Discrimination In American Society Essay

America as a Racist or Sexist Society American society can be considered as having both racist and sexist traits yet are not as overt as they were prior to the start of the American Civil Rights Movement during the mid 1900s and the Women's Suffrage Movement during the mid 1800s. As a whole, American society has slowly, over the course of several decades, become more racially accepting and "gender blind" (i.e. equality between the sexes) due to gender and racial equality becoming societal norms as well as the implementation of legislation specifically preventing discrimination based on an individuals race or gender (Niwa, Way, and Hughes 2342). However, despite these positive changes, there are still some social elements that reinforce gender and race stereotypes. For instance, African Americans and Latin Americans are at times racially stereotyped as having criminal backgrounds and are often singled out by the police during investigations. The inherent problem with this type of stereotyping is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy wherein due to societal views regarding these races, they are given limited opportunities (Salupo 348). This creates a situation where some African Americans and Latin Americans have to turn towards crime which reinforces the connection between their races and criminal behavior. On the other end of the spectrum, while women's rights have continued to improve over the past three decades, American society is still primarily patriarchal. This type of orientation influences how the role of women is viewed in society resulting in subtle
Statistics on Hate Crimes in the