Racial Immigration
Many people moved from their home country to other countries in search of a better life and economic opportunities. Most of the people that got moved to America were as a result of the slave trade and war, and after they got abolished, those people continued to live there, and this gave birth to a creation of a new race, and that is the blacks in America. They were from Asia, Africa, and other continents. Today, America continues to receive more immigrants as people go there to seek for better employment opportunities and economic support that they could not get in their countries, as America is believed to be a country full of possibilities. Other people immigrate to America as they flee their countries due to religious or cultural perception, as they seek the freedom that they cannot get in their country. America continues to receive both legal and illegal immigrants, and it gets estimated that in half a decade from now, there will be no majority race in America. This paper will discuss how racial immigration has contributed to discrimination and inequality by the host countries.
Background
Alba, Richard, and Nancy Foner. “Immigration and the Geography of Polarization.” City & Community 16.3 (2017): 239-243.
Immigration and the Geography of Polarization; Germany and the United States have had the most significant number of immigrants. The article suggests that that area that the native residents have accepted immigrants and have no negative attitudes towards the immigrants and accept diversity, those areas are more likely to have high numbers of immigrants. The areas that have anti-diversity policies and negative attitudes toward the immigrants are where there are few immigrants or ethnic-racial diversity (Alba Richard and Nancy 241). The patterns are evident on the voting patterns, where for instances, in 2016, the rural whites voted heavily for Donald Trump while the immigrant dominated areas voted against him. The article also says that the immigrants tend to occupy certain geographical areas and dominate the place, and the native citizens have no control of such places. Civility is evident in areas that acknowledge diversity. The natives have accepted the immigrants, and the negative attitudes towards them have reduced as they live together and depend on each other in many aspects, such as economic prosperity.
Foner, Nancy, Kay Deaux, and Katharine M. Donato. “Introduction: Immigration and Changing Identities.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 4.5 (2018): 1-25.
The article says that America has had the highest number of immigrants and in 2016; the total population of the immigrants was around 25% that represent eighty-six million immigrants. The highest number of immigrants has been from Asia, Latin America, and ad Caribbean region. There are high numbers of immigrants, and accepting diversity is the only way that can promote their coexistence. The reality is that the ethnic-racial population plays a crucial role in the lives of both the immigrants and the natives, and the policymakers should strive to make policies that will acknowledge immigrants those with the legal documents and those without (Foner et al. 15). The article suggests that there are primary issues that are related to the identity issues such as the way the immigrants and their children of the immigrants see themselves, and how the natives view the immigrants to ethnicity and race. The article views various perspectives from social history, demography, and social psychology. The article suggests that identity is a process and concept that has a flexible and dynamic nature. The racial identities have been used primary used to sort people in groups.
Clair, Matthew, and Asad L. Asad. “Criminal and Immigration Laws Shape Health Outcomes of Racial and Ethnic Minorities.” Sociology Policy Briefs (2019).
The article says that there have been immigration and criminal laws that have burdened the lives of the ethnic minorities and segregated minorities such as Latinos and African Americans. The public and sociological health research show that there are effects of health on various immigration and criminal practices, laws, and policies. The article suggests that the policymakers and scholars should understand that the law is the primary cause of the differences in health through the effects that those who have a stigmatized legal status (Clair Matthew and Asad). The corrective legal controls of masses should get treated as a crisis in public health.
Philbin, Morgan M., et al. “State-level immigration and immigrant-focused policies as drivers of Latino health disparities in the United States.” Social Science & Medicine 199 (2018): 29-38.
The article states that there are states have made legislations that focus on the immigrants and immigration to the United States. Some policies promote access to services while others restrict access to services like transport, education, and other beneficial services. It is evident that there is no relationship between the state-level immigration policies to Latin health status; the state does not consider creating policies that relate to the Latinos. The article suggests that there are numerous ways in which the state can influence the health of the Latinos (Philbin et al.33). Such methods include; increasing the access to support social institutions, especially education, and constraining the access to material conditions such as wages, food, housing, and working conditions. The current immigration health and policy gets based on one-level, one-policy, and one-outcome. It is high time that this strategy change to multi-level, multi-policies, and multi-outcomes to accommodate all people in a country regardless of their origin.
Racial immigration has led to increased discrimination and inequality of the minority groups. The immigrants have limited access to services such as health, education, and other essential services since the priority is given to the native citizens. The immigrants have been incriminated, subjected to violation, arrests, detention, and deportation. There are no laws to protect immigrants especially those without documentation. Although their presence in the country indeed has significant contributions to the prosperity and growth of the native country, their presence never gets protected by the government. Due to their talents, the immigrants have great contributions to economic growth, and it is high time that such countries should consider giving equal rights to all people both the natives and immigrants. Discrimination is the main reason why immigrants cannot make progress but not due to their reasons. Immigrants get denied opportunities to make their lives better due to the perceptions that the native citizens have toward them. The immigrants are discriminated racially depending on their color of the skin, tone of their voices, and the perceptions that others have towards the immigrants. Discrimination and inequality is experienced in many areas, such as in schools, workplaces, and access to infrastructure and health services.
