Injustice Between Different Races

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” (Martin Luther King Jr). Blacks, Whites, Native Americans, immigrants, non-immigrants, Latinos, and Middle Easterns have all felt racialized throughout the years of United States history. The issue of racial equality is a social barrier that Americans are yet to overcome. Racialization is the process of referring to ethnic or racial identities to a relationship, social practice, or group that did not identify itself as such.

African Americans have felt racialized during slavery and segregation. Until this day, there is a possibility for Blacks to experience Racism. The documentary the “13th”, centers on the thirteenth amendment, the amendment states “neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. The United States did not just criminalize a certain group of black people.

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It criminalized black people as a whole, a process that, destroyed untold lives but also successfully transferred the guilt for slavery from the people who prolonged it to the people who suffered through it. African Americans were looked as criminals. They were given names without having a choice. They were given labels because of their skin color. In the documentary, Ms. Alexander argues that mass imprisonment exists with slavery and Jim Crow. Under the Jim Crow laws, the state laws had different laws for blacks and whites, segregated them under the rule of separate but equal.

Dr. Martin Luther King plays a huge role in the rule of being “separate but equal”. His ideas and racial justifications helped end segregation. His strong belief in non-violent protest helped set the tone of the civil rights movement.

“There is a strange kind of enigma associated with the problem of racism. No one or almost no one, wishes to see themselves as racist; still, racism persists, real and tenacious” (Memmi 1). In other words, racism still exists but no one claims themselves as racist. Even though one is not saying the words but is portraying it indirectly is still considered to be a racist. One can be racist without using words. Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Durham, mentions that “most whites assert they don’t see any color, just people”. This is referring to color-blindness racism which is a common response to racism. This is a common response from white people to reject racism. Many times this is interpreted as whites being racist because it is a way for them to say “I view everyone as if they are white”. When you view everyone through a colorblind white lens, you deny the reality that non-white people face. What would one say about the times during segregation when blacks and whites could not drink from the same fountain or go to the same school? Would this have happened if everyone was seen as white? When one fails to see color they fail to see injustice and oppression. The race is not the only aspect that defines people. Gender, sexuality, religion, etc are factors that can also result in oppression and injustice.

Other than African Americans and whites who experienced racialization, immigrants also experienced it. According to Walker, “in the standard American rose-tinted story of immigration, newcomers arrive overwhelmingly from Europe, “green” in their lack of urban and modern experiences but unproblematically white. They assimilate US habits and join the nation, often successfully competing with people of color for jobs as they do so”. This clearly shows how immigrants feel insecure about people of color having a better opportunity of getting a job. Since many immigrants that come to the United States are illiterate, they are taken advantage of once they get a job because they are forced to work long hours with very minimal pay. Not having a proper education makes them inferior to the other races, therefore, making them powerless. “But the nature of what it meant for immigrants to learn a new racial system as a central part of “becoming American” has led to acute differences of opinion, even among historians agreeing that race mattered in the immigration history of European Americans” (Roediger 140).

Immigrants feel racialized because they have to change their habits and identity to be able to fit in with society. There are many times when immigrants tend to lose their “identity” because they are trying to become someone they are not.

Overall, these racial differences on how these three races felt is something that is debatable because not everyone's perspective of racialization is the same. Till this day people face racism and people have opinions about racism. This is a debatable topic that endures many questions.