[ot-caption title=”I Can’t Breathe as a symbol for injustice and change, (Eric Garner, AP Images)” url=”https://pcpawprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/AP159924882508.jpg”]

With President Obama’s election to the White House in 2008, many people throughout the nation believed that racial bias was finally going to dissipate. However, recent events have clearly indicated that racial tensions are still high. But not everyone agrees about where racial injustice stems from or if it is even present at all.  Seventy five percent of white people in America think that there is no inequality in the criminal justice system toward blacks. A slight majority of these people even argue that racism is not a problem in the United States at all. With current events leading us to take a closer look at the way our criminal justice system works, one thing seems clear: racial bias is affecting our country as a whole and shaping our lives as individuals.

On August 9^th, 2014, a black, unarmed teenager named Michael Brown was shot and killed by a white police officer, Darren Wilson, in Ferguson, Missouri. Although Wilson pleaded self-defense, riots arose immediately following the incident and national conversation about inherent racism in America and possible police brutality started. After a grand jury ruled to not indict Wilson, riots became more widespread and at times, violent.

On July 17, 2014, black, unarmed 43-year old Eric Garner was held to the ground by four police officers and put in an illegal chokehold by officer Daniel Pantaleo. After uttering the words, “I can’t breathe” several times, he eventually became unconscious. He died one hour later. Pantaleo was not indicted.  The expression “I can’t breathe” became a symbol for a constructive movement, promoting evaluation, change and equality. These are just two specific incidents, covered and discussed frequently in the national media, that show the harsh realities of racial injustice in America.

Now, some people may look at these cases and argue that it could have happened to anyone, stating that a white boy or man could have been shot or put in a chokehold just as easily. However, according to a CNN/ORC poll done in December of  2014, while fifty seven percent of white Americans do not think the police in their area show any racial prejudice, only about one quarter of non-whites feel the same way. There is an obvious divide in opinions regarding the lack of equality in our criminal justice system. An ABC poll, also done in December of 2014, concluded that while six of ten whites think the events that took place in the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases are isolated, three of four blacks say these incidents are part of a much larger problem.

The racial divide in America is not only in criminal justice. Marianne Bertrand, an associate professor at the University of Chicago, ran a study in 2002 to find out if racial prejudice was affecting the job market. Her results were astounding. In response to several hiring ads in newspapers, Bertrand sent out 5,000 resumes to various jobs. The lone difference in each application was the name of the applicant. She manipulated the names on the resumes to seem white such as Emily Walsh and Brenden Baker, or black like Lakisha Washington and Jamal Jones. Bertrand found that the applicants with names intended to sound white were fifty percent more likely to receive a callback.

The larger question regarding race in America is simply put: what are we supposed to do about it? The data presented here feels like any statistical evidence. It is cold and missing the personal persuasion that people and feelings deliver. But that warmth is not hard to come by. Just look at the news and listen to many people who are inherently scared for their futures and the futures of their children because of their race. Of course there are complicated issues at play here, but the lack of nuance in the news and on the Internet does not aid the issue of spreading correct awareness.

First, our criminal justice system is not infallible. The civil rights that seem to have no gray area have been put to the test time and time again, proving that there are some cracks in our society. There is a level of responsibility that comes along with the rights to equal protection under law. There are present-day problems within our criminal justice system that may not be easy to see with a quick glance, but nevertheless need to be discussed and improved.

Second, this idea that this is an  “us vs. them” argument needs to cease on both sides. Further entrenching blacks and whites to opposite sides of an argument does not help the larger problem of equality. Race is a part of identity and acknowledging its existence is quite important. But instead of pitting this argument as one race against another race, we should realize that racial prejudice can only be substantially improved if the human race as a whole learns to build an ideology that values equality at its roots.

Lastly, Americans need to believe that our country’s racial prejudice can change. The CNN/ORC poll revealed that fifty percent of whites and fifty three percent of non-whites think that the problem can be fixed. The starting point should be a focus on changing the conversation, and raising awareness that racism is still a problem in our country. Today’s society is in the important position in which making noise, and demanding to be heard is crucial. Racism is a problem in the United States today and will continue to be a problem in the United States unless we decide to make a change.

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/08/13/us/ferguson-missouri-town-under-siege-after-police-shooting.html, http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/22/politics/cnn-poll-racial-divide-justice/, http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/on-racial-issues-america-is-divided-both-black-and-white-and-red-and-blue/2014/12/26/3d2964c8-8d12-11e4-a085-34e9b9f09a58_story.html, http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/04/us/eric-garner-chokehold-debate/, http://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/spring03/racialbias.html, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTcW_iRjKzw&index=4&list=PLMs_JcuNozJb-5TJ3uuvqPzQVjO_XarED, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMs_JcuNozJb-5TJ3uuvqPzQVjO_XarED