Unemployment and employment disparities free essay sample

While the education gap has been closed to a large extent, there is still a prevalence of low levels of education among the African Americans. However, these low levels of education cannot account for the racial gap when it comes to unemployment. The real cause is discrimination. It is common knowledge that in the labor markets of America, black Americans are less likely to be employed when compared with members from other racial groups. The reasons for this has been attributed to educational attainment with the schools in majorly-black districts underperforming in standardized tests. Another possible reason is the mass incarceration of the African Americans with statistics showing that around one in three black men spend time behind bars at some period in their lives which greatly interferes with their employment prospects negatively. Outright discrimination is however a major reason since there is racism among employers who are mostly white.Income, wealth and povertyAfrican Americans in the Unites States lag far behind the whites in economic well-being which is indicated in areas like wealth, income and home ownership. We will write a custom essay sample on Unemployment and employment disparities or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This trend has been continuous and the causative factors which are not addressed set the cycle in motion. These disparities persist regardless of the level of education that the black Americans attain. The historic practice of neighborhood segregation and redlining which saw lack of investments and financial and social services in communities that had a high percentage of black residents still continues. Even though the poverty gap has narrowed, the African Americans are still more likely to live in poverty and receive low incomes. The majority of those who seek for food help from the food banks are black people (MacLeod, 2013). Racial discrimination has been a major reason why some African Americans face a challenge getting ahead in the United States since they are treated unfairly when applying for services like mortgages and jobs.Social problemsWhile the law may make equal provisions for African Americans with the rest of the community living in the United States, the whole edifice of institutions both public and private is socialized in a way that disadvantages the African American community. The major reason of all the problems faced by the African American community is systemic racism which makes life harsh for the minorities. Many individuals on the giving end do not even discover this racial discrimination since it is accepted and considered as normal. Also among themselves, the lack of a family structure that has a majority of the African American children being illegitimate has affected the social fabric of the community negatively and results to psychological issues for the children later in life .The social organization of the nation has seen the most dangerous cities to be those that have a high African American population. Cities like Oakland, Baltimore and Detroit that experience gang violence and crime as an everyday occurrence have African Americans making up the majority of the population. However, African Americans have overcome social discrimination in institutions like slavery and legalized racism by the Jim Crow laws up to the election of a black president. This means that also in social problems, there is continued progress which will translate into equal treatment over time even though it may take long.EducationWhile Brown v Board of Education was unanimous that segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional, the debate still continues as to how to deal with the racial inequalities that are inherent in the school system and are largely driven by residential patterns and differences in the resources available between the schools in the wealthier and economically disadvantaged regions across the nation.Political issues, Police Brutality and Mass IncarcerationThe African American community has been at the forefront when it comes to fighting the cause of equal rights for the black American. However when it comes to mainstream politics, in areas that matter the most like law making, the African American is at a disadvantage. Theres have been a trend of high profile questionable deaths that have involved the police which led to the Black Lives Matter movement. While the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, a disproportionate amount of these people are African Americans which can be seen as a new form of the Jim Crow segregation where blacks move from high school into prison (Marable, 2015). come up with something add to the foot ball playerVoting rightsAfrican Americans still face problems when voting in spite of the 1965 voting rights act that gave them an equal protected opportunity to vote. The blacks go through discrimination in the voting process when they are asked for identification on a stricter basis than the whites. Sometimes, African Americans when trying to vote are confused with convicted felons because of the assumption that they have criminal tendencies (Ladson, Gloria and Williams, 2016). come up with something add to people with felony cant voteConclusionIt is no doubt that the African American community living in the United States has made significant strides towards achieving equality with their white counterparts. This has been reflected in the laws passed by congress as well as the rulings by the highest court in America. These advancements however do not reflect the same level of success when it comes to the social institutions. In education, empl oyment and politics, there are still visible racial differences with the African Americans not being able to fully exercise their rights. These discrepancies may be attributed to many factors but it is evident that the African American community faces these challenges because of racism. The solution is to make the Americans aware of this culture that has been deeply embedded in the institutions in society so that it can be weeded out.