Yo… Is This Racist?

Kathryn Turner and Drew Thomas

What is Racism?

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, racism is defined as “the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another (Merriam-Webster).” 

It should be said that a dictionary definition provides a simplistic, incomplete understanding. You cannot simply define an experience and understand it. 

“The United States is a contradiction. Its founding principles embrace the ideals of freedom and equality, but it is a nation built on the systematic exclusion and suppression of communities of color.”

(Cusick Director et al., 2021)

The Lack of Representation in Congress: 

Congress is the most diverse than it’s ever been according to a study from the Brookings Institute (Schoen & Dzhanova, 2020). However, numbers are showing that the amount of diversity is still lacking significantly. Nearly 8 in 10 lawmakers for the United States are white, leaving 1 in 5 to be a person of color (Schoen & Dzhanova, 2020). In the last 150 years, only 152 African Americans have served in the House while 9 African Americans have served in the Senate, one person served in both the House and the Senate (Schoen & Dzhanova, 2020).

The most upsetting part of these statistics is that Congress is supposed to reflect all Americans, however, “The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2019, 60.4% of Americans identified as white only, excluding those who identified as Hispanic or Latino. But about 79% of Congress is white, according to the Brookings data (Schoen & Dzhanova, 2020).” Our elected officials are put in office to represent all Americans and until there is more diversity in office, they cannot represent America.  

Injustice at the Voting Booth

According to an American Progress article, a startling 9.5 million Americans didn’t have the full right to vote in 2016, most of those people were people of color (Cusick Director et al., 2021). In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled to alter certain laws that protected voter’s rights. Right away, certain states added requirements for voters, some specifically targeting people of color. One requirement that North Carolina tried to pass was said to “target African Americans with almost surgical precision” by the federal court that oversaw the overruling (Cusick Director et al., 2021). The state of North Carolina tried to make it a requirement for the ability to vote to have a form of ID that a large number of Black Americans don’t statistically have. In North Dakota, they added a requirement for citizens to provide an ID with a valid residential street address on it before they could vote. One in five Native American voters were affected by this (Cusick Director et al., 2021). 

The graph below shows how much more likely people of color are to report that they experienced racial discrimination while trying to participate in politics  (Cusick Director et al., 2021). 

A very big barrier in the right to vote is disenfranchisement. This is when your right to vote gets revoked due to various factors. According to a study done in 2016, they found that around 6.1 million Americans were disenfranchised due to having a felony conviction (Panetta, 2020). This affected Black Americans disproportionately due to racial injustice in the American judicial system. This disenfranchisement affected 1 in 13 Black Americans compared to 1 in 56 non-Black Americans (Panetta, 2020). The best way to protect the sanctity of the American voter system is allowing every American to vote. Americans with felonies are affected by the decisions that elected officials make, so they should have a say in who makes the laws. 

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     Injustice In Education System 

According to a study posted in the UNCF journal titled K-12 Disparity Facts and Statistics African American students are less likely to have access to college ready courses (Muskik et al., 2020). In 2011-12 only 57 percent of African American students had access to a full range of math and science courses that are necessary for students to be prepared for college, compared to 81 percent of Asian American students and 71 percent of white students who had access to math and science courses that prepare students for college. (Muskik et al., 2020). There is a significant gap between college readiness between African American students and other races. Even when African American students have access to AP courses they are not as appreciated as other races. Black and Latino students represent 38 percent of students in schools that offer AP courses , but only 29 percent of students of African American or Latino descent are Enrolled in these courses. African American and Latino students have much less access to these courses that can provide great education and prepare students better for college. (Muskik et al., 2020). African American students are less likely to be ready for college. 61 percent of ACT tested black students in the 2015 high school graduating class met none of the four ACT college readiness benchmarks, nearly two times the 31 percent rate of all students. (Muskik et al., 2020). This chart can give a better illustration. It shows how many African American students are in basic classes that further your education versus how many white students are in basic education classes that further your education. (Muskik et al., 2020).

An article posted in the Partnership for College completion journal titled Priced Out: Black students is a study of the difficulty that black students have getting into college in the state of Illinois. There has been a major decline in enrollment for African American students in the state of Illinois (PCC Executive Director et al., 2021). Over the last decade 11,100 fewer black students have attended Illinois public and private non-profit colleges and universities in 2017 than 2007 despite similar numbers of African American high school graduates in 2017, and 2007. This study projects that there will be 2,200 fewer African American students graduating in 2023 than in 2018. (PCC Executive Director et al., 2021).   