The racial immigrants in most countries lack legal documents, and this makes it difficult for them to get employed. Therefore, the immigrants, despite their education qualifications, find it challenging to get formal employment. They always get subordinate jobs where they have the whites as their boss, regardless of how qualified they are. Discrimination at the workplace is rampant as the native citizens still use harsh words towards the immigrants; for instance, the black employees may be referred to as monkeys due to heir black complexity (Jones et al. 65). They may find violating and shaming images of the immigrants in strategic places such as washrooms. The images are placed there intentionally to shame the immigrants, and show them that their presence there is not recognized or welcomed. Immigrants have always have had problems getting a job and they risk unnecessary termination of their jobs without any explainable reason. The priorities have been given to the native citizens who occupy the topmost level in the organization regardless of whether they are qualified or not. The immigrants always get the second priority irrespective of how highly qualified they are. This form of discrimination hinders the immigrants from demonstrating their full potential, and they are less likely to grow in their careers since the priority is given to the native citizens (Assari Shervin and Maryam 139). The immigrants face unnecessary termination of their jobs since they lack legal representation and protection from institutions like trade unions. They require legal documents to claim such protection, and thus their employers take advantage of such situations to terminate their jobs as they wish. The legal framework does not protect the immigrants from discrimination since there are no cases of workplace discrimination that have been completed. It takes a long time to investigate the cases of discrimination filed by the immigrants, and in case there is solid evidence of discrimination by the employer, such evidence is kept in the personal file that can only be accessed by the employer. Therefore, it is true that there is a lot of discrimination at places of work against the immigrants, and they have little or nothing they can do about it since they lack legal or union protection.
Racial discrimination against immigrants’ kids is also evident in education institutions. The immigrants’ kids get subjected to loneliness, anxiety, and humiliation from other students, and these causes a lot of stress and discomfort among the immigrants’ kids are in most cases, they are forced to drop out of school. Discrimination on education has been evident from the inequality in the curriculum, school policies, and the perceptions and expectations that the native teachers and students have towards immigrant students. The curriculum does not incorporate the cultures of the immigrants, and therefore, the kids get forced to learn the cultures of the host. It has affected the immigrants’ kids as they have felt that their cultures are inferior, and they have conflicting issues and interests. They get forced to abandon their cultures and adopt those of the host since they are termed as superior. The curriculum only promotes the cultures of the host people, and therefore, the others are termed as irrelevant and one that needs to be abolished or destroyed since they are not fit for humans. Institutional racism is also another form of discrimination that the immigrants’ kids face. The Black and White Paradigms in Higher Education exist where each race wants to prove that their race is superior to the other. Since there are few black education institutions, black’s students enrolled in white-dominated institutions face a lot of racism and discrimination. The education institutions are racial, and they expect that every student seeking admission to the institution should comply with the set rules and regulations, most of which are inclined to the white people. Teachers are a crucial facilitator in achieving the academic results of the students. Teachers have biased attitudes towards students of immigrants since they believe that such students cannot excel in science and mathematics-based courses. Therefore the opinions and the expectations they have on the students matter a lot on how far the student will succeed academically (Howard Tyrone). The attitudes of the teachers may be experienced when the teacher spends more time on the white students and little on the students of color since they believe that the white students are the best, and they deserve all the attention. The teachers may tend to give the students of immigrants assignments that are inclined more to the white culture as a way to show that the white culture is superior, and that’s what needs to be studied by all. The students of immigrants lack support and get isolated in higher education institutions. Most of the students of immigrants are weak in communication since they are used to their native language, and therefore if they lack support on how to conduct themselves in the higher education institutions since they need to be explained in a simple language that they can all understand.
Racial discrimination against immigrants is also evident in the provision of healthcare services. There are stereotyping and misperceptions that are used against the immigrants in the provision of healthcare services. The host healthcare providers view the immigrants as needy people who do not qualify for quality healthcare (Philbin et al. 36). The immigrants never get equal medical attention like the one given to the host, such as the immigrants may take a longer time to be served than the host. The quality of equipment and tools to examine the two categories of people are different due to the stereotyping and perception that the medical practitioners have towards the immigrants, some of which are false.
Racial immigration does not always lead to discrimination and inequalities since some of the countries have acknowledged the significance of embracing diversity. People have now accepted that immigrants are not always threats to the nation, and they also have beneficial contributions to the growth and prosperity of the host countries. Most of the immigrants are talented, and the host countries have ensured that they tap such talents and use it for the growth and prosperity of their country’s economy. Diversity is the new normal is it will be challenging to control immigrants, especially those without legal documents, and the only thing that the host country can do is find ways to incorporate such people into the country.
Racial discrimination against immigrants is a threat to the prosperity of any nation, and it should get abolished. Countries should find better ways of incorporating the immigrants into their system and discover how they can benefit from them. Since most of the immigrants are in search of work and better living conditions, the host countries should ensure that they get employment and use their talents to the maximum. The host countries should formulate policies that accommodate everybody in the country as long as they do not threaten the peace and security of the nation. All human beings are equal, and no one should discriminate against others since all have equal rights regardless of their origin.
Works Cited
Philbin, Morgan M., et al. “State-level immigration and immigrant-focused policies as drivers of Latino health disparities in the United States.” Social Science & Medicine 199 (2018): 29-38.
Clair, Matthew, and Asad L. Asad. “Criminal and Immigration Laws Shape Health Outcomes of Racial and Ethnic Minorities.” Sociology Policy Briefs (2019).
Foner, Nancy, Kay Deaux, and Katharine M. Donato. “Introduction: Immigration and Changing Identities.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences 4.5 (2018): 1-25.
Alba, Richard, and Nancy Foner. “Immigration and the Geography of Polarization.” City & Community 16.3 (2017): 239-243.
Assari, Shervin, and Maryam Moghani Lankarani. “Workplace racial composition explains high perceived discrimination of high socioeconomic status African American men.” Brain sciences 8.8 (2018): 139.
Jones, Kristen P., et al. “Subtle discrimination in the workplace: A vicious cycle.” Industrial and Organizational Psychology 10.1 (2017): 51-76.
Howard, Tyrone C. Why race and culture matter in schools: Closing the achievement gap in America’s classrooms. Teachers College Press, 2019.