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In this phase I have learned a lot while writing the research paper. In my research paper my attended audience was people of color, I wanted them to get informed about the negative ways they are affected by racial segregation and discrimination. The concept that had most impacted my writing in this phase was evidence. This was also the most difficult part of the paper for me. It was important for my sources to be reliable and strong enough to support my thesis. I have also achieved many course learning outcomes in this phase as well. For example, “Engage in the collaborative and social aspects of writing processes” was achieved during the zoom break out groups with my peers, they would give me advice to better my paper and vice versa. Another one is, “Locate research sources (including academic journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles) in the library’s databases or archives and on the Internet and evaluate them for credibility, accuracy, timeliness, and bias”. I had to find accurate and reliable sources for my paper. Lastly, “Practice systematic application of citation conventions” was also achieved in this phase. I had to provide a works cited page to reference where I got all my evidence from and there, I practiced citing my sources. This paper was good practice since I have never done in text citations before.
Research Essay
There are many issues in our society today including but is not limited to poverty, increase in crimes of violence and pollution in our environment. These are all affecting our day to day lives and are very important, but one issue that stands out the most especially today, is racial segregation and discrimination and its affects. Racial segregation and discrimination is active in all aspects of our society, from education, medical care, residential and most unfortunately our criminal justice system We may not know it, but we judge people base on their race and color of their skin. What we also might not realize, is why we discriminate towards other based on their race. This is a psychological problem, and it can affect the lives of others in ways we may not notice. I am passionate about the topic of racial segregation and discrimination because many live through it every day, sometimes even being unaware of it. Every person of color is affected by this bias and as a Hispanic with a diverse group of loving people all around me I am concerned for our society and the way injustice is happening every single day by something that is out of our control. In order to change the way the system is, we must first change the way we have wired our brains to perceive others.
David R. Williams is an African American Studies and Sociology Professor at Harvard University, as well a Professor of Public Health at the Harvard School of Public Health. In David R. Williams’ Ted Talk, “How Racism Makes Us Sick” he mentions studies on how one’s implicit bias affects one without us even realizing it. He mentions that on average college educated Americans read books, articles or magazines that portray black people drastically different than white people. In these works of literature, you will often read black people characterized as poor, violent, lazy, and dangerous. However, white people are characterized and described as wealthy, progressive, successful, and educated. This means that unknowingly, as we constantly read descriptions describing people and races like this, we start to develop an unconscious discrimination for these groups of people. Literature portraying people of color this way will slowly start to make us develop and unconscious bias as well.
Jennifer L. Eberhardt is a social psychologist and works for the department of psychology for Standford University. In Jennifer L. Eberhardt’s Ted Talk, “How racial bias works- and how to disrupt it” she mentioned a research experiment she conducted with her team where they brought people in to see different faces. They found that when participants were exposed to pictures of black people, they often saw blurry images of guns clearer and faster. They also found that when they talked about violent crimes, people tend to look at black faces more often than white faces. The experiment was done quickly to see what the participants associated race with while thinking off the top of their heads to see their unconscious bias when making decisions. The research found that there was an association made between Black people and violence unconsciously during this experiment. She mentions how racial profiling happens constantly and to avoid this we can ask ourselves “intelligent based questions” to break down our thoughts and figure out whether it is a reasonable assumption or based on stereotypical ideas. As we can see, Eberhardt’s experiment supports how negatively people of color are viewed and how they are also associated with violence. This can make it even harder for people of color in the society as they can be targets and are more likely to be labeled as suspects for crimes they have not committed.
To add more to the issue there is something called institutional discrimination where social institutions such as, the area we live in and the medical field are both factors that negatively play a role in racial segregation and discrimination. In his speech, Professor Willam mentioned a very important topic and he talked about how it has been proven that blacks and minorities receive less quality medical care no matter the treatment they are looking for. This is surprising to hear about since the health of everyone should be treated as equal. For housing, he also mentioned how the worst white community was significantly better than the average black community. This could be for many reasons like underfunding minority populated communities. Furthermore, the professor goes on to mention how that residential segregation leads to racial inequality. Where we live and what our communities can provide for one is crucial for how that person may want to live their life and the opportunity given to them to live a better life. Institutionalized discrimination makes it difficult for everyone to receive equal opportunities and people of color are usually the ones who are most often negatively affected.
Lastly, in the article, “Examining Racial Bias in Education: A New Approach” it states, “Education research convincingly shows that teachers treat students differently depending on students’ race, and these differences in behavior contribute to racial disparities in achievement and other forms of racial stratification in schools” (McKown & Weinstein, 2008; Okonofua, Walton, & Eberhardt, 2016; Rubie-Davies, Hattie, & Hamilton, 2006; Skiba et al., 2011). This quote shows us that even in schools’ young children of color are already facing some sort of bias based on their race only. Being exposed to this racial disparity at such a youthful age can affect the way one sees the world, if children are treated differently in school based on their race it can play role and possible even affect how well they learn. A child should not be in an environment where they are perceived differently just because of how they look, this can cause a pupil to feel a division in a classroom. A Student’s potential in education can be stunted if they are treated differently at school compared to other classmates. It is surprising that this is happening in a learning environment and is truly disappointing.
As a society we are all affected by racial segregation and discrimination. As we can see, the experiments showed us how people of color are shown to be affected the most and in a negative way. People of color, specifically black people are associated with being more violent and when shown a picture of them, the participants are able to identify guns quicker compared to when they are shown a white person. What is even more interesting is that the participants for that experiment were reacting to the images unconsciously and it showed the bias they held and how people of color are at higher risk to be suspects for crimes they have not committed. This could add on to what Professor Williams said, that the way black people are characterized in literature in such a negative way can unconsciously make people to start to develop a bias against them. It is proven that black people are described with unfavorable characteristics compared to how white people are described. Overtime, as one is constantly reading, they will start to associate black people with those unfavorable characteristics. Moreover, people of color are also affected by institutionalized discrimination, meaning they are treated differently because of their race. They often receive less quality care in hospitals and it is common for them to live in average or below-average communities. Lastly, in schools it has been shown that teachers treat their students differently based on their race and that can negatively affect how they perform academically. As we can see people of color are negatively affected by racial segregation and discrimination in our society.
Works Cited Page
- Eberhardt, JL. (June 2020). How Racial Bias Works – and How to Disrupt It. TED Talks
- Williams, DR. (November 2016). How Racism Makes Us Sick. TED Talks.
- McKown & Weinstein, 2008; Okonofua, Walton, & Eberhardt, 2016; Rubie-Davies, Hattie, & Hamilton, 2006; Skiba et al., 2011
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