In 2012 Obama has been Re-Elected to the White House to serve his second term. Many see this as a big picture of a post-racial United States of America. The truth….
Race Discrimination is just the big Elephant in the Room.
This country has an over population of a prison system that has shown to be highly ineffective. It still has a “War On Drugs” that targets many Hispanics and Blacks mostly in the low economic class. Add to it as well the “War on Terrorism” that has made Arabs and Muslims the center of the media attention to boost funding for this project.
When President Obama first got elected many saw it as a change for big America and the way that minorities were still being discriminated against. Instead Obama in look of re-election had to settle for maintaining the war and trying to fix a failing economy without the support of his republican counterparts.
What this does is drive America’s eyes even further from some of the discrimination that is happening without the realization that something must be done.
The “War on Drugs” was actually started in a time when drug use was actually on the decline but when crack was introduced to the low sociology-economic communities like South Central a few years after this war started the media boost on the sudden use gave a huge uplift to the funding that was needed for this project to become what it is now. The government even gave beneficial cash bonuses(bribes) to the local police departments in cities if they made the war on drugs number one priorities in their patrols. The prison population suddenly started growing with Hispanics and Blacks being the main victims when it came to drug related arrests. The problem is that more minorities in low economic classes were being detained and arrested on drug related charges when statistics show that whites in the same economic class are just as likely to be doing the same things. So why are convictions staggeringly higher for Blacks and Hispanics?
The “War on Terrorism” was started after the attack on 9/11. During this time it was a necessity to protect the country during a time when no one felt safe. The problem is that during this time the main suspects in any terrorist plot became Arabs and Muslims. The thing is so many years after these attacks have happened how are we to “justify” going after members who are not in any way connected to terrorism but only subject to being detained and arrested under suspicion because of how they look. The answer is the Patriot Act which gives the government the right to have surveillance on anyone they deem a threat. Now the government has the right to detain anyone on the suspicion of them being related to terrorism whether it be through a routine traffic stop or even an anonymous tip to the F.B.I. The problem with this is that with again the media boost the country turns itself against Arabs and Muslims because of the fear that the government has created.
The problem is that when people are convicted and added to the prison system they lose basic rights as citizens. One main right they lose is the Right to Vote.
With these minorities being a major part of the prison system they now have no say in how they are affected by these laws and how the country sees them. When they see an amendment to the laws that affect them they are can not vote to try and make a change or even have a voice. How can we change something when most of the affected have no say in what should be changed.
Post-Racial America simply hates the word Race and being told they are Racist… As long as we avert our eyes from troubles such as this we will never change..
Race Discrimination..Simply Becomes the Big Elephant In The Room.
– Alex
Deviance and Social Order 
It is hard to follow your point. Are you arguing that race discrimination is being ignored because of government priorities leaning towards the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terror”? Or That the “War on Drugs” and the “War on Terror” have flooded the prison system, which in turn produces race discrimination and the inability to vote?
Also the 30 for 30 documentary on Basketball Player Len Bias would be of help on linking government policy with the population.
However I will say that race discrimination is an issue in this country that is often ignored for the government aspiration of assimilation.
Essentially, I agree with you.
whose comment is this? –ruth
Oh he is not in the class.. Its an outside reader.
I agree with your entry. It’s comes to the point where every ethnic group becomes a scapegoat for some kind of political regime. It is awful that the voices of people are being purposely silenced in order to push a political agenda. It’s as our professor says, old racism with a new caste system. It is essentially a new incarnation for the same old racial prejudices.
-Jenny T.
I really enjoyed reading your post. You make great point such like how you pointed out that low income people of color get targeted the most. We can clearly see that as we look at the prisons today and see that the majority are people of color like blacks and hispanics. This is horrible and something should be done.
-Jeannette Cazares
You had a great point; I never really connected the War on Drugs and the War on Terror. Scape-goating based on cultural difference with the aim of stripping the American people of their basic rights–same basic formula.
–Leah Manacop