Human Rights and Racial Inequality Shifts in Contemporary United States

Research Article
Open access

Human Rights and Racial Inequality Shifts in Contemporary United States

Chenyue Liang 1*
  • 1 University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom, LS2 9JT    
  • *corresponding author pt21cl@leeds.ac.uk
LNEP Vol.6
ISSN (Print): 2753-7056
ISSN (Online): 2753-7048
ISBN (Print): 978-1-915371-37-9
ISBN (Online): 978-1-915371-38-6

Abstract

Racial inequality is a major aspect of America’s history due to the major impacts that slavery had, with black people being the primary victims. Over the past decades, the shapes and forms of racism have changed from overt practices, such as slavery to covert forms. Reviewing the literature on racism in America showed that the changes led to the false illusion that racism ended in America, which is not true, considering the widespread discrimination of blacks and other groups. This paper mainly discusses human rights and racial inequality shifts in contemporary United States with cases studies, critically analyzes racism in contemporary America, including the case of police killing and abuse, show that racial minorities, for instance, African Americans endure high poverty rates, injustice, and victimization by the criminal justice system. The evidence of widespread racism in contemporary America demonstrates the need for change, focusing on addressing the underlying causes, including poor and unfair policies.

Keywords:

Racial inequality, Human rights, United State Contemporary Racism

Liang,C. (2023). Human Rights and Racial Inequality Shifts in Contemporary United States. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,6,1038-1045.
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References

[1]. United Nations. (2020) World social report 2020: Inequality in a Rapidly Changing World. New York: United States.

[2]. Chetty, R., Hendren, N., Jones, M. R., & Porter, S. R. (2018) Race and economic opportunity in the United States: An intergenerational perspective (NBER Working Paper W24441). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

[3]. Martin L. L. (2021) America in denial: How race-fair policies reinforce racial inequality in America, State University of New York Press.

[4]. Oliver, J., Clair, M., & Denis, J. S. (2019) “Racism”, in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, vol. 8, edited by G. Ritzer and C. Rojek. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

[5]. Daumeyer, N. M., Rucker, J. M., & Richeson, J. A. (2017) Thinking structurally about implicit bias: Some peril, lots of promise, Psychological Inquiry, 28, pp. 258–261.

[6]. Crandall, C. S., Eshleman, A., & O’Brien, L. (2002) Social norms and the expression and suppression of prejudice: The struggle for internalization, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, pp. 359–378.

[7]. Hughey, M. (2012) White Bound: Nationalists, Antiracists, and the Shared Meanings of Race. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

[8]. Yadon, N., and Piston, S. (2018) Examining whites’ anti-black attitudes after Obama’s presidency, Politics, Groups, and Identities, 7(4), pp. 794-814.

[9]. Golash-Boza, T. (2016) A critical and comprehensive sociological theory of race and racism, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2 (2), pp. 129– 141.

[10]. Alexander, M. (2012) The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colour blindness. New York: New Press.

[11]. Kraus, M. W., Onyeador, I. N., Daumeyer, N. M., Rucker, J. M., & Richeson, J. A. (2019) The Misperception of Racial Economic Inequality, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(6), pp.899–921.

[12]. Anderson, C. (2016) White rage: The unspoken truth of our racial divide. London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing.

[13]. Harris F. C., & Lieberman R. C. (2015) Racial inequality after racism: How institutions hold back African Americans, Foreign Afairs, 94, pp. 9.

[14]. Eibach, R. P., & Purdie-Vaughns, V. (2011) How to keep on keeping on: Framing civil rights accomplishments to bolster support for egalitarian policies, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, pp. 274–277.

[15]. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017) Racism without racists: Colour-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

[16]. DeBell, M. (2017) Polarized opinions on racial progress and inequality: Measurement and application to affirmative action preferences, Political Psychology, 38, pp. 481–498.

