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Nancy Leong Racial Capitalism

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Nancy Leong Racial Capitalism
The article "Racial Capitalism" by Nancy Leong was published by the Harvard Law Review in June of 2013. It aims to identify racial capitalism as a systematic problem. Racial capitalism is, as defined in the article, deriving social or economic value from the racial identity of another person, particularly how a white individual or institution exert this value onto individuals who are not white. It provides a way to look at our institutional systems, and how they deals with the issue of racial discrimination. With the events over the past week, I found this article to be particularly appropriate for the time. I also believe that it is a good way to focus on social justice issues within the sociology discipline. "The thin conception of diversity …show more content…
For my first example, I would like to point out the mass incarceration rates our country as a whole faces. Black and Latino men have been the highest of those targeted by “random” police stops simply because of this notion that they look guilty because of the color of their skin. This directly impacts the families, as well as the individual who will likely experience re-entry into the system. Not only has racial profiling increased this cycle of prison time, it has also increased the number of people who have been wrongfully targeted, and for some the result of this is death. Our law enforcement system has particularly targeted those of color in a negative way which has ultimately determined their “value” in our society, to some, as less than those who have white skin. Not only is our law enforcement determining the way people are treated, our government at large is also playing quite the role. Or at least this presidential election in particular. As I understand the example I gave primarily focused on black live, I would also like to point out the target that has also been added to the backs of our Mexican Americans and Muslim Americans. Since the recent presidential candidacy has been chosen, a significant amount of emphasis has been put on the immigrants that we have here in America. All of these influences together have given an extremely negative perception for people of

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