Tackling Racial Discrimination and Prejudice in Borderline Communities

Abstract

Institutional Affiliation: Abstract Microaggression against the people of color is a critical challenge in the United States as it affects how these individuals experience different levels of discrimination. The current research demonstrates the experience of racism and discrimination among borderline communities and demonstrates the effects this has on their social lives. The consequences of discrimination include inequality in access to employment, housing, and healthcare in the country. Minorities, particularly the African Americans experience discrimination during hiring and promotion in organizations. Additionally, they experience inequality in access to critical services including healthcare and education leading to generally poor health outcomes. Stress resulting from anticipated prejudice has significant psychological and mental health outcomes for the minorities in the United States and affects their capacity to cope with different social challenges. Racism and prejudice are related to racial stereotypes and affects targets differently depending on their race, age, and gender. The level of impact that racism and prejudice have on the minorities requires the government and non-government institutions to consider viable solutions to the problem. Keywords: Racism, discrimination, prejudice, microaggression. Racism, Prejudice, and Discrimination in Borderline Communities Racial discrimination is a critical issue for diverse communities and particularly concerning for the United States. Racism occurs at the individual and institutional levels affecting how people interact ranging from assault, insults, and the lack of access to key services such as healthcare. Racial prejudice is concerning since it affects the experiences of racial minorities and places these groups at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the population. Racial inequality in institutions such as healthcare, housing, and employment places the minorities at a disadvantage and affects their access to key services in the country (Pager & Shepherd, 2008). Additionally, discrimination is facilitated by the structural inequality that places the minorities into disadvantaged neighborhoods. In relation to health, racism places individuals into disadvantaged communities and affects their access to resources. The effects of discrimination vary among individuals of different races and ages with the blacks and older teens experiencing worse stereotyping from whites. It is critical to consider racial discrimination as a critical problem since it has significant implications on the social lives of the minorities. Interactions between the people of color and other individuals or institutions lead to cases of aggression and discrimination that may be intentional or unintended. Holder, Nadal, & Esquilin (2007) demonstrated racial microaggression as a significant challenge affecting the minorities particularly the African Americans in the society. They experience a wide range of insults and assaults that may be verbal or non-verbal, all having a significant impact on how they relate with institutions. The cases of microaggression and discrimination are not limited to interpersonal interactions and may occur unnoticed unless the issues are closely examined. Holder et al., (2007) describe discrimination as a broad issue that has significant implications on how people feel valued in an organization. While occurring without the control and deliberate influence of individuals in an organization, racial microaggression has a significant impact on the experiences of individuals and groups in a society. The cases of discrimination may differ from actual verbal insults to the failure of organizations to support interracial interactions to accommodate members of a particular race. Racial discrimination has significant implications on the lives of the minorities in the United States. It is critical to consider the extent to which this issue affects individuals and families based on their experiences of racial prejudice. According to Pager & Shepherd (2008), racial discrimination has significant implications on people’s access to quality housing, education, and other services in the United States. There are limited programs that facilitate equality in the access to such services including healthcare and education to lower the impact of discrimination on the minorities. Since discrimination is not readily identifiable, there are limited measures and actions taken to correct the problem especially based on its effects to the society at the individual level. In addition to actually experiencing discrimination, the anticipation of prejudice has a significant impact on how people interact. Individuals who anticipate a discriminatory interaction with another individual demonstrate high stress and cardiovascular levels even before their interaction. Sawyer et al. (2012) demonstrated that stress is associated with the experience of being threatened and affects interactions even before people actually experience prejudice. Their study on Latina participants showed that the expectation that an individual may experience some level of discrimination has a significant effect on the outcome of their interaction with their partners and could threaten a relationship even before it begins. According to the researchers, there is need to consider the effect of prejudice at an even greater level to determine how it affects interpersonal interactions. The high stress levels in response to anticipating prejudice translated to undesired outcomes of the interactions. Developing a greater perspective in the view of discrimination plays a major role in understanding how people interact and the manner in which they view their social environment. The perceived level of racial discrimination affects the creation of policies to counter this challenge and provide a better working and social environment for minorities. Contrary to previous research, Lee et al. (2019) observed that racial discrimination continues to be a significant challenge that poses barriers to the blacks and Latinos in the United States. The researchers found that the minorities are likely to experience higher levels of disrespect in the society and in their workplace than their white counterparts. While previous research had downplayed the effect of discrimination on the lives of the minorities, Lee et al. (2019) demonstrate that this issue continues to be a major problem and a barrier for the majority of the minorities in the country. Moreover, the rates of discrimination among the minorities in the United States was influenced by their race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Discrimination has significant implications on the lives of the minorities in the United States and affects how they interact with other individuals and institutions. Discrimination is a critical issue affecting the quality and access to healthcare in the United States, especially in regards to the health of the African Americans. Differences in the quality of care is indicated by the epidemiology of illness such as diabetes and high blood pressure among the minorities. Kressin, Raymond, & Manze (2008) investigated the factors that led to the poor quality of care received by the African Americans and found discrimination to be a critical issue. In particular, the African Americans had less access to quality care and suffered from provider bias in accessing healthcare services. In their review of literature, Kressing et al. (2008) observed that the providers of care were likely to provide varying quality of services when serving the minorities compared to the rest of the American patients in hospital settings. Additionally, the variation in the quality of services offered in healthcare settings was a critical determining factor for the likelihood of patients to...