Racism in the United States traces back to the pre-colonial era, where blacks and whites could not interact freely. The blacks back then were primarily servants and slaves working for the whites and lived in the servant quarters. The blacks had little education, with their knowledge limited to the primary level. The conspicuous form of racism in the pre-colonial and the colonial era was the segregation law. The segregation law ensured that the whites and the blacks lived in separate locations, used different means of transportation, had access to various social services, and attended a different school. The segregation laws also applied to institutions such as the military, where the blacks had different military bases from that of the whites. However, the military headquarters of the blacks were still under the leadership of the blacks. The significant disparity between the blacks and the whites experienced today is as a result of the segregation laws. The paper examines the implication of institutional racism both in the past and the current society and how it relates to the rates of poverty and crime amongst the African-American communities.
Unjust sentencing of blacks contributes to poverty among the black communities. Most of the African-Americans suffer from long sentencing and hefty fines for petty crimes. According to the reports of the American Sociological Association, the criminal justice systems seem to favor the whites. At the same time, it intends to keep the blacks behind bars for an extended period. The report states how the criminal justice system focuses on the incarceration of the African-Americans to keep the Black males in prison longer for petty crimes. In contrast, White males get shorter sentences for grave crimes (ASA, 2007). Similar sentiments by the Center for American Progress affirm that the US constitution and, mainly, the 13th Amendment did not free the Black man from slavery but instead served to create a wealth gap between Black and White people in the US (Hanks, 2018). In a study by Burt, Simons, and Gibbons (2012), interpersonal racial discrimination was blamed for perpetuating cultural socialization of racism, preparing children for racial bias. To this end, African-American children are raised to ingrain bias racist victimization stereotypes from the suffering they endure seeing their fathers and uncles incarcerated for engaging in crime. In a government report, the media was blamed for engraving racial bias images of crime and poverty in the representation of African-Americans both in the news and in television programs (Kulaszewicz, 2015). These pieces of literature provide a central peak into how poverty and crime have been institutionalized in Black communities owing to racial discrimination.
Racial Segregation in the United States
The official forms of racial discrimination in the precolonial and colonial-era stem from the institution of the Jim Crow laws. These were the federal and state laws enforced primarily in the southern United States and that institutionalized segregation of the races in the United States. The segregation laws became active in the late 19th century and enacted until the late 20th century. The whites' democratic state legislatures adopted the Jim Crow laws as a way of showing the supreme of the whites over the blacks and preserving the whites from the so-called primitive nature of the blacks. The rules were abolished in 1965. The Jim Crow laws had three main clauses; the literary test, poll taxes, and the grandfather clause. The segregation laws, among other things, did not allow the blacks to participate in the voting process, banned racial intermarriages, especially the marriages between the people of color and the whites, and separated the blacks from the whites in terms of the use of public places and social amenities. The enactment of the segregation laws meant that the blacks conducted businesses separate from the whites, attended different schools, and lived in different areas. It is worth noting that the living standards and social facilities of the blacks were lower in terms of value and quality compared to those of the whites. Under the segregation laws, the blacks would not own properties, including large ranches and plantations, which were vital sources of income in the precolonial era. Most of the sons and daughters of the blacks inherited nothing other than the servants’ position in the whites settlements while their white counterparts had massive investment inheritance in terms or ranches.
Participation in the voting and political system of a state is one of the ways through which a community can acquire social and economic development. However, the segregation laws banned African-Americans from participating in the federal, state, and local politics and elections until the black suffrage period. Therefore, it is evident that the lack of inclusivity in the politics and elections would mean underdevelopment in the black community areas. Additionally, the people of color did not have influential representatives who would stand by them against cases of unfair trials in the criminal and justice system. Many of the blacks who had been tried unfairly developed vengeful thoughts, which led to increased cases of homicides and murder cases. The hatred and rivalry between the dark and the whites emanating from racial discrimination have now been propagated from generation to generation and has found its way to modern society. Cases of whites mistreating blacks are still prevalent today even though racial discrimination has been illegalized. In addition to that, blacks today have inherited poverty and poor economic conditions from their forefathers as a result of inadequate education systems and lack of development avenues.
