 Institutional Racism against African Americans can be the cause of the end of the Black race as we know it. Living in America is really hard at times knowing that you can’t freely move without a stereotyped or action being placed on you for the wrong reasons that might cause you harm in many ways. There are many specific topics surrounding institutional racism including within the law enforcement, the health system, the education system, the work system, and the courts. Will this race of people continue to survive if this practice continues?

African Americans make up a small portion of the United States. According to the US Census Bureau, as of July 1, 2014, Whites alone make up 77.4% of the general population (Quick Facts pg.23). Compared to the population of Whites alone, African Americans are less than half of the percentage of whites. As of July 1, 2014, Blacks alone only make up a small percentage of 13.2% of the United States population (Quick Facts pg.21). What does color truly have to do with it, at the end of the day we are all human and no color can truly set us aside what really should determine that factor is our drive and determination, but instead we some of us are viewed as risk factors and don’t have much of a voice. So how are individuals who are of African American decent supposed to act towards this behavior, knowing that they are outnumbered. 

When encountered with the action of institutional racism, one may question how to act. Being that African Americans have endured such trials as slavery, it is an African American’s basic instinct to fight for their rights and what they believe in. Many people of color don’t really have a voice that’s truly heart felt and heard or taken into consideration, in which the only way we know to be heard is through action. However, it is the way you take action that makes the difference. “A number of 21st century social movements, such as Black Lives Matter, seek to address institutional racism across the board--from the legal system to schools. Activists, including abolitionists and suffragettes, have long had success in overturning some forms of institutional racism. (Nittle Pg.5)” Although there is much anger built up towards individuals who commit the racist acts, protests and movements that are more peaceful will tend to bring more awareness to the issue at hand.

Through understanding how to act when encountered with Institutional Racism, the question on how to communicate with individuals who constantly commit racist acts, arises. When trying to communicate with these individuals, such as Police Officers, African Americans are not very successful.  “Local prosecutors are much more likely to upgrade a case to felony murder if you’re black than if you’re white (Nesbitt pg.3).” Today’s justice system I’ve found many individuals face years in prison for a crime they we’re later found innocent of. When trying to communicate with the government through protests, it is not simply because one Black has been killed. These protests occur simply because “They are about institutional racism in the United States, and about excessive use of police force that ends only in its most visible and extreme form with the killing of a black man by the “defender” of our very system, but remains invisible from the national eye a majority of the time (Dudek pg. 7).” These nonviolent protests tend to send a message to our government that there needs to be precautions taken.

When Institutional Racism is brought up, the first thing that comes to my mind is police brutality. Police brutality is the act in which a police officer uses violent forces against an individual, in most cases African Americans, which result in life-threatening injuries or even death. As shown on various means of media, especially social media, police brutality on African Americans is common in our society. On numerous occasions, families of innocent victims have felt grieve from an unexpected killing due to a sibling of theirs, can one imagine that feeling such a unbearable feeling especially when no justice is served living with that feeling can be so painful. Or there are even instances, such as Oscar Grant III’s, in which a police officer told him and some of his friends to get on the ground at a train station. Because Grant questioned the police officer, a white police officer, as to why he must get on the ground, the police officer eventually shot Grant in the head, getting frustrated that this Negro was questioning his authority. How are such acts, such as police brutality stopped? Is there any way to prevent these acts? There are a few ways, such as the use of technology.

During many instances of Institutional Racism, there are many witnesses present who sometimes even record the scene at hand. Although there are not many ways of preventing Institutional racism, one can bring awareness to the subject. One powerful voice or us all as a nation we can put a end to this racism thing, I think a good start would be showing love to one another and apologizing for all the wrongs that have recently take place. In the case of Oscar Grant, one of his friends had their phone out and recorded the whole incident. This led to the proof that was needed in order to punish that officer. There was also an incident in which some African American teenagers were mistreated because they were looked down upon in an all-white neighborhood. During this incident one of the police officers grabbed an African American young lady, threw her on the ground, and held a gun to her for refusing to get on the ground. Like Oscar Grant, these teenagers were innocent, but if it hadn’t been for someone recording the incident, there would be no awareness spread on stopping these actions.

If Institutional Racism were to affect the world by making the African American race extinct, would this world be prepared? Being prepared is one of the main issues that come to mind when any life-threatening scenes come to mind. However, how does one of the African American decent prepare for the event of no longer being in existence? The answer simply is that there is no way to prepare. During slavery times, there was no way to prepare when the KKK caught an African American and lynched them. Today there is no way to prepare when a white police officer comes up to an innocent African American and the altercation ends in death. Within the court system, there is no way to prepare to be not guilty when the jury consists of all white individuals. African American youth have no way to prepare when they go to school and are treated unequal because they are not white. All throughout this nation there are many systems that discriminate against African Americans. How is an African American to survive if there is no way to even prepare with so many odds against them? If we are all given the same equity I think that things would be a lot better but equality in my eyes is where the problem lies majority for me.

