Racism in the United States:

Racism in the United States:

Racism continues to be a powerful social issue throughout contemporary American society. In the United States, the two principal original sources of racism were (1) the typical atavistic xenophobia that generally exists within every human society where a dominant social culture confronts increasing foreign immigration; and (2) the lasting legacy of the shameful era of American Slavery that existed from the early 17th century in the original Colonies until the Emancipation Proclamation in the aftermath of the Civil War. Slavery in particular shaped much of modern American society, at least from the perspective of African-Americans generations in between their formal emancipation in 1865 and the adoption of meaningful civil rights reforms a century or more later. Others might argue that religious orientation also provided another significant source of racist sentiments in the U.S.

In some respects, African-Americans may have had less success as a group overcoming the consequences of racism. This might naturally be attributable to the degree to which racism that originated in the pre-Civil War era still presents institutionalized racism faced by contemporary African-Americans. Shelby Steele offers a completely different analysis and suggests that the issue of racism has evolved into a form of self-sabotage among African-Americans, such as in the form of black-on-black crime and negative role models within urban communities, for example. To Steele, there is no connection between the high comparative drop-out rates among African-American college students and any type of racism on the part of any other racial group.

According to Steele, charges of racism have been used as excuses by many in the African-American community, as well as to give credence to complaints that, in reality, are not functions of racism. In addition to diluting the impact of legitimate complaints about racism, Steele believes that many African-Americans are more psychologically dependent on the impact of racism on their lives that,

"To admit this fully would cause us to lose the innocence we derive from our victimiza-tion. And we would jeopardize the entitlement we've always had to chal-lenge society. We are in the odd and self-defeating position in which taking responsibility for bettering ourselves feels like a surrender to white power."

(Steele, p538). "...we see racism everywhere and miss opportunity even as we stumble over it. About 70% of black students at my university drop out before graduation -- a flight from opportunity that racism cannot explain."

(Steele, p539).

Understanding Cultural Dynamics:

Fredrickson suggests that the coexistence of multiple-race cultural communities generally takes on one of four characteristic models:

"Four basic conceptions of how ethnic or racial groups should relate to each other have been predominant in the history of American thought about group relations ethnic hierarchy, one-way assimilation, cultural pluralism, and group separatism." (Fredrickson, p562)

In his view, the disadvantages (still) faced by many African-Americans is the result of some degree of institutionalized and unacknowledged racial and ethnic hierarchies.

Meanwhile, many minority groups that have achieved relative success have done so through one-way assimilation while accepting the price of cultural erosion. Fredrickson's vision of the best scenario is very much in-line with public policies and stated goals of American society:

"Of the four models of American ethnic relations, the one that I believe offers the best hope for a just and cohesive society is a cultural pluralism that is fully inclusive and based on the free choices of individuals to con-struct or reconstruct their own ethnic identities." (Fredrickson, p572)

Conceptual Complications:

The views advanced by Fredrickson, though benevolently motivated, may suffer from the conceptual incompatibility of two underlying elements. Specifically, the contemporary mainstream public position on race relations and cultural diversity proposes that individual races and ethnic minority groups revel in their heritage and cultural traditions and that all races and ethnic groups should be encouraged to do the same.

In principle, however, it is likely impossible to achieve genuine racial and ethnic harmony in society in that way. Unfortunately, the sentiments of racial or ethnic pride generated by a psychological orientation toward one's race or ethnic heritage are substantially responsible for perpetuating the same perceptions of "otherness" (Wachtel,