birthed, and unless a transformation of their natural appearance occurs, problems will continue to persist. Although not every non-white person struggles, there is a disproportionate amount who do as a result of systemic injustice. To take a glance at the inherent racism, we must modify how we can detect it. It is never just in black and white, it encompasses many different areas. Current systems in America act as catalysts for racism to persist in our society: medical misconceptions, housing displacement, and disparities in the criminal justice system display these ongoing injustices. 

      First and foremost, the healthcare system’s misconceived thoughts about the biological differences between African-Americans and non-hispanic white people are rooted in ignorance and myths that are extremely harmful. For instance, a common belief in the medical field is that a person of African descent feels less pain than other races. A study conducted by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found how different level medical students believed in a variety of false statements concerning the biology of black people. The false statements within the study included that black people had thicker skin than their white counterparts and that their nerve endings were less sensitive. Consequently, these fantastical lies that have been embedded within healthcare can be responsible for the misdiagnosis of black people and their mistreatment. Namely, 50% of black teenagers have a heightened chance to experience bulimia related behaviors (researched by Goeree, Sovinsky, & Iorio, 2011), but only a small portion of black adolescents are diagnosed with bulimia. From this we can understand the mistrust people of color have in their own doctors. With  only 6/10 black adults, compared to 8/10 white adults, trust their doctors according to a study accomplished by the Kaiser Family Foundation(KFF). In short analysis, the misconceptions sustained by medical professionals instills mistrust in black people and are highly dangerous to black people. 

          Moreover, black and brown communities have continuously experienced unethical housing displacement throughout history. A transparent displayal of this is the infamous Indian Removal Act and the Dawes Act. These acts are responsible for the forced migration of thousands of Native Americans to make room for white settlement of the western lands in America, and the two decade long supplant is known as the Trail of Tears (Danyelle Solomon, Connor Maxwell, and Abril Castro August 7, 2019//”Systemic Inequality: Displacement, Exclusion, and Segregation”). As a result, traditionally native lands were invaded and the native population have been deprived of their culture. More examples of displacement are the government released policies that displaced copious amounts of black people. As stated by, Danyelle Solomon, Connor Maxwell, and Abril Castro in ”Systemic Inequality: Displacement, Exclusion, and Segregation”, “-in the early 1850s, New York City lawmakers used eminent domain to destroy a thriving predominantly Black community in Manhattan, displacing thousands of residents in order to create the public space known today as Central Park.”  This illustrates a biased campaign to ravage the black community, but the act wasn’t combatted enough because it was all under the guise of gaining economic prosperity. In a brief, through racially or ethnically influenced housing displacement, communities with a large population of people of color have been heavily devastated. 

         Furthermore, African-Americans experience a plethora of racial disparities within our criminal justice system, and these highlight the disproportionate mistreatment of black people in America. In accordance to the NAACP, “-black people make up 13.4 percent of the population, they make up 22 percent of fatal police shootings, 47 percent of wrongful conviction exonerations, and 35 percent of individuals executed by the death penalty.” To see this in a better perspective we need to look at how black people are targeted, for this is a deciding factor in the legitamacy of different racist narratives. As a result of a study done by Ravi Shroff of NYU, we can see, “-that in a dataset of nearly 100 million traffic stops across the United States, black drivers were about 20 percent more likely to be stopped than white drivers relative to their share of the residential population.” In concurrence, there must be a correlation with racism and the astounding crime statistics that have been found: black people are being targeted by an unjust system due to racist biases. For us to make up only 13.4 percent of the current population, there is no logical reason for us to be a part of 47 percent of wrongful conviction exonerations unless we are being wrongly apprehended. This is further accentuated by the NYU study determining that out of 100 million police stops, 20 percent out of them are black people. In summary, the disproportionate and prejudiced interference of black people in the criminal justice system, add onto the ongoing wrongdoings against African-Americans. 

         In the opposition’s perspective, black people are naturally prone to violence, so that is the reason why police are highly suspicious of them. On the contrary, the criminal justice system’s preconception about African-Americans leads to criminalization of them. A statement in reference to a report by Rob Arthur(New Data Shows Police Use More Force Against Black Citizens Even Though Whites Resist More) said how, “Using the data acquired by the Invisible Institute, I quantified the level of resistance along a simple scale, ranging from passive resistance to attacking an officer with a deadly weapon...Ultimately, comparing the two scales, officers tended to use more force against black subjects even though they presented less resistance than white subjects.” Therefore, the question of why are blacks stigmatized with being intemperate when white peoples are found to show more resistance to arrest comes up. Hence, there must be an outside factor reinforcing the brutality characterization of black Amercans. In addition to that, through a Buzzfeed report sampling of police stations, “1 in 5 active police officers, and 2 in 5 retired officers, put up Facebook posts “displaying bias, applauding violence, scoffing at due process, or using dehumanizing language.” This exhibits how racism can be interlaced within the same people who are responsible to protect us. Ergo, it is not that Africans-Americans are threatening creatures, but that due to preconceived notions of the race they are accompanied with a harmful portrayal. 

       To conclude, as people of color our skin color is still a detriment in our path for justice for all. We are finally starting to be integrated in this melting pot of ethnic groups, as well as, beginning to become socially equal despite nonexistent attempts at equity. Essentially, current systems in American society are stimulants to the hateful purge in this country that is racism. For this reason, everyone must identify and address racism not only when slur is vocalized but when systemic injustice occurs. To aid in creating an anti-racist rhetoric you can partake in many deeds ranging from demanding accountability for prejudiced officers or protesting policies that are of kin to the Jim Crow Laws. Cease from undermining the experience nonwhite people have with racism within factions of our country. Eradicate the internalized ignorance from yourself and the foundation from which this country stands on. 

Work Cited Page

Communications, NYU Web. “Research Shows Black Drivers More Likely to Be Stopped by Police.” NYU, 5 May 2020, www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2020/may/black-drivers-more-likely-to-be-stopped-by-police.html. 

Danyelle Solomon, Connor Maxwell. “Systemic Inequality: Displacement, Exclusion, and Segregation.” Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2019/08/07/472617/systemic-inequality-displacement-exclusion-segregation/. 

Jesse, washington. “New Poll Shows Black Americans Put Far Less Trust in Doctors and Hospitals than White People.” The Undefeated, The Undefeated, 15 Oct. 2020, theundefeated.com/features/new-poll-shows-black-americans-put-far-less-trust-in-doctors-and-hospitals-than-white-people/. 

Person. “Why Do Black People's Mental Illnesses Get Misdiagnosed?” Healthline, Healthline Media, 2 July 2019, www.healthline.com/health/racism-mental-health-diagnoses. 

“Racial Disparities in Criminal Justice.” American Bar Association, www.americanbar.org/groups/young_lawyers/publications/after-the-bar/public-service/racial-disparities-criminal-justice-how-lawyers-can-help/. 

Somashekhar, Sandhya. “The Disturbing Reason Some African American Patients May Be Undertreated for Pain.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 30 Mar. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/04/04/do-blacks-feel-less-pain-than-whites-their-doctors-may-think-so/. 

Radley Balko, “ Opinion: Another ‘excuse’ for police bias bites the dust.”

June 4, 2019

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/06/04/another-excuse-police-bias-bites-dust/