The Optimistic Finish Line

With the presence of racial disparity, the question is what can be done to end it. A questioning as to why one individual is favoured over another still remains prominent, or are these occurrences based off of ones race rather than their capabilities? These are questions I would like to answer sooner rather than later. Racial and ethnic disparities are pervasive, and especially distressing in the case of African Americans (Foreman 29). However, racial disparity does not only affect African-Americans, any minority is just that a minority. A minority to the prestige white people, typically they carry it without even recognizing it. Below is a short video I stumbled upon which proves that racial disparity is still present and happens to people who are not African-American. José Zamora fell victim to racial disparity and proves it with his story:

The presence of racial disparity does not have to be situation for the other group to endure forever. The key to discrediting the possibility of racial disparity is to develop an effective and efficient strategy that creates equal opportunity for all no matter their race, age, gender, sexual orientation or class.  These “remaining disparities are likely reducible only through an uncertain blend of educational and economic advancement and a thoughtful political strategy… above all, it will take time” (Foreman 29).

The below YouTube video is a discussion on the above video proving that this is an issue that is known yet still remains.

This video hits so many important ideas and issues modern America endures, but unfortunately it is more widespread than that. The problem with racial disparity is that though it is based on the questioning of discrimination, it still has the possibility to be overcame. If race remains America’s major piece of unfinished business, African Americans (and other minorities) must chart new pathways toward its completion on favourable terms (Foreman 30).Without legislative changes and media attention, the components necessary are not in existence in order to reduce racial disparity (Warren & Farrell 56). This was commented in the above YouTube video by PopTrigger. With BuzzFeedYellow producing a video like this it allows people to become aware of this issue. With PopTrigger providing statistical proof that it is in existence, it only reinforces the commonality of racial disparity.

Differences must occur collectively in order to favour society and those part of the minority groupings. The increase in media attention to the issue, may actually prompt legislative and organizational responses (Warren & Farrell 62). Therefore with more focus on the inequality currently in place, the racism America contains could have the potential to minimize racial disparity as a societal issue. Though the discrimination of racial disparity’s existence is questioned, it is hard to believe that it is not in a country filled with so much inequality. An optimistic view is that by mid-century Americans will view race in fluid rather than fixed and precise terms (Foreman 28). My hope is that this is possible. I can only hope that one will be judged simply on their abilities and ambition rather than their appearance.

Rap Your Mind Around the Disparities

The acknowledgement of racial disparity can be displayed through several different means. One that I personal identify with is Hip Hop and Rap music. While the Harlem Renaissance choose to conform to the ideals set out by the dominant society, Hip Hop and Rap choose to rebel it as a form of fighting against the possibility of racial disparity. This type of music has a way of rebelling the official language that is traditionally used. The link between Jazz (another significant music form for African Americans) and Rap became a resistance to white forms of music and its representation.The influence of civil rights and black movements influenced rap, jazz and hip hop.

Jay-Z’s 99 Problems explains the frustration felt with the criminal justice system and cops. In the second verse, starting at 00:57, Jay-Z raps:

The year is ’94 and in my trunk is raw
In my rear view mirror is the mother fucking law
I got two choices yall pull over the car or
bounce on the double put the pedal to the floor
Now I ain’t trying to see no highway chase with Jake
Plus I got a few dollars I can fight the case
So I…pull over to the side of the road
And I heard “Son do you know why I’m stopping you for?”
Cause I’m young and I’m black and my hat’s real low
Do I look like a mind reader sir, I don’t know
Am I under arrest or should I guess some mo?
“Well you was doing fifty five in a fifty four”
“License and registration and step out of the car”
“Are you carrying a weapon on you I know a lot of you are”
I ain’t stepping out of shit all my papers legit
“Do you mind if I look round the car a little bit?”
Well my glove compartment is locked so is the trunk and the back
And I know my rights so you gon’ need a warrant for that
“Aren’t you sharp as a tack are some type of lawyer or something?”
“Or somebody important or something?”
Nah I ain’t passed the bar but I know a little bit
Enough that you won’t illegally search my shit
“Well see how smart you are when the K-9’s come”
I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one
Hit me