[17]. Hardy, B.L., & Logan, T.D. (2020) Racial Economic Inequality Amid the COVID-19 Crisis, The Hamilton Project, 2020, pp.1-14. https://www.brookings.edu/wp- content/uploads/2020/08/EA_HardyLogan_LO_8. 12.pdf

[18]. Roth, K. (2022) United States: Events of 2021. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/world- report/2022/country-chapters/united-states (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[19]. Brodish, A. B., Brazy, P. C., & Devine, P. G. (2008) More eyes on the prize: Variability in White Americans’ perception of progress toward racial equality, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, pp. 513–527.

[20]. Hill, E., Tiefenthäler, A., Triebert, C., Jordan, D., Willis, H. & Stein, R. (2020) How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html (Accessed:27 October, 2022).

[21]. LaFraniere, S., & Lehren, A.W. (2015) The Disproportionate Risks of Driving While Black. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffic-stops- driving-black.html (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[22]. Causadias, J.M. (2019) Racial Discrimination in the United States: A National Health Crisis That Demands a National Health Solution, Journal ofAdolescent Health, 64 (2019), pp. 147-148.

[23]. Iceland, J. (2019) Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Poverty and Affluence, 1959-2015, Popul Res Policy Rev., 38(5), pp. 615–654.

[24]. Gould, E., Perez, D., & Wilson, V. (2020) Latinx workers—particularly women—face devastating job losses in the COVID-19 recession. Available at: https://www.epi.org/publication/latinx-workers-covid/ (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[25]. Prison Policy Initiative. (2022) Race and ethnicity. Available at: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/race_and_ethnicity/ (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[26]. Alter, A. L., Stern, C., Granot, Y., & Balcetis, E. (2016) The “bad is black” effect: Why people believe evildoers have darker skin than do-gooders, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, pp. 1653–1665.

[27]. BBC. (2021) George Floyd: Timeline of black deaths and protests. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52905408 (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[28]. Bonam, C. M., Vinoadharen, N. D., Coleman, B. R., & Salter, P. (2018) Ignoring history denying racism: Mounting evidence for the Marley hypothesis and epistemologies of ignorance, Social Psychological & Personality Science, 10, pp. 257–265.

[29]. Craig, M. A., & Richeson J. A. (2014) On the precipice of a “majority-minority” America: Perceived status threat from the racial demographic shift affects White Americans’ political ideology, Psychological Science, 25, pp. 1189– 1197.

Cite this article

Liang,C. (2023). Human Rights and Racial Inequality Shifts in Contemporary United States. Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media,6,1038-1045.

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Volume title: Proceedings of the International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies (ICIHCS 2022), Part 5

ISBN：978-1-915371-37-9(Print) / 978-1-915371-38-6(Online)
Editor：Muhammad Idrees, Matilde Lafuente-Lechuga
Conference website: https://www.icihcs.org/
Conference date: 18 December 2022
Series: Lecture Notes in Education Psychology and Public Media
Volume number: Vol.6
ISSN：2753-7048(Print) / 2753-7056(Online)

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References

[1]. United Nations. (2020) World social report 2020: Inequality in a Rapidly Changing World. New York: United States.

[2]. Chetty, R., Hendren, N., Jones, M. R., & Porter, S. R. (2018) Race and economic opportunity in the United States: An intergenerational perspective (NBER Working Paper W24441). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.

[3]. Martin L. L. (2021) America in denial: How race-fair policies reinforce racial inequality in America, State University of New York Press.

[4]. Oliver, J., Clair, M., & Denis, J. S. (2019) “Racism”, in The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology, vol. 8, edited by G. Ritzer and C. Rojek. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons.

[5]. Daumeyer, N. M., Rucker, J. M., & Richeson, J. A. (2017) Thinking structurally about implicit bias: Some peril, lots of promise, Psychological Inquiry, 28, pp. 258–261.

[6]. Crandall, C. S., Eshleman, A., & O’Brien, L. (2002) Social norms and the expression and suppression of prejudice: The struggle for internalization, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82, pp. 359–378.

