Cultural Perspectives Draft

Running head: PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, POWER, AND PRIVILEGE 1

PREJUDICE, DISCRIMINATION, POWER, AND PRIVILEGE 2

Prejudice, Discrimination, Power, and Privilege

Name: Michael Williams

Course: Org 6499 Cultural Diversity and Individual Differences

Instructor: Jennifer Brown

Date: 07/15/2019

Prejudice, Discrimination, Power, and Privilege

Introduction

In the world, the societies have been and they are still diverse and this is a common scenario in the United States. Different situations in the history of the United States have made people to immigrate to the US from other countries for instance slave trade and others in search of greener pastures. It is for this reason that different states in the US are comprised of people from different cultural and ethnic background for instance, the whites who are locals, African American, Asian American, Indian Americans, and Latinos among many other races. However, despite the high diversity, the people are allowed to practice and live by their cultures. Cultural diversity is supposed to benefit the state as a whole as people get to learn from each other and collaborate hence creating a reliable and healthy society. However, in the United States, this has not been entirely the case. Diversity in the different states have been misused for a long time where malpractices like discrimination, abuse of power, and prejudice has been made a reality. For instance, the white race people in the US who are the majority take advantage of diversity to discriminate upon minority races. This essay seeks to describe the diversity situation in terms of different races and the cultural groups affected by the diverse situation.

Diversity situation

In the United States, Oakland and California are the most cultural diversified states. These regions host people from different races and some are inborn and others have immigrated. This is to mean that members of community are categorized into three different groups (Fish, & Syed, 2019). The whites who believe to be original citizens of the country, the Black Americans and other races that were born in the US, and the immigrants which means that they were not born in the US but some have acquired citizenship while others have not. The diverse situation in California and Oakland states has made the region to become a hub of cultural diversity as well.

Every ethnic group in the region has its cultural beliefs and traditions to observe (Lee, 2014). However, the fact that the whites are the majority, their beliefs and traditions tend to bear much stronger weight hence making it easy for other ethnic groups to embrace and use white people culture and beliefs. However, the fact that the white people are the majority and they have a historical belief and notion that they are superior, they tend to discriminate against people from other ethnicities (Bennett, 2012). They have developed a privileged feeling and attitude that they are above all other races and that they should occupy all leadership positions; own all business, live in the best regions, and access the best education and healthcare systems.

In California and Oakland, there has been clear evidence of prejudice and discrimination against the minority races (Svetaz, et al., 2018). For instance, the minorities have specific regions where they are supposed to stay, schools that their children are supposed to attend, and healthcare facilities that they are supposed to seek medical attention (Fish, & Syed, 2019). As a matter of reality, it was only recently that minority races in the US were permitted to engage in their democratic right like voting. The whites could use their power to deny the minorities their right to vote or even hold political positions. This was as a result of the notion that the whites are superior and they cannot be rules over by a person from the minority race.

The impact

The application of prejudice, discrimination, power, and privilege has negatively affected people from minority races in the US precisely California and Oakland. Instead of diversity bringing people together, it has promoted individualism where people in the society strive to achieve personal interests. Because of the malpractices, many people from the minority races have suffered severe consequences (Fish, & Syed, 2019). For instance, many have died due to lack of adequate healthcare services and others entirely failing to access healthcare. There are also high levels of illiteracy among the people from minority races due to lack of quality education system (Lee, 2014). Lack of adequate education has further locked out people from minority races from high ranking employment opportunities which mean that they undergo a much lower personal and career growth as compared to their white counterparts (Bennett, 2012). Moreover, discrimination is also real in the employment sector which leaves a majority of them jobless and highly dependent on menial jobs for survival.

The impact has led to the long struggle for equality in the United States. It is a good thing that a lot of success has been achieved over the years. The more reason is that the constitution has strived to make diversity more beneficial instead of negatively affecting the people (Fish, & Syed, 2019). For instance, the constitution has strived to protect the minorities from inequality in all sectors and this has made some people from the minority races take up leadership positions, own businesses and become employers, and access quality education indifferent universities around the United States (Svetaz, et al., 2018). From the efforts and milestones, the minorities enjoy much more freedom to integrity with the white people and with time, the US is enjoying the benefits of diversity.

Conclusion

In the United States, cultural diversity is a reality but sadly, there is a history of high use of prejudice, discrimination, abuse of power and privilege. The latter is in the sense that the white people in the US has a feeling, belief, and notion that they are superior and should be treated better, have the better jobs, education, healthcare, and leadership positions in major companies and the government. On the other hand, the minorities have suffered the consequences as many has died due to lack of medical attention, other lack employment due to quality education and high levels of discrimination. The matter has been even worse because over the years, the constitution did not have a way of protecting minorities. However, with constant struggles and efforts, the minorities have put efforts together thereby leading to some levels of equality achievement. In the present day United States, diversity is much more enjoyed and positively felt as compared to years before.

References

Bennett, J. (2012). White privilege: A history of the concept.

Fish, J., & Syed, M. (2019). The Multiple Levels of Racism, Discrimination, and Prejudice.

Lee, N. (2014). Migrant and ethnic diversity, cities and innovation: Firm effects or city effects? Journal of Economic Geography, 15(4), 769-796.

Svetaz, M. V., Chulani, V., West, K. J., Voss, R., Kelley, M. A., Raymond-Flesch, M., ... & Barkley, L. (2018). Racism and Its Harmful Effects on Nondominant Racial–Ethnic Youth and Youth-Serving Providers: A Call to Action for Organizational Change: The Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(2), 257-261.