Racial Concerns for Today

¶ … Race Justice Blackmun was largely correct in his statement that "To get beyond racism we must first take account of race. There is no other way." In fact, such a statement has particular relevance in an election year (which is what 2016 is). Unfortunately, in the United States, race still has long-term effects on a person's life, which is why race must be accounted for before racism is ended.

One of the primary ways that race has long-term effects on someone's life in America pertains to issues of health and certain socio-economic realities. A good example of this fact is found in Fuentes' article (2012) when the author writes that "the infant mortality rate of blacks doubles that of whites in the U.S.A.." This statement alludes to some of the harsher salutary ramifications of race in this country.

Because African-Americans are frequently disenfranchised and live in poor socio-economic conditions, it is not uncommon for them to have limited access to substantial health care facilities, services, products, and foods. Therefore, there is a disproportionate number of health care conditions that affect these individuals in ratios that are problematic -- particularly when one considers that there are other ethnic groups (particularly those of European descent) who do not suffer from these maladies nearly as much, nor as severely as African-Americans do.

The rate of infant mortality between Caucasians and African-Americans alluded to in the aforementioned article proves this point handily. These health conditions have long-term effects because for minority groups or African-Americans, these health problems can linger and continue with them, their families, and their friends, for all of their lives. Another way in which race has long-term affects in the U.S. pertains to the criminal justice system, specifically the trials by a jury of one's peers.

African-Americans make up less than 10% of the country, so it is not unusual to see them judged by juries of Caucasians. Sometimes, the latter cannot relate to the former, which can reduce the chances of African-Americans getting favorable judgments in court cases. In both of these instances, taking account of race means realizing that racial disparities are prominent in the U.S., and analyzing them to understand how they impact people.

This step is required to get beyond racism because one must first know how race affects people in the U.S. To try to mitigate that effect. People can actually get beyond racism once they take account of race by implementing corrective measures for racism based on the account-taking. The kind of society that will actually be beyond racism is a more knowledgeable and sensitive one to issues of race, as well as class, gender, and other social stratifications.

Color blindness is not a solution because racial disparities do exist; color blindness assumes or acts like they do not. Some of the presidential candidates running for election have the power to make things much more worse, in.