In this verse it reinforces a few of the themes present in racial disparity. Racial profiling is the more aggressive and apparent version of racial disparity. Racial profiling describes the practice of targeting or stopping an individual based primarily on his or her race, rather than on any individualized suspicion (Warren & Farrell 53). Initially the verse begins with being stopped for a minor issue, with the cop likely having ulterior motives. However the rapper calls him out with this suspicion, suggesting that he was stopped because of his appearance. Minorities are more likely than whites to perceive that they are singled out and unfairly targeted by police… aggressive police patrols, excessive use of force and racially biased policing cited as biases for these perceptions (Warren & Farrell 52). This is not a topic hidden from the world. Several articles and journals discuss the issues of racial profiling and racial disparity among the justice system. Both “DWB: Driving While Black” and “The Colour of Suspicion” publicize the issues of discrimination.

Statistic after statistic proves that racial disparity is the most prominent within the criminal justice system. Just browsing the facts on the NAACP Justice Fact Sheet, a few points stood out for me:

• African Americans now constitute nearly 1 million of the total 2.3 million incarcerated population
• African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites
• Together, African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008, even though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately one quarter of the US population
• According to Unlocking America, if African American and Hispanics were incarcerated at the same rates of whites, today’s prison and jail populations would decline by approximately 50%
• One in six black men had been incarcerated as of 2001. If current trends continue, one in three black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during his lifetime
• 1 in 100 African American women are in prison
• Nationwide, African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice).

These statistics prove that despite how much America claims to have progressed, inequality still remains. Certain classes and races are set up with a pathway that leads them to a certain destination. The defiant challenges Jay-Z’s song takes on attempts to reveal how these disparities arise. His attack on popular culture portrays white as best and black as less. Race as a means of personal identification (Schiele 811), represents an extralegal factor as to why someone maybe be the target of racial disparity. It is necessary to monitor the practices of law enforcement, the government called for legislation in hopes of ending racial profiling and hold organizations accountable for targeting minority citizens (Warren & Farrell 54). Once this issue is resolved than hopefully racial disparity will not be so apparent in the criminal justice system. Continually cultural oppression is a primary source of social problems experienced by African-American (Schiele 821), though the rise of middle-class in the Harlem Renaissance was expected to create equality, rap music exposes that this discrimination is still rather prominent. The use of Rap and Hip Hop music becomes a voice for those who are targeted from racial profiling which leads to racial disparity. The exposure of this issue through music allows society to not only relate but recognize the discrimination behind racial disparity for what it truly is.

 

LECTURES USED: “History of Rap”

Redefining What it Means to Exercise Blackness

The Harlem Renaissance is credited with the dissolving of minstrelsy, finally African Americans are provided with the possibility of equal chance. As African-Americans take on a new status, one hopeful repercussion will be the disappearing of racial disparity and most importantly equality. The impression was African-Americans lacked culture and history however Alain Leroy Locke (aka Father of the Harlem Renaissance) encouraged a new perception of blackness, not based on slavery and the south. The consequence of cultural oppression of African-American is the risk of being unaware and unappreciative of their ancestral homeland and its customs, traditions and contributions (Schiele 804-805).

