Everyone has the right to be treated equally and with respect, but when a person is treated unfairly because of possessing certain personal characteristics, they are being discriminated against. Discrimination is one of the social conflicts resulting from unfair treatment towards people based on their gender, age, race, disability, sexual preferences, or religion (discrimination, 2021). For many people around the world today, this has become part of everyday life. Discrimination can be experienced from various institutions such as schools, neighborhoods, workplaces, places of worship, and recreational centers. This article focuses on racial discrimination that is so rampant in America towards the minority groups such as black Americans, Asians, and Hispanics.

Evidences of racial discrimination

Racial discrimination occurs when individuals are treated unfairly due to their skin color or ethnic background (Grosfoguel, 2016). During my research on discrimination, I came across Beverly fatoumata, a 36-year-old woman who is an African American born in Saint Louis, Senegal but lives in Cheshire, Connecticut. Her skin is 70 percent burned, which was caused by a pot of hot oil that fell on her when she was two years old. She then moved to Cheshire to seek advanced medical attention, where she lived with her aunt’s family, and has never left since then. From the interview, I learned that as she was growing up, up to now, she had faced a lot of discriminating occasions from health facilities, schools, recreational facilities, and workplaces. For instance, when she was in school, she was being bullied because of her skin color by being called a monkey, and also due to her deformed face full of scars; many students avoided her because she looked scary. Growing up as a black American kid, things were not that rosy as she could not find white kids who she could befriend that easily and socialize with as black kids were associated with robbery, drugs, and ill behaviours. Similarly, she was limited to the number of activities she could participate in, in the recreational centers due to her dark skin color, especially in swimming activities where her kinky hair became fluffy after being immersed in water compared to the whites’ hair which was still straight.

Additionally, when she finished high school, she tried to find a job to keep her busy before joining college, but the process was so complex and challenging. Most of the places she tried to look for a job, be it a café or a cloth store, were owned by the whites who demeaned the blacks, and most saw them as unqualified to undertake a task. Luckily her aunt was able to secure her a position at one of her white friend’s café after a long struggle of searching. All these instances took a toll on her mentally as they lowered her self-esteem, which affected her social life so much that most of the time, she spent her leisure time at home with her cousins and refrained from visiting places as she was growing up. similarly, in most occasions she had to prove herself to show that she was fit to perform a particular task, especially during the early stages of her career in technology.

Impacts of racial discrimination and how it can be reduced

Racial discrimination has had a pervasive adverse effect on a person’s physiological, psychological, and sociological aspects. It’s a key social determinant of health. Racism has made it difficult for the black community to access proper health care services. This has contributed to the escalating disparities in health among the ethnic minority groups that have led to poor health (Bleich et al., 2019). This is evident from Beverly’s story, whereby she moved to America when racism was at its peak; hence getting good medical attention was a nightmare. Racial discrimination also impacts the mental health of a person who has experienced it. This could be in the form of depression, stress, or low self-esteem (Wofford et al., 2017). From Beverly’s story, we learn that she experienced depression and low self-esteem that she preferred hiding herself at home rather than being outside playing with other kids due to her skin color.

Another impact of racism is how they interact with society as an individual or as a community. It limits a person’s freedom to freely express themselves or even interact with others (Causadias & Korous, 2019). For instance, Beverly was limited to the activities she could engage in and the people she could interact with. This limited her social life and exposure to new ideas. Racial discrimination can be reduced by exercising equal rights to all races. Equal medical attention should be offered to all races in order to minimize the effects caused by poor health in their communities, distribution of resources should be done to everybody without focusing on who they are or where they come from, and also equal opportunities should be available to everybody to achieve their full potential in life.

Conclusion

In summary, for many people around the world today, discrimination has become part of everyday life, where they are treated unfairly because of possessing certain personal characteristics. Discrimination is still rampant in America, an issue that needs to be given a lot of attention due to its impacts on an individual’s life and the economy. From Beverly’s story, we see that discrimination has been practiced since time immemorial. Additionally, it has had negative impacts such as preventing a person from achieving their full potential in life, limiting their social life, which hinders them from exposure and new ideas and also affects their physical and mental health.

References

Bleich, S., Findling, M., Casey, L., Blendon, R., Benson, J., & Steel Fisher, G. et al. (2019). Discrimination in the United States: Experiences of black Americans. Health Services Research, 54(2), 1399-1408. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.13220

Causadias, J., & Korous, K. (2019). Racial Discrimination in the United States: A National Health Crisis That Demands a National Health Solution. Journal of Adolescent Health, 64(2), 147-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.11.001

Grosfoguel, R. (2016). What is Racism? Journal of World-Systems Research, 22(1). https://doi.org/doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2016.609

Wofford, N., Defever, A., & Chopik, W. (2017). The Vicarious Effects of Discrimination: How Partner Experiences of Discrimination Affect Individual Health. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 10(1), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617746218