In an article posted in the Inside Higher ED journal titled Racial Inequality in College Enrollment Patterns, it shows us how minorities are miss represented in college enrollment. White students are disproportionately represented at many public colleges and make up 64 percent of freshman enrollment despite only being 54 percent of the college population. Meanwhile, only 7 percent of black freshman while making up 15 percent of the college age population, and only 12 percent of latino freshman while making up 21 percent of the college age population. In the article a quote from Anthony Carnevale the Director of CEW, Carnevale says “Like many factors in college admissions, the argument favoring marginal differences in test scores is just another name for affirmative action for already-privileged whites” (Smith et al., 2018).

This bar graph better represents the race gap in college enrollment for selected schools across the United States.

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     Lack of Color Representation in School Leadership 

In recent years we have seen minorities struggle in K-12 schools and lack of readiness for college for students of color. One of the main parts of this problem is the lack of ethnicity among the school faculty, and school board. In a 2016 Academic research journal titled The State of Racial Diversity in the Educator Workforce it dives into why students of color struggle in school more than white students. Research shows that diversity in schools, including diversity among the faculty, provide benefits for all the students in the school (U.S. Department of Education et al., 2016). It is expected that in 2024 that students of color will take up 56 percent of the student population, while the majority of the faculty and second education workforce will still be overwhelmingly white. The most recent U.S. Department of Education Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) shows that 82 percent of public school teachers identified as white. In more than 15 years the data has barely changed; data from a similar survey conducted by the department found that 84 percent of public school teachers identified as white (U.S. Department of Education et al., 2016). So from the year 2000 to the year 2016 the percentage of white teachers in public schools only dropped by 2 percent.                                       ______________________________________________

“Non-black teachers have significantly lower expectations for black students than black teachers do when evaluating the same students.

(Seth Gershenson Ph. D et al., 2021)

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In a 2017 study posted to The Hechinger Report Journal conducted by the Institute of Labor Economics researchers found that low-income black elementary students who had black teachers in the third, fourth, and fifth grades were 39 percent less likely to drop out of school (Institute of Labor Economics et al., 2017). Researchers also found that matching low-income students of all genders with at least one black teacher between the third and fifth grades increased their aspirations to attend a 4 year college by 19 percent (Institute of Labor Economics et al., 2017). 

This graph will give a much better illustration on how black teachers have a positive impact on black students.

For black students to succeed it is essential for there to be black leadership in schools. It gives the students representation that they need especially when school board meetings happen. This will allow black students to have voices in these meetings through their teachers.

Works Cited: 

Cusick Director, J., Cusick, J., Director, Director, S. H. A., Hananel, S., Director, A., Seeberger Director, C., Seeberger, C., Oduyeru Manager, L., Oduyeru, L., Manager, Gordon Director, P., Gordon, P., Shepherd Director, M., Shepherd, M., Director, J. P. D., Parshall, J., Director, D., Weller, C. E., … Spitzer, E. (2021, November 9). Systematic inequality and American democracy. Center for American Progress. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/systematic-inequality-american-democracy/.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Racism. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.    Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.merriam-  webster.com/dictionary/racism

 Panetta, G. (2020, September 18). How black americans still face disproportionate barriers to the ballot box in 2020. Business Insider. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/why-black-americans-still-face-obstacles-to-voting-at-every-step-2020-6.

Shayanne Gal, A. K. (2020, July 8). 26 simple charts to show friends and family who aren’t convinced racism is still a problem in America. Business Insider. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6#black-americans-are-underrepresented-in-high-paying-jobs-3.

Schoen, J. W., & Dzhanova, Y. (2020, June 2). These two charts show the lack of diversity in the House and Senate. CNBC. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/these-two-graphics-show-the-lack-of-diversity-in-the-house-and-senate.html. 

Completion, P. for C. (n.d.). Affordability lens. Affordability Black Students. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://partnershipfcc.org/affordability-blackstudents.

K-12 disparity facts and Statistics. UNCF. (2020, March 20). Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://uncf.org/pages/k-12-disparity-facts-and-stats.

Racial inequality in college enrollment patterns. Inside Higher Ed. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/11/14/racial-inequality-college-enrollment-patterns.