The Fact of Discrimination in the U.S.

Pew Research Center 5. Personal experiences with discrimination

Chapter 3.4 Discrimination

This article,”Personal experiences with discrimination,” talks about how unfair life black Americans live. Most black Americans have suffered from discrimination because of their race and ethnicity. Surprisingly, 70 % of black Americans have experienced discrimination, moreover 11 % of them answer that they have experienced discrimination regularly. The discrimination influences to their life as well; 40 % of them said that their race and ethnicity matters to succeed in their life. As for white Americans, although still about 30 % of them said they have experienced discrimination, “the share of whites who say they have ever faced or been treated unfairly because of their race or ethnicity is much lower than that of blacks or Hispanics” (5. Personal experiences). This discrimination to black Americans usually leads to institutional discrimination which “affects the life chances of people of color in many aspects of life today” (Chapter 3.4 Discrimination). In our textbook, an experiment shows how health care matters each each race and ethnicity. The result was saying “African Americans are much less likely than whites to receive the procedures just listed” (Chapter 3.4 Discrimination). Sadly, there are some doctors who are racist enough not to care black Americans.

What surprised me most about this article is that those black Americans who have experienced discrimination tend to be seen as suspicious and have been unfairly stopped by police even if they do nothing wrong. If this is true, this must hurt for them because they may be afraid of such discrimination. Discrimination usually comes from prejudice. In my opinion, the prejudice can hurt those people who have experienced discrimination, and what is worse is that once the prejudice about them expands to other people like rumor, the negative stereotype to those people can be stuck, moreover the impression about them would be worse in any situation. For example, black Americans are more likely than white Americans to be seen like they are not smart which is totally prejudice, and it is said that, “half as many say they have been treated unfairly by an employer in hiring” (5. Personal experiences). This is how prejudice leads to discrimination in even work place. Thus, it is no wonder that those discriminated people get depressed or commit suicide. Here’s a true story. I watched a documentary which showed that there are a lot of foreigners from all over the world in Japan to apply for jobs, but it is sort of common for them to get unfair treatment such as low income then. This fact also comes from prejudice from employers who may think that foreigners are unreliable. I really hope discrimination decreases.

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