Racial Discrimination and Psychological †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Racial Discrimination and Psychological. Answer: Introduction: Racism is defined as discrimination, antagonism and prejudice against a race or person based on the thinking or belief that one is superior. Much of the discrimination that the Maya or the Indigenous people face is economic and societal. Cross cultural racism and tension does affect everyone in the community and society. The assumptions about a race or people is often deeply embedded and falsely constructed in the community. Racism usually exist in many ways that allows some individuals in the society to see themselves as superior to others. Indigenous Americans have been referred by many terms such as American Indian, Native Alaskan, Eskimo, Inuit, First Nation, and Native American (Roman, 2012). These are usually termed as almost interchangeably but some refer specifically. These pre Columbian population of indigenous people combine of different ethnic groups, tribes, and bands that have survived the colonization and modernization of the society. In this essay we would learn about the Mexican and Central American people. We would also learn about the racism these people experience in the society. We would look how racism against them is impacting the health outcomes for this sector of the population. (Eberhardt, 2005) When we hear about racism we usually think of Hispanic and African American but there is other races in America that is experiencing racism every day. This racism exceeds the racism that the Asians, Hispanic or Black experience. Academics and historians have agreed that colonization of the New World resulted in forced march relocations and massacres of indigenous people that led to decrease in their numbers. These expressions of racism would be called genocide today but were quite common then. It is a shame that Native Americans were subjected to racism in the country they called their own (Oskamp, 2008)..According to the data provided by the United States Department of Justice, Native Americans are subjected to twice the amount of violence in comparison to a American citizen. 70% of these crimes are committed by other races towards the American Indians. These crimes and racism is prevalent not only in United States of America but it is widespread in the region. Colonization and raci sm are intertwined and affects every aspect of lives for these indigenous people. Indian slavery and trade slave was ubiquitous in the region. Thousands of Indians were enslaved and were transported to distant lands. The racism concept made these indigenous being treated as inferior to the White Europeans. Charlotte Reading has described racism in Understanding Racism where she shows how ideology of rationalized diminished opportunities and unfair treatment towards the aboriginals and natives. In another paper Aboriginal experience with Racism and its impacts written by Samantha Loppie, Sarah De Leeuw and Charlotte Reading the explain the various forms that racism takes and how it impacts the Aboriginals. According to them Racism is a social injustice that is caused by deeply constructed false assumptions of the people that are used to justify the discrimination in distributing resources. (Reading, 2013),( Reading, Nowgesic, 2002). Racism in United States of America is an issue that is widely debated from the slave and colonial era. Race is believed to be a social construct but it had real consequences in the US. From past few years the racial barriers and racism faced by Mexicans and Central Americans in United States of America is coming into light too often. Socially and legally sanctioned rights and privileges to whites but being denied to African Americans, Non-White Hispanic, Native Americans, Latin Americans and Asian Americans was a common thing in practice. European American had special privileges regarding land acquisition, criminal procedures, education, voting rights, and immigration. Mexicans and Central Americans have always faced racism in the country. After the Mexican war the US occupied the South west region of Mexico, that is when the Mexicans residing in the region were accounted for as US citizens. But these residents always found that they were subjected to discrimination. There are numero us reported episodes of lynching between 1848-1928. The government of US also sponsored a voluntary immigration program for the Mexicans during the Great Depression. But this program was not voluntary as it was called, as many of the Mexicans were forcibly removed from the country. Millions were deported even when 60% of them were legitimate US citizens (Akers Chaco?n, 2006). Another incident that highlights the racism towards Mexicans in US was the Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles in the year 1943where the riot started when Navy personnel stationed in a Mexican neighborhood fought with some locals. This escalated when servicemen would attack Mexican youth, who would usually wear Zoot Suits a fashion that was popular at that time (Alba, Islam, 2008).. This racism was not limited to people but many institutions like home associations, businesses and public institutions had policies to not take and hire Mexicans. Even the school system racially segregated the Mexican children. Discrimi natory and unfair