Application of Race and Ethnicity

Application of Race and Ethnicity

According to Barkan (7.5), discrimination refers to “the arbitrary denial of rights, privileges, and opportunities” to a specific person who belongs to a certain group of people that can be categorized on the basis of race or ethnicity.  This issue is applicable in various circumstances where at one time, a certain group are discriminated for belonging to their race or a certain group.  I remember sharing a story with one of my Black American friends in one the Universities in the United States who goes through the issue on a daily basis. The young man belongs to a family of five where his mother is an African and the dad is an American. Therefore, he took after his mother, who has dark skin and black hair. This issue gives him a distinction in any context he is in the United States, and one can easily spot him at a glance and after listening to his ascent. We once interacted with the friend in a school workshop which comprised of people from different Universities.

In the process, I noted that many people kept looking at us as we interacted and shared jokes and ideas. Based on the reason that I am White, everybody thought that we were incompatible from the comparison of our colours.   While we were having group discussions, many white people and particularly ladies kept on laughing at his African Ascent.  For him, it seems embarrassing, and he decided to keep quiet.  His move made him look even odder as people thought that he was incapacitated in terms of ideas and knowledge. At some instances, as we were progressing with the workshop groups, the instructor would give examples using him in different ways. For example, I remember a time we were discussing the African society. The instructor gave us an example that the Black people are more susceptible to diseases as compared to whites. As he was elaborating this point, he kept on referring to my friend whose skin “betrayed” him in the context.   This issue seemed to change the ideology and perception of the other students who were viewing him as a discard.

This point illustrated the applicability of Barkan(7.5) elaboration on discrimination in matters to do with health.  In the section, Barkan articulates that “People of colour have higher rates of disease and illness than whites”.  The “scapegoat theory”, as stated by Barkan (7.4) justifies this situation. The theory states that people always tend to blame the hated communities or races whenever negative things are mentioned or associated with them.

According to my understanding of the issue with regard to Barkan (7.5), this was institutional discrimination which had been born from the issue of racial discrimination. It was evident that the young man faced challenges of judgement as well as denial of freedom of speech based on his skin colour which talked more about his race.  However, it was evident that the issue was brought by the ignorance or negligence of the benefits of cultural diversity among the students and the teachers (Lecture 8).  According to Barkan (2.4), cultural diversity is one of the most prevalent issues-particularly in education, where many people meet. However, every culture or races should be treated equally as they also have a lesson they can teach others.

Barkan (7.6) talks about the issue of racism and ethnic-based inequality. Mainly, this challenge affects the black people in the United States, where they are denied various privileges that whites get.  This issue happened to my friend as he one day went to apply for an academic loan.  The officers in the department told him to leave the application letter with them and wait for some days for the loan to be processed. Unfortunately, he was never granted the loan, and other students in his class were awarded.

All in all, I knew that he was an intellectual and is a person of goodwill.  I had interacted with him since we started schooling at our high school levels, and he was very sharp and social. Despite the fact that he was still going through the challenges during those days, he still was thriving in the environment. This factor illustrated that he had a lot of capability which many people never saw in him.  However, at times he always developed self-denial when he was in a discriminative environment (Jiwani and Richardson 242).

The social learning theory applies in this case as elaborated by Barkan (7.4).  The theory states that people who are mainly faced with prejudice always depicts a sense of non-conformity to the social structures and cultures of the groups they find themselves in.  According to the interaction with my African American friend, I have witnessed the shortcomings of racisms and ethnic discrimination.  Therefore, I agree with Barkan (7.7)’s proposal that the government and institutions should “Strengthen legal enforcement of existing laws forbidding racial and ethnic discrimination in hiring and promotion” to ensure that the vice is eliminated.