The initial internal colonization transforms into an act of revaluing African-American culture. The civil rights and Black power gains of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s has propelled great numbers of African American into the middle and upper classes (Schiele 810). The uprising of a black middle class allowed African-Americans to fulfill an identity not associated with lower class. There was only two brief periods of American history (1850-70 and 1965) where black interests commanded a compelling moral leverage over the national discourse (Foreman 30). With naming this movement Harlem Renaissance Locke implied and targeted a certain group of educated individuals. This rebirth of the African-American community allowed them to socially measure up and attempt to eliminate the possibility of disparity. Harlem Renaissance has the ability to be reminiscent of a manifesto. It in necessary to redefine race and embrace their ethnic and racial diversity and its broader societal implications (Foreman 28). If blacks now represented a portion of the middle-
class, it meant they possessed the same capabilities as whites. Disparities in access and outcomes are linked to socioeconomic status (Foreman 30). This new representation is key and needs to be encoded .This movement created a linear progression that flaunts a cultural adolescence and rebirth for African-Americans and their culture. This movement is based on desire, and by obtaining middle-class lifestyle is a sense of conformity that is necessary.

Another important figure within the Harlem Renaissance movement was Langston Hughes,  a poem that was written by him that encompasses the progression and anticipation of black equality is “I, Too”:

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I’ll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody’ll dare

Say to me,

“Eat in the kitchen,”

Then.

Besides,

They’ll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

With more African-Americans beginning to achieve a better position in society provides legitimacy to the race. By transform from illegitimate to legitimate it provides some sense  of authority and authenticity. Once such a status in accomplished African-Americans are supposed to be on a level that promotes a lack of racial disparity.

By initiating and sustaining a public discourse on racial disparities it would seem easy but it is actually a formidable challenge (Foreman 29). The ideology needs to change internally. African-Americans experience an intense desire to be free, however oppression remains (Schiele 803). Despite revealing that African-Americans possess the necessities to obtain status and knowledge, racial disparity still lays in the shadows of possibilities. 

LECTURES USED: “Alain Locke Forward to the New Negro: An Interpretation” and “Harlem Part One”

 

The Imitations Continue

Minstrelsy did not disappear easily, it just became slightly less discrete. The Imitation of Life exemplifies this tremendously. Delia takes on the role of a minstrel character, her actions exemplifying the ideal African-American figure with poor speech and attends to her white associate. In this particular scene Delia does what she is told and holds the  facial expression as if she is unintelligent and obedient.

Once again African-Americans are placed into a subordinate role. Despite Delia and Ms. Bea going into business together, disparity is among the roles each of them play. Delia constantly cleans and tends to customers while Ms. Bea stands around for decoration and supervision.  She is seen as the brains of the operation, implicating that Delia lacks the capability.
The Imitation of Life exposes the artificiality of race. African-Americans are over represented among the low-income segment of the population, we should not naturally perceive a racially tinged inequality (Foreman 29), but rather a comparable conception. The world has trouble accepting black people as anything more than black. The racial disparity is the most present in this movie through Delila’s daughter Peola. Peola is a mixed race character, who experiences the issues of being both black and white. There are a few scenes where Peola is embarrassed of her black portion identity, a perception she has felt while young and carried onto to her adulthood.

 

It is not because being back is something to be ashamed of, but rather the notions attached to blackness. Those who control societal institutions are endorsed and imposed onto all who rely on these institutions (Schiele 803). Peola fits into this prominently white society simply because she can pass as white, but once the black part of her is revealed her competence becomes questioned. Looking “white” encompasses a freedom. It encases a sense of appropriation. Cultural oppression in the United States is expressed through Eurocentric domination, through the imposition and universalization of the diverse yet distinctive interpretative framework of white Americans (Schiele 803).

In the scene between Peola and Delia where they are unintentionally discussing the racial disparity Peola feels first hand, Peola reveals her dilemma. It is not that Peola actually wants to be white but instead wants the privileges associated with whiteness. White domination has generated risks that limit African American’s ability to advance and prosper in the United States (Schiele 804). The racial disparity present in The Imitations of Life appear to underline the inner conflict Peola feels. Inequality exists in the value given divergent interpretations and life experiences (Schiele 803). The belief is that the increase in interracial/inter-ethnic marriages is already changing historical perceptions of what it is to be a member of the ”white” or “black” race (Foreman 28).  A naive impression in my opinion, as being someone who is biracial I understand the struggle between representing and abiding to the notions of each race. However African-Americans regularly come up short (Foreman 29). The presence of a more interracial existence is presumed to create the equilibrium necessary in blending races, however with The Imitation of Life it proves it is not that simple.