treatment towards the Mexicans had passed the economic realm. The Mexican children were sent to inferior and separate schools. Even when the citizens challenged this segregation in courts, nothing was done about it. They were called as Non Whites by Whites but according to the law they were Whites thus the courts saw that no segregation was taking place. Eventually they were called as Brown which was better for them as now they could seek legal remedy and could fight their case in the courts. They are always frowned upon as low status and alien. In the year 2013 about 10.9% of the United States population were either partially or full Mexican Ancestry. This comprised 64% of Latinos and Hispanics. In a recent incident that was highlighted in the worldwide media was when Luis Ramirez a Mexican immigrant who was undocumented for was beaten by men in Pennsylvania one evening. He later died of his injuries. Witnesses reported how the men beating him were shouting racial epithets on him. Incidents of violence against Mexicans and Central Americans are widespread and many times are not even reported by the victims. Not only the uneducated and worker class is subjected to racism but studies have shown that college educated Mexicans are more likely to face racism. Another sector of the population that face widespread racism are the Native Indians or the RED SKIN Indians as they are called by the whites. This RED SKIN is a term that is used for referring not as good as, less than, and not as equal to. There are regions in United States that are referred as Indian country as Natives population is residing there. National columnists rarely write about the abuse that these Native Americans face and portray them as Mad as hell people (Chae, Walters, 2009). Many movies show these Aboriginals as wildlings and show how they should be Tamed by shooting at them. Many movies show the wild west where the Americans who are settlers from European colonizers as des troying villages. According to a column written by Elizabeth Cook-Lynn titled You cant change Stupid racism against Native American is prevalent in all over America. Institutional racism is where racism is present in political and social structures. This form of racism is widespread in the country. According to another article the New boarding schools that was published in the year 2015 in the Indian Country Today the Indian children were being removed from their families and were being put in foster homes. This article claimed that the South Dakota government was funneling huge amount of federal money to some pharmaceutical companies that were giving psychiatric drugs to the Indian children. Then these children were taken from their families, language, heritage and culture and were put in foster care. They highlighted that how this step was a direct violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. It showed how the government was ignoring the federal laws and carrying acts that showed racial prejudice present in the judicial system. Research also shows that Aboriginal people experiences racism and discrimination in the healthcare system. They have few referrals, disrespectful treatment and longer waiting times for procedures. Service providers diminish, disempower and demean the well-being and cultural identity of individuals by cultural risky practices. The first impact of racism in the healthcare setting is the social and emotional harm that the Aboriginal face (McBain-Rigg, Veitch, 2011). An insidious outcome is that they lose the trust in the healthcare system that is established to take care of them. This lack of trust translates into diminished usage of services. This results in failure to screen chronic and infectious diseases in the Aboriginal community. Racism is among the key social determinant of health along with colonization, social exclusion etc. According to a study conducted by Currie et al., Aboriginal students studying in the University of Edmonton, Alberta reported that after facing racism they suffered from racial battle fatigue(Currie, et al., 2012).. They were under constant stress which resulted i n depletion of their mental wellbeing. Another study conducted by CCHS or Canadian Community Health Survey showed that some racialized groups like the Aboriginals experienced health disparities due to racism in societal institutions. Studies like these are being supported by numerous studies that are conducted in Australia and US which are identifying racism as a stressor for the health disparities faced by Indigenous people and African Americans. The American Journal of Public Health has showed that racial discrimination raises the risk of many physical and emotional issues. Depression, hypertension, breast cancer, cardiovascular diseases and common cold all are more prone to be caused in individuals that face racism. Racism affects health through a recognized pathway as firstly reduced access to resources and opportunities like housing, education and employment cause adverse effects on emotional and cognitive processes. The individual is at risk of being sleep deprived and under c onstant stress which causes mental distress and also numerous physical ailments(Yip, et al.,2008), (Flores et al., 2008). Many people head towards alcohol and substance abuse in order to cope with this stress and distress. The study conducted