Race has been a hot-button issue since the foundation of this great nation. Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment 152 years ago, and the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed overwhelmingly in both chambers of Congress 52 years ago. Regardless of race, the existence of systemic racism in America is a debatable issue, but any form of racial discrimination should not be tolerated.
Racism in America is defined by sociologists as systemic oppression against people of color. According to Davah Pager’s “Mark of a Criminal Record,” racism exists. Her research focuses on how criminal records affect white and black Americans’ employment opportunities.
Pager found that both race and criminal record influence how many callbacks an applicant received from potential employers. While having criminal records and being African American can negatively impact employment opportunities, the research also concluded that white Americans with criminal records are more likely to receive callbacks than African Americans without any criminal record.
However, there are still individuals who continue to claim that racism does not exist.
For instance, in one of her books, conservative activist Heather MacDonald claimed there is no racial bias in the police force. In contrast to Pager’s work, MacDonald does not have any credible citations.
We can have diverse opinions about different controversial social issues, but it is essential to have credible, scholarly references to make rational, conscience-subjective opinions, especially in academia.
Even if systemic oppression against minorities didn’t exist, it’s still possible that incidents based on bias would happen.
For instance, even though Alton Sterling was not a perfect citizen, the shooting that lead to his death was clearly incited by racial bias. There was also a student who found the message, “Go back 2 Africa N—-r monkeys” on her apartment door near campus.
Even though the existence of systemic oppression is questionable, we should not ignore biased incidents, nor dismiss the motive of the perpetrators because doing so can create an environment in which people who discriminate are not held accountable for their actions.
Additionally, people who discriminate against others should not be protected from discrimination because if we treat criminals the same way we treat regular citizens, people would not be held accountable for their actions.
Kevin Yau is a 20-year-old sociology senior from New Orleans, Louisiana.