Racial
Inequality: An Issue that Affects American Families
Sarah DelTorto
Patrick Branley
Amanda Breckner
Jessica Beech
Molly Trayner
Molly Trayner
Families
in the United States today come in many different shapes and sizes. There are
many different issues that can negatively affect the American family, one of
them being a family member’s race. Racism has existed in our country for a very
long time, but after the Civil Rights Act, it became illegal to discriminate
against someone because of their race or ethnicity. Despite this, racial
inequality is quite prevalent in our country today. This negatively affects
many families in our country, as on the 2010 census, only 63.7% of the total
population of the United States identified their race as Non-Hispanic White. According
to the statistics, Blacks and Hispanics are at a disadvantage in many aspects
of our society in comparison to people who identify themselves as Non-Hispanic
Whites. Racial Inequality is still a major issue for minority American families
today in 2012.
Poverty
The
poverty rate is one of the ways that we can see racial inequalities in our
country.
The
poverty rate for 2009 is represented by the following percentages:
9.4% for
Non-Hispanic Whites
12.5%
for Asians
25.3% of
Hispanics
25.8%
for Blacks
The poverty
rate for Blacks or Hispanics is more than double that of Non-Hispanic Whites.
Home-Ownership
Home-ownership is yet another way that we can see Racial Inequality in America. The percentage
of White Americans that own homes is much, much higher than those who are Black
and own their own homes.
The home-ownership rate for 2011 is represented by the following percentages:
70.3% of
Non-Hispanic Whites
58.0% of
Asians
46.9% of
Hispanics
44.9% of
Blacks
Unemployment
The
unemployment rate in our country has been high in the past few years in
general, but looking at unemployment rates by race reveals numbers even more
surprising.
The
following is the unemployment rates in 2010 by race:
7.5%
Asian
8.7%
Non-Hispanic White
12.5%
Hispanic
16%
Black
The unemployment
rate for Blacks is almost double of the unemployment rate for Non-Hispanic
Whites.
Education
The racial
inequality in education is often discussed and debated, as people try to continuously
close this achievement gap between Whites and minorities in education.
The
following is the Educational Attainment for 2010; displaying what percentage of
each race has attained that level of Education.
Highschool:
88.9% of
Asians
87.6% of
Whites
84.2%
Blacks
62.9% of
Hispanics
College
or More:
52.4% of
Asians
30.3% of
Whites
19.8% of
Blacks
13.9% of
Hispanics
The
achievement gap in schools shows that students who identify as a White or Asian
continually end up performing better on standardized tests, and doing better in
schools than those of Black or Hispanic students. Some schools are still
majority White or majority Black as well, due to zoning areas of schools. Education reform has been working to close the achievement gap by trying to improve standardized
tests and to lessen bias, although the achievement gap still exists.
In 2011, a
study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that on average
White students scored an average 20 points higher on math assessments in
comparison to Black and Hispanic students, and for reading assessment, Black
and Hispanic students generally scored two grade levels below those of White
students.
Why do you
think Racial Inequality still exists in this country?
What can
be done to lessen racial inequality in these different aspects of our society?
Do you
think it will continue to lessen over time? Will new laws have to be put in
place?
References and Further Information:
I have not read the Civil Rights Act, what exactly does it mean that it is illegal to discriminate based on race or ethnicity? Does the legislation specify as it relates to employment, education, and lending, or is it as vague as it sounds, as so much other legislation is.
ReplyDeleteOf the poverty rate statistics you provided, does each percentage represent how much of said population experiences poverty, or how much of poverty is represented by the population?
On unemployment, what other factors do you think contribute to the provided rates beyond directly the race factor, even if race is a motor of the other factors? (I'm thinking geographical location as it relates to assess to opertunitys)
On education, Jonathan Kozal shared several opinions of his own. Among several other points, he considered the funding structure of public education an impossible strategy for success, and suggested that federal distribution of funding instead of managed by the state is the only way to equalize the resources. What do you think of this?
From what I understand of the Civil Rights Act, I believe that it means that one can not be denied employment or entrance to a place based on their ethnicity, race, gender, or religion. This applies to education, employment, and all places that are open to the public and publicly funded. This leaves room for many other situations in which discrimination could occur, as it is not very specific.
ReplyDeleteSorry that wasn't clear! Those percentages are how much of poverty is represented by that population. There is a chart on page 9 of the following report: http://www.census.gov/prod/2010pubs/p60-238.pdf which splits up people and families in poverty by different characteristics such as race and age.
I believe that geographical location definitely plays a roll in unemployment, in smaller, rural areas I believe that unemployment may be higher due to less employment opportunities. I believe it also could have much to do with one's employment attainment, as today it seems as if more and more jobs require an higher education background.
I agree with Johnathan Kozol's view on the funding of public education. It is a major issue within our country, and I agree that a federal distribution of funds would be a great idea in comparison to state distribution of funding. Some states have much more money than others, making it impossible for some states to achieve the same quality of education as states which have more money to spend on education. From what I understand about school funding is that it closely tied with the school district's local property tax, meaning the nicer, more affluent areas will receive more school funding, while low-income areas will not receive much funding.
- Sarah DelTorto :)
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