by (Paradies et al., 2015) showed that racism is related significantly with the mental well-being of a person. Pervasive and common exposure to racism creates an added stressor that affects the physiological and psychological health of a person (Paradies, 2005). According to a study conducted by Utsey et al., race related stress was putting individuals at a higher risk than in comparison to other stressful events in their lives (Utsey, et al.,2008), (Utsey, et al., 2002).. Researchers in UK studied the effects of racial discrimination on mental health and found out that repeated racism is directly relational to anxiety and depression. The minorities in the society that faced racial discrimination on a regular basis were experiencing poor mental health (Assari, et al., 2015. This discrimination causes elevated blood pressure and high levels of stress. Racism can be at individual level but it is also prevalent in structural, cultural and institutional level that makes it more dangerous. Prejudice makes people to devalue themselves as it effects their self-confidence and self-esteem. Race related self-injury or PTSD similar symptoms caused by traumatic stress caused by racial injustice causes a person to be on a alert for shame, danger, numbing and anger. This stress is not limited to a person but intergenerational trauma affects the children of the victim as well. Kids pick up the emotions such as fear and anger that is exhibited from their parents. Children that are born to mothers facing trauma show symptoms of PTSD (Bhui, 2002).. Racism also has physical effects on your health as growing number of research has shown that increased stress causes poor reproductive, and cardiovascular health. Racial discrimination is related to low birth weight. Diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases all are related to premature deaths. St udies done on smokers show that they become more stressed when they were subjected to racism in comparison to non-smokers. Here the smoking was a way to cope with the stress that they were experiencing due to racism. According to Deidra C. Crews MD in John Hopkins University School of Medicine stress due to racial discrimination is also related to decline in kidney function. Psychological stress can affect the kidney function due to decline in the hormonal pathways as stress causes increase in the blood pressure which leads to kidney disease. (Giamo, et al., 2012), (Chrobot?Mason, et al.,2013). According to the sociologists the racism in US is systematic. It is present in every aspect of the social system. A culturally safe environment is needed for every citizen in any country. Still in the United States incidences like racial profiling done by police are now an everyday occurence. The people from Mexican, Latino and Black race are disproportionately targeted by the police. According to a UN report structural racism is present in US and the US government has failed to protect the rights of the racialized groups. This report focused on the police violence that groups like Black African, Mexicans, Central Americans faced with added police brutality. It also pointed out how the civil rights laws are being ignored and are not able to overcome the structural and institutional racial discrimination. There are numerous laws that the last Obama government had introduced to fight racism, one of these laws is the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 that focused on equal pay. Anothe r law is the NO FEAR law that discourages the federal supervisors and managers from unlawful retaliation and discrimination. Members of congress and senators are demanding that national legislature should criminalize police brutality and laws like Mike Brown law should be passed. Conclusion: Unfortunately even after taking numerous measures to curb this issue racism is still prevalent in all parts of the society. A national plan is needed to combat racism like some countries like Australia and Canada have already done. It is crucial that the government identifies that the most successful approach to stop racism towards Aboriginals and Mexicans is through their recruitment in the workforce. Whether it be healthcare setting or even Judicial and Corrections Department racism can only be stopped when these racialized groups are recruited in the workforce. In the 60s a term affirmative action came into play that addressed the employment of racialized groups example Aboriginals in institutions. This will help in putting a stop to structural racism experienced in institutions such as hospitals, schools etc. The policies should include affirmative action but do not need to compromise on the merit of the employment. A respectful representation of the Aboriginal people in differen t levels of the society is a way through which they can feel included in the society. Racism is a condition that is so pervasive that it can corrupt the structure of the entire society. We would need a strong voice for these racialized people to change the beliefs that are deeply embedded in the social, political, and economical structure of the society. References Alba, R., Islam, T. (2008). The Case of the Disappearing Mexican Americans: An Ethnic-Identity Mystery.Population Research And Policy Review,28(2), 109-121. Akers Chaco?n, J. 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