Racial Issues With Emphasis in the Workplace, Essay Example

Racial Issues are defined social issue in today’s society that needs to be addressed with particular emphasis on discrimination in the workplace. “The most visible intervention implemented for multiethnic individuals in the workplace, is the accommodation of categorized listings of “other” or “multiracial” in race reporting sections. The majority of other effective interventions, such as equal opportunity, nondiscriminatory and multi-language practices, which benefit multiethnic groups, are in place for standardized equality across the occupational board.” The term ‘biracial’ subconsciously fosters the duality of multiethnic individuals and is looked at as representing a combination of two opposing forces. [1](Glidden, M., 2008).

“Multi/bi-racial people, especially in California and New York are becoming the largest grouping of toddlers and preschool and kindergarten children.” Colored peoples received far better treatment than their black counterparts, but yet not the status of whites. Multiracial people have similar struggles and issues that are particular to their race. Genetically, an Irishman is different than German, but in the U.S., they are both considered Caucasian; therefore they share similar struggles instead of homogeny. “Caucasians in America are from various national and cultural heritages, including black and more recently Asian ancestry, which comes from intermixing and assimilation into ‘white’ culture. multiracial people come in every color of skin and represent the melting pot that America boasts of but refuses to allow.” [2](Farmer, P., 1999).

Employment discrimination is a vicious form of social equality. If you notice whites have been preferred to raises or other benefits to you as a biracial there may be grounds for compensation under Federal Anti-Discrimination Statutes. Racial discrimination takes forms such as being defined as getting treated differently because of your race, ethnic origin or color of your skin. And it is against the law, based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Since the Civil Rights Act was passed, there have been improvements in the work environment in this area. Many companies have developed policies and guidelines to prevent and deal with racial discrimination in their offices. Despite this progress there is several discrimination suits filed each year.

White racial identity is commonly portrayed as a default racial category, an invisible yet privileged identity formed by centuries of oppression of nonwhite groups. “In the early 20th century, federal immigration officials classified the Irish, Italians, and Jews as separate races. Yet today all these groups are viewed collectively, and benignly, as ‘white,’” writes Jeff Jacoby in the Boston Globe. Yet White identity has largely been defined collectively as the opposite of benign because it comes with the historical baggage of Southern Slavery, Segregation, Apartheid, and Colonialism. “Whiteness” has been used as a weapon against non-Whites by the bankers and proprietors of capital to prevent working class solidarity, while simultaneously White Christian middle and upper classes have been subjected to decades of what Prof. Kevin MacDonald calls the “culture of critique emanating from the most prestigious academic and media institutions.” [3](Steele, S., 2006).

White guilt refers to the concept of individual or collective guilt often said to be felt by some white people for the racist treatment of people of color by whites both historically and presently. Compassionate conservatism is a way to explain the White Guilt trend of the white Americans towards the right extremists. It is often noted that this is a simple form of manipulation and what might be viewed as self-serving altruism. Whites are often considered ‘needy, morally, selfish white people. [4](Steele, 2006).

Conclusion

Senator Kennedy worked on the Civil Rights Movement Bill to promote equal rights for all workers and other civil rights. Today other rights such as higher minimum wage salaries are in effect because of such causes. Biracial people have the same rights afforded under the laws as the white people but quite often their rights are infringed. That is why we have laws in place and the Supreme Court to protect the American citizens with respect to racial and ethnic discrimination.

References

Glidden, M. (2008) Multiracial Perspective Retrieved 26 August 2009 from, http://mglidden.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/multiracial-perspective/.

Farmer, P. (1999) Colored-Less America Retrieved on 26 August 2009 from, http://multiracial.com/site/content/view/343/27/.

Steele, S. (2006) White Guilt Retrieved on 26 August 2009 from, http://fglaysher.com/Reviews/white-guilt-shelby-steele.

Steele (2006) Vanishing America Retrieved on 26 August 2009 from, http://vanishingamerican.blogspot.com/2006/06/more-on-white-guilt.html.

[1] Glidden, M. (2008) Multiracial Perspective Retrieved 26 August 2009 from, http://mglidden.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/multiracial-perspective/.

[2] Farmer, P. (1999) Colored-Less America Retrieved on 26 August 2009 from, http://multiracial.com/site/content/view/343/27/.

[3] Steele, S. (2006) White Guilt Retrieved on 26 August 2009 from, http://fglaysher.com/Reviews/white-guilt-shelby-steele.

[4] Steele (2006) Vanishing America Retrieved on 26 August 2009 from, http://vanishingamerican.blogspot.com/2006/06/more-on-white-guilt.html.