[7]. Hughey, M. (2012) White Bound: Nationalists, Antiracists, and the Shared Meanings of Race. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

[8]. Yadon, N., and Piston, S. (2018) Examining whites’ anti-black attitudes after Obama’s presidency, Politics, Groups, and Identities, 7(4), pp. 794-814.

[9]. Golash-Boza, T. (2016) A critical and comprehensive sociological theory of race and racism, Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 2 (2), pp. 129– 141.

[10]. Alexander, M. (2012) The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colour blindness. New York: New Press.

[11]. Kraus, M. W., Onyeador, I. N., Daumeyer, N. M., Rucker, J. M., & Richeson, J. A. (2019) The Misperception of Racial Economic Inequality, Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14(6), pp.899–921.

[12]. Anderson, C. (2016) White rage: The unspoken truth of our racial divide. London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing.

[13]. Harris F. C., & Lieberman R. C. (2015) Racial inequality after racism: How institutions hold back African Americans, Foreign Afairs, 94, pp. 9.

[14]. Eibach, R. P., & Purdie-Vaughns, V. (2011) How to keep on keeping on: Framing civil rights accomplishments to bolster support for egalitarian policies, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 47, pp. 274–277.

[15]. Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017) Racism without racists: Colour-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

[16]. DeBell, M. (2017) Polarized opinions on racial progress and inequality: Measurement and application to affirmative action preferences, Political Psychology, 38, pp. 481–498.

[17]. Hardy, B.L., & Logan, T.D. (2020) Racial Economic Inequality Amid the COVID-19 Crisis, The Hamilton Project, 2020, pp.1-14. https://www.brookings.edu/wp- content/uploads/2020/08/EA_HardyLogan_LO_8. 12.pdf

[18]. Roth, K. (2022) United States: Events of 2021. Available at: https://www.hrw.org/world- report/2022/country-chapters/united-states (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[19]. Brodish, A. B., Brazy, P. C., & Devine, P. G. (2008) More eyes on the prize: Variability in White Americans’ perception of progress toward racial equality, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34, pp. 513–527.

[20]. Hill, E., Tiefenthäler, A., Triebert, C., Jordan, D., Willis, H. & Stein, R. (2020) How George Floyd Was Killed in Police Custody. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html (Accessed:27 October, 2022).

[21]. LaFraniere, S., & Lehren, A.W. (2015) The Disproportionate Risks of Driving While Black. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/25/us/racial-disparity-traffic-stops- driving-black.html (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[22]. Causadias, J.M. (2019) Racial Discrimination in the United States: A National Health Crisis That Demands a National Health Solution, Journal ofAdolescent Health, 64 (2019), pp. 147-148.

[23]. Iceland, J. (2019) Racial and Ethnic Inequality in Poverty and Affluence, 1959-2015, Popul Res Policy Rev., 38(5), pp. 615–654.

[24]. Gould, E., Perez, D., & Wilson, V. (2020) Latinx workers—particularly women—face devastating job losses in the COVID-19 recession. Available at: https://www.epi.org/publication/latinx-workers-covid/ (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[25]. Prison Policy Initiative. (2022) Race and ethnicity. Available at: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/research/race_and_ethnicity/ (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[26]. Alter, A. L., Stern, C., Granot, Y., & Balcetis, E. (2016) The “bad is black” effect: Why people believe evildoers have darker skin than do-gooders, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 42, pp. 1653–1665.

[27]. BBC. (2021) George Floyd: Timeline of black deaths and protests. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52905408 (Accessed: 27 October 2022).

[28]. Bonam, C. M., Vinoadharen, N. D., Coleman, B. R., & Salter, P. (2018) Ignoring history denying racism: Mounting evidence for the Marley hypothesis and epistemologies of ignorance, Social Psychological & Personality Science, 10, pp. 257–265.

[29]. Craig, M. A., & Richeson J. A. (2014) On the precipice of a “majority-minority” America: Perceived status threat from the racial demographic shift affects White Americans’ political ideology, Psychological Science, 25, pp. 1189– 1197.

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