One of the most important issues that come to mind is what motivates individuals, preferably whites, to use Institutional Racism against African Americans. The answer is clear; Whites are still in the mindset of the times of slavery. Although slavery was abolished, and all institutions desegregated, racism has never ended. I don’t just believe that color is solely a factor but people look down on others for multiple reasons maybe even their upbringing may even have a lot to do with it. Whites tend to get away with more in every system in our nation. Being that Whites get away with more, they feel as though they still have the right to mistreat African Americans. Because Blacks are set out by society to be failures, is why most individuals look at the African American race as nothing.  Society is making it look like it is right to treat African American in an unhuman way. Overall, our very government is what motivates other individuals to use Institutional Racism against African Americans. Although, the extinction of African Americans may not occur for another century or so, it is something to be precautious about. Institutional Racism is a silent killer, being that the government tends to look right past many instances. If not brought to light and awareness raised, Institutional Racism may very well be the cause of the killing off of the African American race. African Americans are constantly looked at as being lower than the White race. If given the same respect and protection under the law, the African American race will be able to prosper and slowly rise in population. With the rise of population, the extinction of this race will less likely occur. 

 Africans were slaves for years under Caucasians rule and their descendants still feel the oppression they went through even to this day. As a result, the United States government enacted Affirmative Action to get them the same chance at education and employment as Caucasians do. This, in turn, should give everyone an equal opportunity to one another when it comes to applying for school and employment. Not only is this world divided by color but in addition to that it’s divided by income level low class, middle class and high class which set’s us apart. Members of the Alt-right group, they believe that their country is being stolen from them and their forefathers built this country when in fact they stole it from Native Americans and built it off the slave labor of Africans. They believe that they are being replaced but in actuality, minorities are applying themselves in school and working hard to one day be able to be promoted to an executive position or start their own businesses. Action was needed in order for minorities to have at least some form of equality as Caucasians when it comes to education and applying for employment. Slavery has kept many blacks at a cessation or standstill for long periods of time.

In places which you least expect racism to occur are in fact exactly where they occur the most such as police trafficking, banks, medical fields, and even church’s. Many Blacks, Mexicans we find ourselves racially profiled at times, which is an uncomfortable feeling and doesn’t allow us the equal opportunity to succeed at our own free will. Arguably no other issue in this World has left a greater stamp on race than slavery, Slavery continues to fuel racist attitudes and racial discrimination leaving an ongoing tradition just in different ways.

Beforehand legislation was passed to end slavery, a lot of slaves fought for freedom while suffering severely being beaten to death, starved for days, not to mention no jobs to support personal needs. Everyday uncountable numbers of Americans are the targets of racial profiling because of their ethnic background. People of color are being routinely profiled during traffic stops, school systems, concerts, and even at the grocery stores or parties as well. Black and Latino men have been excessively targeted for years for no probable reason other than skin color and wrongful judgement.  In many instances regarding innocent lives being taken for no reason specifically in the South and no consequences are being put in place causes questionable red flags in the justice system and how it really is exercised. Some cultures and organizations have apologized for discriminating against people of color by supporting Jim Crow and backing slavery. Some churches have apologized for perpetuating racism in recent years.

Today, many churches have not only apologized for alienating minority groups such as blacks but have also attempted to make their churches more diverse and appoint people of color in key roles.  Blacks are at a higher death rate now than ever before, families suffering and it’s a trending cycle which causes their children to be at risk even while trying to pursue greater things and setting a new trend. Elimination of people with felony records, any kind of standardize test, IQ test or even hiring practices are all forms of intuitional racism. From interviews, to bank loans, applying to grad school we all are judged on certain criteria which places us in a category of qualified or unqualified and known as bias/stereotypical. Substantially we would have to make nearly six figures just to get a loan from the banks or school systems to support our children throughout school.

If a black person kills a white person, they are twice as likely to receive the death sentence as a white person who kills a black person. Local prosecutors are much more likely to upgrade a case to felony murder if you’re black than if you’re white. Racial bias in jury selection is ridiculous – qualified black jurors are illegally turned away as much as 80 percent of the time in the jury selection process.  About a quarter of juries in death penalty cases have no black jurors, and more than two-thirds have two or less. When a black person is accused of killing a white person – and the jury consists of five or more white males the odds go way up for a death penalty verdict. Defense lawyers, and prosecutors, know that having just a single black man on the jury substantially changes the odds. Black people stay in prison longer than white people, chances are that possibly 41-44 percent of blacks serve a higher sentence for the same crime that a white person did, not to be over exaggerative but to be realistic especially in today’s time, with all the killings going on between white and blacks. I believe that media messages are not good for our society because they give off the wrong impression at times when a incident occurs from a particular race the message is then is overly perceive to the world and the community.

Living is this world is sometimes so unfair as we all are treated poorly at some time and it tends to bring us out of character despite this, I believe that if we practice our stance and our actions things can slowly but surely get better if we just trust in the process of excel and coping with all human beings. To me everything leads back to equal rights, the violence we are seeing in the urban cities or the world in general are mostly due to the lack of jobs for people to support their families, and unequal rights to thrive upon your will like others without being looked down on. The root causes are what we must deal with, not the symptoms.  All in all, we need to resolve racism somehow some way and find a solution to be created equal for the better of our country. If there’s was ever a thought in one’s mind does racism still exist there is an obvious answer to the question. We may not like it, but imagining that it doesn’t exist isn’t right, either.
