Sociology Assignment: Analyzing Racism and Inequality in America

This sociology assignment analyzes the current scenario of racism in the United States, drawing insights from videos and surveys. It highlights racial disparities in the criminal justice system, healthcare, and education, emphasizing the dehumanization and criminalization of African Americans. The essay provides a personal reflection on white privilege and its impact on life experiences, contrasting the advantages of being white with the challenges faced by people of color. It also explores systemic biases and economic inequalities, emphasizing how these factors contribute to the marginalization and violation of human rights for colored people in America. The assignment references various sources to support its arguments and offers a comprehensive overview of the complex issues surrounding racism and inequality in the US.

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOCIOLOGY
1. Learning from the video
The videos illustrate the current scenario regarding the practice of racism in
the country of United States. As per the recent survey analysis, more than 75 per cent
of the white Americans do not think that there exists any racial bias in the criminal
justice system or the context of the racism is a significant problem in the country of
America (Tim Wise 3 11 16, 2016). Though there lies some of the discriminatory
practices within the nation like the prison sentences of the African Americans have
been 20 per cent longer than that of the white men prison sentences when they are
convicted of similar crimes.
Furthermore, the practice of racism in the United States includes unequal
treatments like poor quality health treatments. The videos also explained that the
tremendous economic inequality in the country is one of the major factors towards
racial disparities ("Racism in the United States: By the Numbers, 2014). The videos
portrayed how the people of colour specifically the African Americans had been
dehumanised and criminalised in the United States throughout the century. Though
there has been a lot of changes in the term of modernisation, xenophobia and racism
furthermore exist in the multicultural society of the United States. In the case of the
educational platform, the shreds of evidence regarding the systemic biases are against
till overwhelming. The reservations for the white students are much higher as
compared to the coloured students. It has become challenging for African Americans
to acquire wealth due to the everlasting and the long history of the practice of racial
discrimination throughout the states. Thus denial of the systemic racism in the country
exemplifies the rejection of the evidence that indicate the racial bias effects almost
every part of the American life.

2SOCIOLOGY
2 a. Personal insight for being white
It is nearly impossible to know regarding how to live on someone else's shoes. I
believe that had I been born as a white my life would have been far more different than
the life lead by the coloured Americas. The range of the differences would majorly
include the lack of social stigma, the lack of systemic biases in the prison sentences in
case of getting convicted with any crimes. Some of the advantages of being white would
furthermore include the decreased chance of getting arrested in case of drug possession,
the increase in the employment opportunities and the increased chances of admission in
the top universities of the country (What is White/Male Privilege? - Feminist Fridays,
2014).
Furthermore in case of the educational sector, being the white comes up with a lot of
advantages like reservations, higher marks and preferences by the class teachers and the
school authorities for school prefect and other facilities. In the scenario of the health care
facilities, birth as the white one comes as the gift since I would get all the excellent health
care facilities and the treatments, unlike the coloured ones. Finally being born as the
white one would never result in me to fall in the trap of the tremendous economic
inequality that has been prevailing in the country.
In case of sharing information with someone from another country, I would like to
share the challenges and the issues that he or she might face in America being a person of
colour. There lie huge racial disparities throughout the country even though the
government and most of the white people deny to accept the fact. The coloured people are
still considered as the secondary option and are marginalised in the context of the race
and are debarred from all the facilities and the opportunities they should avail in terms of

3SOCIOLOGY
their rights. To summarise, the coloured people in the country are the constant victims of
the violation of their human rights.
2 b. Differences among the life of the white people and the people with colours
Had I been born white, I honestly would not have thought about the various
opportunities and the privileges the white Americans generally get as compared to that of
the coloured people. This is because most of the white Americans deny the fact regarding
the existence of any differences among the coloured and the white people. Life would
have been different if I had been born as the person of colour since from the very tender
stage the children belonging from the community of the African Americans are taught
regarding the discriminatory practices by the harsh society and its rules making them feel
inferior among the white children.
There have been various areas that highlight the Matthew effect. This effect states
how the rich get richer while the poor grow poorer. Some of the examples include the
practice of the marginalisation and preference of the white employees over the coloured
employees. Furthermore, the tradition of the unequal pay scale within the employment,
the lack of the opportunities of the African Americans towards achieving their dreams
and the discriminatory practices in education are some of the major factors. The growing
economic inequality thus is resulting the coloured people to go poorer as compared to the
white Americans who have been growing more productive with all the benefits and the
privileges throughout their life.

4SOCIOLOGY
References/ Bibliography
"Racism in the United States: By the Numbers." YouTube. Last modified December 30,
2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQdMgtncpoE.
"Tim Wise 3 11 16." YouTube. Last modified March 11, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=477QqWOVBHw.
"What is White/Male Privilege? - Feminist Fridays." YouTube. Last modified October 18,
2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdjrA2Jy9UQ.
Grimm, M., & Cornish, D. L. (2018). Infant Mortality and Racism in the United
States. International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative
Activities, 10(1), 2.
Inman, A. G., Tummala-Narra, P., Kaduvettoor-Davidson, A., Alvarez, A. N., & Yeh, C. J.
(2015). Perceptions of race-based discrimination among first-generation Asian
Indians in the United States. The Counseling Psychologist, 43(2), 217-247.
Mitchell Jr, D., Steele, T., Marie, J., & Timm, K. (2017). Learning race and racism while
learning: Experiences of international students pursuing higher education in the
Midwestern United States. AERA Open, 3(3), 2332858417720402.
Wun, C. (2016). Unaccounted foundations: Black girls, anti-Black racism, and punishment in
schools. Critical Sociology, 42(4-5), 737-750.