Racism in America in Awake of Ferguson Tragedy (Article Sample)

Racism in America in Awake of Ferguson Tragedy
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ABSTRACT
The African American history of the struggle for equal rights and overall end of discrimination against the blacks has existed for ages now. The journey has culminated a number of achievements and some few tragedies if the Fergusson incident is anything to go by. In line with the recent Ferguson incident, this article is an expository paper on how the ethnic and racial classifications have continued to evolve in United States. Consequently, I describe the related effects of this classification that include prejudice, stereotypes, racism, scapegoat, and discrimination. The main orientation for much of this article is from Diana Kendal’s book that draws distinguish between different sociological perspectives about these classifications. Final part is the description of how segregation, lynching, and persistent discrimination have continually affected the African Americans experience in the US.
Keywords: Change, Discrimination, and Classification
The recent wake of racism in the US’s Ferguson incident ultimately comes as a reminder of the journey in the fight by African American to end racial and ethnic discrimination, together with the way people perceive racism today. Nonetheless, despite the unfortunate Ferguson tragedy, the struggle by the African American to bring equality and end of racial and ethnic bias has come a long way with several triumphs and tragedies (McWhorter, 2014). Many changes have surfaced, some of which prevalent in education, sports and marriage (Kendal 277). In discussing these changes, I seek also to include the understanding of sociological perspectives on race and ethnic relations.
Education has evidently been transformed from a racial based system to the current multiracial system in terms of selection to campus and with opportunities available. Today’s US campus is a manifestation of the paramount transformations that are happening in the both ethnic and racial composition together with the spectacular increase in the number of persons who identify themselves as belonging to mixed race (Kendal 277) . As held by Susan, the number of students transitioning to college currently comprise of the largest crop of individuals selected to join campus in the United States’ history (Kendal 277).
Similar to immense transforming outlook of university, is professional sports that has also grown beyond bounds not only not only in the number, but also an increase in the number of athletes, both female and male who identify themselves as mixed race. For instance, from Diana Kendal’s book, a professional golfer, Tiger Woods is identified as one of the athletes who has received massive publicity for his success in both private and professional. According to Mixedfolks.com, Woods is one of the best-known "mixed race" athlete notably due to his media exposure of him being one-fourth native American, one-fourth Chinese and one-half African-American (Kendal 277).
The third change that defines the current United States society is marriage that has also transformed from people marrying only those they perceive to be of their own race or ethnic to multiracial intermarriages. The country has witnessed a demographic shift due to escalation of multiracial and multiethnic groups, and from the US’s Census Bureau, these groups are increasingly being classified as mixed race (Kendal 277). According to Kendal’s book, one out of seven marriages in the US today is between spouses of diverse ethnicities or races, especially the precedent two decades (Kendal 277).
The classificat...