Racial Inequality in America
Aranda, E., & Vaquera, E. (2015). Racism, the immigration enforcement regime, and the
implications for racial inequality in the lives of undocumented young adults. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 1(1), 88-104.
This academic research article by academics Elizabeth Aranda and Elizabeth Vaquera largely serves to examine the impact that immigration enforcement initiatives have on racial inequality in the United States. Their article particularly focuses on the inequalities faced by undocumented immigrants that are targeted under these programs, as well as the general racism that these programs foster both structurally and socially. The authors argue that although immigration enforcement is not an explicitly racist practice in that its design does not intentionally single out any particular race, its practice results in racially-motivated activities such as profiling. The consequences of this are described as causing significant problems for the immigrants that are most commonly targeted—those of Hispanic origin in the United States. Furthermore, the authors conclude that immigration enforcement develops racial inequalities within other aspects of social life, as well as that children of immigrants also suffer many of the same negative consequences as their immigrant parents. This research will primarily assist in examining the racial inequalities of Hispanic Americans, and particularly those that have immigrated to the United States or are kin to immigrants.
Bayer, P., Fang, H., & Mcmillan, R. (2014). Separate when equal? Racial inequality and
residential segregation. Journal of Urban Economics, 82, 32-48.
This study is rather peculiar in its nature, as it sets out to create a hypothetical scenario in which a growth of middle-class black neighborhoods emerges alongside a decrease in racial inequality. The research ultimately confirms within its findings that the formation of these neighborhoods ultimately has the negative consequence of increasing racial segregation, particularly within urban environments. The research also notes that factors which would coincide with the development of these black, middle-class neighborhoods—such as higher rates of academic achievement among African-Americans—further promotes an increase in racial segregation. As such, the research fundamentally suggests that decreasing economic inequality between the races would set back racial progress in a manner that has been greatly targeted by the Civil Rights Movement and through the abolition of Jim Crow. This article is useful because it emphasizes the reality that racial inequality is a rather complex issue, and that addressing certain components of it will ultimately have consequences towards other aspects of racial inequality.
Bloome, D. (2014). Racial inequality trends and the intergenerational persistence of income and
family structure. American Sociological Review, 79(6), 1196-1225.
This research article by Deirdre Bloome is an important one that serves as an attempt to answer the question of why racial inequalities—and economic inequalities in particular—continue to exist in the United States despite the social progression of the past several decades. Bloome draws upon previous research suggesting that this reality has been developed as a result of generational transfers of socioeconomic status and evolving family compositions. In doing so, he examines inequality trends between black and white American families and notes two key findings. Conclusively, African-Americans demonstrate low rates of upward mobility due to generational transfers of socioeconomic status and highway downward mobility due to various factors including the prevalence of persisting racial inequalities such as in terms of incarceration rates. Bloome heavily emphasizes the role played by changing family structures, as well as the emergence of newer racial disadvantages despite the progress made through the Civil Rights Movement. His research will be important to explaining the reasoning behind a persistence of racial inequality in the contemporary United States.
Cohen, A. (2018, June 26). Even today, America still ignores the black experience.
Although this article does little to touch upon racial inequality in an explicitly direct sense, author Andrew Cohen uses it to make a broader point about how American society remains ignorant of the “black experience” today. Cohen centers on the memorial to slavery and the Confederacy that remains in tact at Robert E. Lee High School in Montgomery, Alabama. This memorial is argued to be greatly insensitive to the realities of the slavery era and of the harsh experiences faced by African-Americans throughout the country’s history. Ultimately, Cohen argues that the memorial should be taken down and that the racial inequalities rooted in America’s past should be looked upon more like other historical tragedies, such as the Holocaust. The author’s intentions and the point that he is attempting to make through this article will be largely disregarded. The information provided regarding the relationship between the black experience and the continued existence of such memorials will, however, serve useful in arguing the consequences of continued racial inequality today.
Gunn, D. (2018, February 27). Four figures that explain racial inequality in America.
This article serves as a reflection upon how far American society has come in terms of fostering racial equality since the onset of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950’s, and more importantly how far American society still has to go. Utilizing information from a recent report issued by the Economic Policy Institute, author Dwyer Gunn examines four key findings that demonstrate persisting inequality in modern-day America. First of these findings is that only 92.3% of African-Americans graduate from high school, as opposed to 95.6% of white Americans. Secondly, 21.8% of African-Americans are living in poverty today, a figure which has diminished significantly and yet still remains high. 1,730 African-Americans, per 100,000, are noted to be currently incarcerated, as the recent campaign of mass incarceration has disproportionately affected African-Americans to a troubling degree. Finally, the infant mortality rate of African-American infants is conveyed to be 11.4, over double the 4.9 rate of white American children. These facts and statistics will collectively serve very useful in providing a basis of evidence for the notion that racial inequality continues to persist in the modern-day United States.
Martinovich, M. (2017, June 25). 3 areas that show America’s racial inequality.
This source again presents modern-day evidence of continued racial inequality, in this case based upon a report from Stanford University’s Center on Poverty and Inequality. Author Milenko Martinovich cites numerous important statistics that collectively paint a troubling picture about racial realities in the United States today. For instance, Martinovich notes that less than half of black and Hispanic families live within owner-occupied housing, and that approximately one in six black and Hispanic households spend more than half of their incomes on housing. The article subsequently moves onto three areas of significant racial inequality as it exists in America today: jobs, health, and wealth. These inequalities are described to be largely institutional in nature, passed on to offspring, and significantly debilitating. Martinovich, however, closes the article on a somewhat optimistic note, by noting some improvements in academic performance and social mobility among black and Hispanic Americans. He paints these more positive points as an indication that American society continues to move forward—although at a rather gradual pace—in addressing racial inequality. Martinovich’s work will be utilized to further establish the ways in which racial inequality persists in the Untied States, as well as to convey that positive change remains underway.
McCoy, J. J. (2018, July 09). Despite recognition of injustice, arrest rates for cannabis remain
unequal.ing of this article centers on a very specific element of racial injustice as it exists today: the unequal arrest rates for cannabis (marijuana)-related offenses. McCoy cites new research conducted by New Frontier Data, which has found that African-American and Hispanic individuals are arrested and convicted for cannabis offenses at rates over nine times that of white Americans. The author goes on to argue that this inequality has gone recognized within American society for a long time now, and that despite the increase of calls towards ending disproportionate application of the law based on race, the statistics remain largely unchanged from years ago. Specifically, McCoy highlights the promise to end this disproportionate enforcement against cannabis crimes by New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, and follows up with published statistics suggesting that this promise has gone unfulfilled. Importantly, the data collected and published reaffirms the long-believed notion that African-Americans, Hispanics, and whites all consume and sell cannabis products at similar rates, emphasizing the true nature of this injustice as racially motivated. This source will fundamentally serve purposeful in conveying the fact that institutional racism and racial inequalities persist even as they are recognized and combatted socially.
