Race and Ethnicity in the United States - Essay Example

No doubt there is still widespread discrimination and class prejudice among the different communities despite the presence of the currently popular Black President and claims of equality for all as envisaged in the American Constitution. An eminent professor of sociology responds to a news article in the New York Times by stating that America’s changing ethnic profile is a sociological issue, which affects the views of the Americans as a nation (Etzioni, 2007). The writer claims that ethnicity is different from what one considers as ‘Race’, the latter having biological connotations, despite its construction as an entity being purely social.

The writer believes that racial differences divide the society, and are immutable, which he states is not the case with ethnic divisions. The writer believes that within the American mosaic, ethnic variety is considered ‘normal’, with every minority gradually incorporating into the American society after learning English, intermingling through marriages, and adopting what is considered as the ‘American’ lifestyle (Etzioni, 2007). . The author however believes that such attempts are more quixotic than brave, as systematic racial categorization continues to exist within the United States.

She feels that the American society owes itself the obligation to eliminate such categorization from the political as well as bureaucratic arena, in order that America attains a more civilized image in the new geopolitical arena emerging in the world. No other ethnic representation has suffered discrimination in the United States like the black population, although there is a black President at the helm of affairs currently. Even at his status, he is experiencing a hate campaign within the country despite doing his level best to bring about reforms in American health policy and prevent the hegemony of insurance companies and conglomerates by making them accountable.

Despite the setback unleashed by the economic recession brought forth by the misadventures and indulgence of previous governments of the majority white Presidents’ of yore, he is being blamed for what is ill in American society as it exists today. In a recent study conducted to evaluate the psychological distress and health related issues in Native American black population and fresh black immigrants from the Caribbean and other countries due to discrimination, it was discovered that both groups reported almost equivalent levels of experienced discrimination despite the estimate by the conductors of the study that native American blacks were more likely to have noticed such discrimination, having born and brought up within the shores of the United States (Karestan et al, 2011).

Second generation ethnic minorities are a sub-population within the United States which is caught up in the quandary of their