Instead the inferiority on one race over another emphasizes the likelihood for racial disparity to continue. Regulation of values and interpretations as cultural imperialism and conceives it as “the universalization of a dominant group’s experience and culture is established as the norm” (Schiele 803). Though normality is supposed to be universal, it often is not and instead creates an artificial outlook as to who belongs where and why. Both realism and farsightedness must characterize the continuing struggle for African-American uplift (Foreman 30). But as the rise up ideology carries onto the Harlem Renaissance it portrays as an act of decolonization. This rise of the Harlem Renaissance is credited with diminishing of minstrelsy, and accompanied with the rise of the black middle class. Showing that perhaps maybe there is hope for the dissolving of racial disparity in the workplace and in general.

 

LECTURES USED: “Commentary on Stahl’s Imitation of Life”

Let’s start at the beginning…

I think before discussing racial disparity it is important to acknowledge why this issue even exists. Most people are acquainted with the black oppression due to slavery that lasted for several years, and some would argue that despite the legalization of slavery disappearing, this oppression still exists.

Earlier in the semester we looked at The Virginian  by Owen Wister, a book that depicts the classic Western genre, one that’s sole purpose is to exclude based on race, class and gender. The Western genre has a way of outlining how one is supposed to think, fantasize and behave. These Frontier values were expected to brand individuals, and place value in class, property and success. With Wister belonging to this elite group of white rich men, he acknowledges realism as an okay way to structure our society. This is where the dominant mode of representing the world reflects the mold at that particular moment. During this time society placed blacks in a subordinate role. The Virginian mimics the value of social concepts and diction that favoured a particular class of whites. These ideological concepts motivated a misconception on what the “truths” of  people, events and situations, or even simply what the world should resemble. With novels like The Virginian openly discussing the legitimacy to black oppression it creates a stigma, claiming that Negros should endure a “duly hung” (Wister 435) . At one point in the novel there is a conversation between Molly and the Judge where the judge says “when they lynch they only take back what they once gave” (Wister 435).The lynching that takes place in the novel is characterized as a fundamental response to the government’s dishonesty and lack of activity. Wister along with several other individuals ignored the dehumanizing that was occurring at this time and that still continues to this day.

Minstrelsy comes up when considering the mocking of black culture. This act of buffoonish black facing was used by whites as a way to once again reiterate where blacks stood in society in a “comedic” way.  Minstrel typically emasculated black men in a stereotypical manner, depicting them as hyper-sexualized and uneducated. Black men were believed to be undeserving to equal rights, because of their stereotypical demeanor. This dehumanization of blacks was seen as a justification for slavery.

 

These ignorant point of views were seen through various forms of propaganda as a way of complimenting the ideological standards that were believed at this time and outlined in The Virginian. It just shows that for quite some time there has been a racial hierarchy one that places whites at the top and blacks near the bottom. Though at the time of slavery and minstrelsy this was intentional, it can still be seen in nearly every community still today.

With this in mind I think it creates a backdrop as to why racial disparity is present. The difference in outcomes for a black individual to a white now a days replicates a dehumanizing past filled with discrimination and unjust ways. Appearance is key, and this theme will be the base of each explanation as to why racial disparity exists and how this ideological view needs to be altered in order to achieve not only the dissolved idea of racial disparity but for equality to exist for all people no matter their colour. America prides themselves with having the “American Dream”, necessary in equalizing and leveling the play field for all, presenting its society with the opportunity to work hard and achieve. My problem is how can there be equal opportunity if everyone doesn’t actually start in an equilibrium, but rather start in a subordinate role due to its history. Something to consider, is how to move past one’s history without ignoring it completely.

 

LECTURES USED: “Exclusion Acts Wister and Western” Part One and Two