Racial segregation in the United States is the root cause of the high poverty rates amongst the African-American communities. Quillian (2012), in the segregation and poverty rates research, examines and explains the role of residential segregation in the poverty rates amongst the non-white communities. According to the study, lack of interactions amongst the whites, Hispanic, Asian, and African-American communities led to the emergence of the socioeconomic disparity based on races. The early segregation and inequality led to increased poverty due to lack of proper education and employment amongst the people of color. The economic, social, and political environment of the blacks did not favor their economic development compared to that of the whites. Quillian states that one of the most significant impacts of segregation is the effect on the socioeconomic difference between the whites and the blacks emanating from the neighborhoods created by the Jim Crow laws (Quillian, 2012). The whites continued to grow and accumulate wealth why most of the blacks remained poor. The socioeconomic class of residential areas and the quality of education determined the life opportunities and the quality of life of the different races. The whites who were primarily high-class and middle class attended high-class and middle-class schools, acquired quality education and eventually landed to better jobs while most of the blacks, due to poor education worked as servants, cleaners, and housekeepers.
The high poverty rates amongst the blacks, coupled with being in a disadvantaged neighborhood, led to a rampant increase in the crimes in the African-American dominated societies. According to Quillian (2012), the high poverty rates and lack of opportunity in the blacks' dominated environments created during the segregation era are the primary factors encouraging the African-American youths to engage in criminal activities. The spatial segregation of the wealthy and poor creates a spatial gap between job demands and job seekers. The mismatch results in high unemployment rates amongst the blacks, thus the more impoverished neighborhoods. Most of the blacks lacked better education that would land them into legitimate careers.
Additionally, the segregation of the whites and the blacks created hostility and hatred that has been propagated from one generation to another. Therefore, cases of violent crimes and homicides between the whites and the blacks are as a result of the hatred and hostility on the grounds of racism. Unnever, & Gabbidon (2011), explain the high rates or crimes amongst the African-Americans based on the anomie theories. They state that the concentrated socioeconomic disadvantages in black neighborhoods lead to high levels of violent crime, drug trafficking, and prostitution. Racial segregation of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are the primary causes of poverty, socioeconomic gaps, and criminal conduct in the blacks dominated neighborhoods.
Modern Segregation
Despite the abolishment of the Jim Crow laws and the official end of racism in 1965, segregation continues to reign in the United States illegally on numerous occasions. Separation is evident in the learning institutions and places of work. According to an article by Meatto in the New York Times (2019), racial segregation is the leading cause of unrest and wars in the learning institutions. Several years after the end of official racisms, yet schools in the United States separates students based on races. The unequal distribution of resources and separations in the public schools in the United States results in poor education amongst the people of color. The same segregation and inequality addressed by Martin Luther still exist today, where public schools associated with the black community receive less funding in comparison to that affiliated to the middle-class and white communities.
According to the New York Times, racial segregation amongst the schoolchildren is intense, with over 50% of the students separated in the district schools. Race and income are the major causes of this segregation. Racial and socio-economic discrimination not only affect the quality of education of the students but also affect their growth and development. The gap between the rich and poor, as well as the whites and blacks, continues to intensify due to educational differences. As a result, disadvantaged poor students who, in most cases, are the blacks develop deviant behaviors leading to criminal activities. Nonetheless, the whites and blacks form institutional hostility as early as at the elementary levels (Unnever, & Gabbidon, 2011).
Institutionalized Racism at Workplaces and Job Opportunity
Racial discrimination at places of work and in available employment opportunities directly links to the cycle of poverty amongst the blacks communities. Research conducted on Upwork and Fiverr, freelancing websites revealed that it is tough for a white employer to employ a black person today (Hannák et al., 2017). Most of the people in the platform use white-sounding names and profiles to attract potential employers. Additionally, a study conducted by the Poverty Action Lab reveals that the trends and levels of institutional racism in the United States are worrying. The research involved applying for the advertised job posts using curriculum vitae with both black and white-sounding titles. The result of the study was that the applicants with the white-sounding names received more invitations to interviews twice than those with black-sounding names. The results indicate that racial discrimination exists in the United States labor market. Therefore, with such outcomes, it is expected that the African-Americans will struggle twice as much as the whites to acquire the same opportunities as whites.
