African american racial status in the 21st century Essay

African american racial status in the 21st century - Essay Example Racism has been a curse for the American society from its birth in 1751. It has stained the nation’s identity with the African-American’s blood for years until the Civil War in **** and the 13th Amendment. Though the 13th Amendment in the US constitution was a resistive response of the most progressive and conscientious part of the US society to the barbaric practice of slavery, slavery had not been wiped out from the society overnight. Racism was so much deep rooted in an American’s heart that the enactments of anti-slavery laws and the relevant amendments in the US Constitution were merely to redirect a racial mind to find alternatives for white superiority over the Black. Indeed the amended Constitution provided the legal safeguard to the Black, barring the practice of slavery at the state level as well as, to the extent the state could interfere into the public affairs. But it could do nothing to bring about the changes in the culture and the society that int rinsically nourished the racial hostility against their former slaves. The inbred racism in the Americans’ heart continues to discriminate between the White and the Black until today. Therefore the 14th and 15th Amendment with along with numerous other subsidiary laws and government-induced initiatives has been required to wipe out the remainders of racism from the American society. But the question whether racism and discrimination against the African-American black have been wiped out from the society may engender a lot of debates since the question itself is ambiguous. Inbred Racism and Racism in the Heart of America A close analysis of the status of racism in American society in the late 20th century and the 21st century will reveal that America has been significantly successful in wiping out the all the institutional and constitutional racisms. But non-formal and non-institutional racisms still are prevailing in the society. In this regard, Saeed Shahbaazz says, â€Å"A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll, released in December 2006, stated that most Americans, White and Black, see racism as a lingering problem in the United States.† (1). Though racisms at institutional levels are discernible, at non-institutional level they remain out of the reach of the public eye. These non-institutional racisms at the private level are be found by close observational or empirical research. In this paper I will discuss the findings of two such empirical research papers on inbred and institutional racisms. Discussion about the new form of Racism in the 21st Century Racism at the less the private level has been revealed in various researches that were led in the 21st century’s context. One such research article is â€Å"A Fly in the Buttermilk† by Devis et al. In their article, â€Å"â€Å"A Fly in the Buttermilk†: Descriptions of University Life by Successful Black Undergraduate Students at a Predominately White Southeastern Universityâ₠¬  Davis et al explores deep into the self-realization -from the student’s perspective- of a non-white minority student about his or her position among the white majority. The title of their study explicitly asserts the concerns of the Successful Black Undergraduate Students with their University Life among white majority. The researchers prudently selected 11 black students as the participants of their study. Davis et al’s purposed selection of the successful participants can be justified on the pointed that information and experiences provided by the participants would remain free of any fear of being discriminated. The participants were chosen ensuring the following conditions: a. successful students were chosen, because they experienced the full, 2. successful students would be free of being the victim of racial discrimination academically, 3. these students would be able to track any change during their four or five years graduation. Devis et al’s research shows that even in the 21st centur