The year is 2009 and we have an African American president, Barack Obama, in office. Many have said this is the beginning of the end of a racist America. Let us start with defining the term. Racism refers to any theory or doctrine stating that inherited physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, and hair texture, determine behavior patterns, personality traits, or intellectual abilities (Berghe 109). According to Alan Goodman, a biological anthropologist, skin colors are simply the body’s adaptation to life under the sun (1). So can skin color really determine the actions of a person? Or could it possibly be the environment or social hierarchy in which a person lives in. As a nation, we have made great strides concerning discrimination against minorities in the past 200 years; but it is certain that we are far from Martin Luther King Jr.’s “American Dream”.

In the late 1800’s we had abolitionists, the civil war, the 13th Amendment, and Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, stating the prohibition of slavery in the United States. These were merely the stepping stones laid out for future progress towards an egalitarian society. This is a society that we may never fully reach, but the idea gives us hope, aspirations, and ambition to succeed. Historically, America was a place of opportunity and privilege for land owning white males. Today we can see a much more equal distribution of rights. As we progressed toward the 21st century more and more of the population were in favor of support for racial equality (Case 100). However we still see discrimination against minorities in the business, education, and economic world.

The 13th amendment was passed 144 years ago. This was only the beginning of the journey for African Americans. Next they faced segregation every where they went. They weren’t allowed to attend the same schools, live in the same neighborhoods, go to the same churches; they even had to sit in the back of the public buses. These are only some of the minor problems experienced by African Americans. There were larger issues at hand. Where would they find work with so much discrimination and segregation? Without work how could they provide for their families? Violence against minorities occurred daily. The fear of the Ku Klux Klan was another issue. Jump forward a hundred years and Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech “I Have a Dream” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. King speaks out that he believes we will stand united and that the African Americans will be free at last. In 1965 African Americans are still suffering from oppression, segregation, and discrimination. For many college students today, this is the generation of their grandparents. As we can see progression is moving very slowly.

Living in a multicultural society we are faced with many problems. Conflicts of interest and ideas open the door to anger and violence. Ethnocentricity is what drives humans into oppressing others. It is clear that with the rising population of minorities that this cannot continue on without dire consequences. There are two theories of which cultures and standards should be set for America described in the text “Social Problems”. One is the “melting pot” theory. This is where different immigrant groups that come into the United States blend into a distinctively new culture. The other is the “salad bowl” theory which states that America works best as a diverse blend of “un-melted” subcultures (Coleman and Kerbo 225). America will benefit from either should we continue on united without fear of mixing cultures.

While we have an African American as president we can still find discrimination in all parts of the nation. Karl Marx’s conflict theory would correlate these issues with the elite who control our society. Charles Case writes that those who control political discourse, economic resources, the media, religious discourse, or educational institutions, or who have the resources to simply shout down or silence the opposing perspectives are able to ensure that the ideas, value, and beliefs favorable to their interests will prevail (102). This fits perfectly into the conflict theory. Can we blame the rich, powerful, and influential for the problems with our inner city school systems, multicultural education, and racial profiling and bias in the court systems? Considering they are the ones who control the resources, the answer would be yes.

If we look at our inner cities which are referred by many as the “ghetto”, we will find the population is mostly minorities. We find unusually high crime rates in the inner cities. Is there a correlation between African American’s and Latino’s and their living environment? In 1992, a woman named Maxine Waters made a testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. Waters represented the people of South Central Los Angeles in the U. S. Congress and the California state Assembly for close to 20 years. In LA between 40 and 50 percent of all African American men are unemployed. An estimated 40,000 additional jobs were just lost as a result of the civil unrest that had taken place. She continues on by listing what had been done in the previous 12 years. The Comprehensive Employment Training Act was eliminated. General Revenue Sharing, designed to assist local governments to cope with their own problems was eliminated. Lastly the Community Development Block Grants was also severely cut (Waters 750). All these programs cut in an effort to save billions of dollars. She also went on to describe the Federal Board’s study on mortgage discrimination that demonstrated that African Americans and Latinos were twice as likely as whites of the same income to be denied mortgages (751). This is discrimination in the worst way. Choosing a white person over a black person for a job position can be justified by certain qualifications necessary for employment. Denying a minority with the same income as a white person a loan is plain degrading in the most inhumane way. How can we expect minorities to experience social or economic mobility if they are denied of all basic opportunities?

It is safe to say that we are progressing towards an egalitarian society, but that’s all that can be said. Barack Obama’s election into office stunned numerous people. Having received fifty three percent of the popular vote speaks a great deal of how far we have come since the late 1800’s. We have crossed a bridge that many people never thought they would see in their lifetime. Two hundred years ago, our third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, stated that he didn’t believe that blacks and whites could live together.  The inauguration of president Obama would shock Jefferson if he were alive today, but it shows extremely slow progress towards the “American Dream” for African American’s.

Pierre L. van den Berghe believes that one of the causes of racism and discrimination can be linked to real conflicts of interest and competition for scarce resources (109). This sentence describes every living creature on earth. If we look at a pack of dogs we see fierce competition for food and dominance. This basic rule of thumb can be applied to almost any specie in the animal kingdom. While we are classified as part of this kingdom scientifically, sociologically we are in a whole different universe. We have the gift of knowledge, universal communication, and let’s face it; we are at the top of the food chain. It is these qualities we possess that must drive out the animal instincts in us. We live in a nation where we shouldn’t have to kill for resources or oppress others for our own selfish interests. We hold in our hands the power to unite and glorify our existence as one, and yet we aren’t there yet.

Works Cited

Berghe, Pierre. Race and Racism. Grolier, Inc. 1996.

Case, Charles E. and Andrew M. Greeley. Attitudes Toward Racial Equality. Humboldt Journal Of Social Relations, 1990.

Coleman, James, and Harold Kerbo. Social Problems. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2006.

Goodman, Alan. Only Skin Deep. St. Paul, MN: Science Musuem, 2009.

Niemuller, Martin. First They Came After the Homosexuals.

Waters, Maxine. The L.A. Riots. California: Los Angeles