The film “Cracking the codes: the system of racial inequity” by Shakti Butler reveals a self-perpetuating system of inequity where the internal factors develop into external structures like policy, law, and institutions. Additionally, the film shows that in the US, “race” is the determinant of wealth, level of individual educational achievement, health, and life expectancy more than any other demographic factor. Additionally, the film shows both internal and external structures of inequality. Internal arrangements are depicted by internalized racism, bias, and privilege, while external arrangements are displayed in institutional, interpersonal, and structural relationships.
The film makes America begin a conversation about the causes and consequences of systematic inequality. The purpose of the film is to disentangle attitudes, internal beliefs, and prejudgments within and build skills for addressing the structural drivers of economic and social inequalities. The film comprises people who talk about their personal experiences of racial injustices and others who have used white privileges.
It is unbelievable how black boys and children are treated in schools by their counterparts, the white making them denounce their identity. The treatment makes them feel inferior, ashamed f their origin, and believe that they cannot be the best. In the US, the white seems to have privileges that the blacks do not have; the woman buying groceries in the film receives a different treatment, but when her sister in law who is white, questions, she is considered. The blacks suffer despite the qualifications they have above the whites in jobs, and these show that the qualifications do not speak for you but your skin color. Wrong attitudes that have been created in the whites create fear and envy them. Surprisingly, people fear a small black boy who is four years because of how they view black people. The blacks are seen as harmful and badly behaved, which is wrong towards them.
Some of the attitudes of the whites towards the blacks are created due to the areas where people grow up with no blacks; white children are brought up knowing the whites are superior to the blacks, and there is a strong foundation of racism. The whites’ rejection, injustice, and mistreatment of blacks make them do all they can to feel accepted, but that doesn’t bear fruit. One of the very wrong things is the acceptance of prejudice, mistreatment, and inferiority by the blacks. The blacks seem to have accepted the stereotypes and misconceptions about them, making them behave that way.
Policies and laws formed in the criminal system also seem to bring a differential between the blacks and the whites. The film shows how blacks are subjected to many checks in airports and confirmation of documents, unlike the whites, which show they are seen as people of violence. The criminal justice system seems to target black people in policing, confinement, and sentencing historically rooted in discrimination. (Elizabeth, Henderson, and Reed, 2018).
I feel that black people are passing through a lot psychologically living in the areas where they struggle to be accepted. It is so painful when an innocent school-going child is subjected to an environment of intimidation and segregation. Additionally, I feel that black people have participated greatly in discrimination by accepting the wrong information about their identity. In the present world, due to globalization, people cannot live in their world, and therefore its good a good environment is created for everyone to feel comfortable.
In conclusion, racial disparity has been manifested in the US through systems like the criminal law system, schools, and institutions. Additionally, wrong attitudes are created against the blacks, which depict fear and envy toward them. As a result, the blacks have accepted and believed the wrong notions and misconceptions about them and have lefts the whites to be superior to them. Generally, racism in the US is a deep-rooted problem that should be dealt with to create a comfortable environment for everyone.
Work Cited
Bailey, Zinzi D., Justin M. Feldman, and Mary T. Bassett. “How structural racism works—racist policies as a root cause of US racial health inequities.” New England Journal of Medicine 384.8 (2021): 768-773.
Hinton, Elizabeth, L. Henderson, and Cindy Reed. “An unjust burden: The disparate treatment of black Americans in the criminal justice system.” Vera Institute of Justice (2018): 1-20.
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