Dr. Maureen Smith, Director, Native American Studies, University of Maine
speaks to 9 Tanzanian Journalists (photo: Socolow)
Academicians from different ethnic background at the University of Maine call for the elimination of institutional racism to promote minority groups in the world's leading economy.
The university dons with different specialization in areas of cultural diversity highlight racism embedded in social, justice and economic systems as an obstacle to their development.
Whereas the world around believes racism is no longer a reality in the United States-academicians points out disparities unemployment rate and access to quality housing between White Americans and Americans with other ethnic origins such Blacks, Indians, Latinos and Spanish an outcome of systematic racism.
But they acknowledge some levels of decrease in physical racism following civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King in 1960s.
Americans believe there is more sense of resentment today towards minority communities than the past decades.
As such it is hard to address structural racism which most people do not acknowledge as the problem today.
To address the new form of racism propose several interventions ranging from education, cross-cultural integration programs and the promotion of different culture.
" Through the education system, all Americans regardless their ethnic origins would understand the treaties, history and different types of stereo types," says Maureen .
It appears that the discrimination has disappeared on the public side but there is a lot of stereo typing about the Black-Americans, Indian-American and Latino originated populations in the US.
" Unemployment rate among Black-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic and Latinos is always higher than the American Whites, the access to quality housing, and education system pose a systemic threat," says Prof. Marwin Squiller, a Black-American Professor at the UMaine
To address the systematic racism, some lecturers at the University did different studies on various perspectives relating to cultural diversity in the US.
For example, Prof. Spiller Marwin did a study on ' Race, Class, and Political Behavior of African-American Young Adults.
Focusing on effects of races and class on patterns of political participation among African-Americans young adults, the findings of the study shows that the effects of social class on political participation declines.
The decline is partly attributable to full understanding of change or the lack of political participation among African-American young adults over the past 30-40 years.
"...needs to take into account changes into their objective circumstances, changes in levels of psychological engagement, and changes in how each of these factors affect political involvement," notes Marwin.
Like Marwin shares concern with Maureen Smith who is well- vested in American-Indians studies on question of addressing systematic racism and stereo typing.
She wants students from different ethnic origins be taught the history of American-Indians, culturally relevant assessment of native children, the issues of sovereignty, treaty rights and cultural appropriations in relation to American-Indian nations.
Maureen's experience in teaching the above issues in American schools results coherence and tolerance among students of different ethnic backgrounds.
Despite different attempts geared at addressing systematic racism, it is feared it might take some time to eliminate it.
It is not easy to acknowledge that racism exists because it is hidden and some individuals among the minority citizens have made progress.
The achievement made by some few individuals like the current President of the US Barack Obama and the would-be- first Hispanic woman Lady Justice Sonia Sotomayor appears as the blackmail to struggle for promotion of minority's identities.
Some other schools of thought advances scarcity of resources among minority communities as the systematic barrier charting common stand in addressing the situation.
" Unfortunately, minority communities are exposed to internalized racism, which creates a kind of disunity," adds Maureen.
With limited resources, it even more harder as different minority groups fight against other for resources instead of working together.
Groups with less political influence/vote benefits lesser than more influential groups.
United States is a diverse country racially and ethnically. White Americans make up 74 percent of the total population according to American Community Survey (2002). Black americans constitutes 13.5 percent of the population. Asian Americans compose of 5 percent of the total population.
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