Arrest Rates Between Blacks And Whites example essay topic

... ks could not even get the opportunity to compete for jobs. As Hacker says, things are getting better but they are far from equal. Things like affirmative action and unofficial quotas are getting blacks into the American workforce, but not enough to call it equal. Even so, the jobs they are predominately holding are things like nursing aids, hotel maids, postal clerks and other low-paying, low-status jobs. Black women, however, hold more positions than white women in every type of job from military personnel to professional and managerial positions. Hacker says that this is partially due to the majority of black women being single mothers, therefore there is a stronger need to black women to work over white women.

How is race affecting the performance in schools? Is there still segregation in schools? Hacker attempts to answer these questions towards the end of the book. Blacks, typically, perform much lower than whites and Asians, who perform the highest, on standardized tests. The reason, Hacker believes, is because the majority of black children live in a more urban area than most other races. Schooling is worse in urban areas because the teachers do not get paid well as they do in suburbs.

There are better teaching programs outside of urban America. Unfortunately, blacks do not leave the urban areas as much as whites. This is the major reason for their lower performance. This lower performance leads blacks to attend worse colleges than whites. This has been changing in recent generations. Many large, reputed universities are making it easier for blacks to attend over whites even while performing lower on tests.

This is a tool used by colleges to claim racial equality and integration for "the best college experience". Even with these colleges now accepting more blacks, there are many top-notch schools that are segregated. There are still low enrollment rates for blacks in many top schools. They are more likely to go to a school that is all black such as Howard or Morehouse. Even with recent changes, black students prefer to attend a school that has a larger black population.

Some exceptions to that are those that are athletes, for example. NCAA Division I colleges will accept black athletes and give them scholarships also giving them the opportunity to go on and pursue a career in that sport or something they study in school. Although the sport aspect of most large universities accepts many blacks recently, there is still obvious segregation in colleges across America. Hacker concludes this section by discussing crime in America. He compares the arrest rates between blacks and whites, and not to anyone's surprise blacks had a higher arrest rate. Hacker, however, argues that this is not a correct indication of committed crimes.

He says just because blacks were arrested more than whites it doesn't mean they committed more crimes but only that they were accused a lot more. A recent survey was done that questioned rape victims about their attacker. The result was that the victims defined 33.1% of the attackers as black, yet 44.1% of the arrests made during those cases were black men. This indicates that accusations are directed more towards blacks solely based on race, this in turn turns black men away from certain jobs that discover the reasons for their arrests. Hacker also says that this is why there is a lower enrollment rate at colleges, higher crime and birth rates among blacks, etc. The last chapter deals with race and politics.

Recently, blacks have been gaining political power, but not on a scale compared to whites. There are two major political parties in America, the Republicans and Democrats. The Republicans are thought to be white people striving for white people. They have had men such as David Duke, a "former and unrepentant member of the Ku Klux Klan", win primaries in many states and attempt to become President. The support given to this man enraged many blacks. The support of the Republican Party by blacks almost ceased completely.

There are many black democrats but they have not received any political office higher than that of a Governor. And even in those states there is a very high black population. Political power is vital to changing the lives of blacks in poverty and surrounded by crime at young ages. White politicians will more likely support for new programs and better living conditions in areas they are formerly from.

Although, the major discussions lately has been on how to improve the "ghetto", there have been few changes that have changed the status of blacks in society by white politicians. Hacker concludes the book by discussing the fact that young black men are taken to carry guns and kill each other, while white youths live together and help each other (in most cases) to succeed. His theme in this book is almost the exact statement he makes before ending the book. He says", It is white America that has made being black so disconsolate and estate. Legal slavery may be in the past, but segregation and subordination have been allowed... ".

. In other words, the theme is that the social ills and a lack of education, employment, and stability, along with high teen pregnancy, abortion rates and high crime rates are a direct result of white oppression. I believe he is interpret- ting many true facts and statistics the wrong way. Some of what he says, such as high crime rates being a cause of false accusations and lower scores on tests due to a lack of good teachers / facilities, are agreeable. Yet to blame all the problems faced by blacks in America on white oppression and for him to doubt the honesty of liberal whites who fight alongside blacks for equality is something I do not agree with. I believe that there are other causes of the problems faced by blacks such as gang life, which is not only in urban areas anymore.

After going to public schools for almost 16 years I can say that there is a lot of segregation everywhere because people feel more comfortable among those of their own race. Does this mean that if there are a group of white kids hanging out together that they are racist? No, this just means that all they are is a group of kids. For someone to point out their race and the fact that they are all the same and then to judge them and their beliefs without knowing anything for sure is a racist statement in itself. Overall, Andrew Hacker is a good writer. I don't agree with all of his beliefs but he makes a very good argument.

There are many people that feel strongly about an issue and do not speak up. The admirable thing about Hacker is that he said what he feels and he is not scared to speak his mind. That is a respectable trait. Don't you agree?" A huge racial chasm remains, and there are few signs that he coming century will see it closed. A century and a quarter after slavery, white America continues to ask of its black citizens an extra patience and perseverance that whites have never required of themselves" -Andrew Hacker (On the final paragraph of his book).