Democracy and equality in dealing with several issues in the community go hand. Without an equitable say in society, democracy is considered to be unfunctional. Moreover, democracy allows people to enjoy democratic rights in the community without being discriminated against or alienated from the rest of the population. Some of the factors that undermine democracy in a community include racism in the government systems, public discrimination, unlawful detention, and many other activities that affect a particular group of people and subject them to unequal or unfair conditions. The United States is one of the countries that many people globally consider democratic. Many government systems are programmed to allow all citizens to participate in several processes, including voting in leaders, constitutional amendments, and others. However, when we clearly understand the concept of democracy, it is evident that it’s not only about making laws and participating in the electoral process. Democracy is more about building an equitable society that understands diversity, embraces unity, and employs equality in distributing resources and services to all of its citizens. However, with all the necessary tenets of democracy considered, we can arguably agree that democracy lacks behind in the united states because of racial discrimination, partisan gerrymandering, clouding of lawful acts in racist perspectives, and the general policing discriminatory actions.
For centuries, racial discrimination existed in several government systems in the united states. The pull and push between the white Americans and the black Americans is a democratic fight that has existed for several centuries. Ever since the passing of the 13th Amendment to abolish slavery and slave work in the united states, many government systems considered black people outsiders in the country. The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all the persons in America, including the enslaved people and those who participated in the civil wars. Although they received this citizenship, which should have given them the power to enjoy several rights as American citizens, they received continuous discrimination and several other actions that undermined equality, bringing in the idea of “dream deferred” for most Americans (Gates Jr. p.5). currently, several other racist actions affect the uniformity of American citizens hence undermining the importance of democracy and democratic rights in society. During Trump’s governances, many black Americans experience racist flaws across all the black communities in America, resulting in fights for democracy across these communities (Bonilla-Silva 15). Thus, the United States still needs to review the sense of democracy and provide a demonstrate an understanding of the concepts of democracy.
Similarly, partisan gerrymandering in the United States is another act that shows the existence of actions that greatly undermine the essence of democracy in all of the United States. Kirschenbaum and Li argue that gerrymandering is completely undemocratic and subjects people to discriminatory participation in the political process in the United States (par. 1). Gerrymandering leads to different districts aligning themselves in a certain political party. It contributes to the idea of the “strongholds” of a specific political party. The idea of “strongholds” portrays several racial acts and influential politics based on non-democratic grounds. Democracy allows people from different regions to vote uniformly based on who they want to be their leader or in favor of someone they see to fit in governing them. However, most Americans are driven by political gerrymandering to vote under the influences. Most of them vote based on their ethnic group, race, or sometimes their gender. “Partisan gerrymandering alters election results away from what would have happened under a ‘fair’ or neutral redistricting process” (Herschlag et al. 32). Thus, voting or participation in the voting process does not come out of their own will hence the crippling of democracy. Therefore, democracy in America is a pictured phenomenon “believed” to exist.
Moreover, clouding of lawful acts in a racist perspective is another act that undermines democracy in the united states. Although several acts were enacted to help the Americans maintain considerable behaviors that do not undermine the citizens of America, many of these acts were used unequally, subjecting several people to unfair judgments in the community. An example of an act that was racially abused in the united states was the Harrison Act of 1914, which was against the use of narcotics in the United States. Although this act was meant to govern all Americans and prevent the use and sale of narcotics in all the American communities, it resulted in the massive incarceration of the black community (Szalavitz). Most of the black communities suffered a great blow from prison departments. The law was not actively practiced in the white-dominated communities, with several white people going unpunished. The prisons were filled with the black community, demonstrating the existence of racial injustices in the practice of law systems. Thus, these injustices in the practice of law greatly destabilize the idea of racial justice and subject people to unending discrimination in the community. Therefore, to say that the United States is democratic might be a “dream” to some people within the American society.
Lastly, the idea of police brutality and discrimination in the community shows how some police forces misuse the idea of democracy that some of the people in the community should be enjoying. Although police and other law enforcement departments are built to help keep peace and order in society, most misuse their power in favor of racial actions. The killing of George Floyd is one of the widely discussed police brutality based on racial grounds. Police brutality in America is widely spread, with many police agencies subjecting black Americans to racial justice. This racial judgment consciously affects several functions in the community and affects the general organization of the community. The various unlawful arrests and detention of black Americans signify a dying democratic system in the united states. Arguably, democracy in the United States is a non-existing phenomenon.
Precisely, to say that the United States embraces democracy does not make sense with the several inequities within its jurisdiction. The several racist actions that affect most of its actions squarely destabilize most of the activities in the country and subject most of the people to non-democratic actions. Racial inequity is one of the major factors undermining democracy in the united states. Despite the 14th Amendment giving all the black people and other races in America the benefit of citizenship in America, the black Americans continued to exist outside the democratic process. Police brutality and clouding of some of the amendment act with racist thoughts affect most of their activities. Several acts put in place to ensure the society conforms to certain norms were brutally applied to the black community affecting the importance of democracy. Moreover, the partisan gerrymandering in the United States is another aspect that significantly undermines the idea of democracy in the united states. Addressing the issues that affect democracy in the united states will contribute to democratic actions that will help stabilize the democratic existences and ensure the people participate in upholding democracy in the United States.
Works Cited
Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. “‘Racists,’ ‘Class Anxieties,’ Hegemonic Racism, and Democracy in Trump’s America.” Social Currents, vol. 6, no. 1, 13 Oct. 2018, pp. 14–31, 10.1177/2329496518804558.
Gates Jr., Henry Louis. The Oxford Handbook of African American Citizenship, 1865-Present. Edited by Lawrence D. Bobo et al., Oxford University Press, 1 May 2012. Accessed 25 Mar. 2022.
Herschlag, Gregory, et al. “Quantifying Gerrymandering in North Carolina.” Statistics and Public Policy, vol. 7, no. 1, 1 Jan. 2020, pp. 30–38, 10.1080/2330443x.2020.1796400.
Kirschenbaum, Julia, and Michael Li. “Gerrymandering Explained | Brennan Center for Justice.” Www.brennancenter.org, 10 Aug. 2021, www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/gerrymandering-explained.
Szalavitz, Maia. “One Hundred Years Ago, Prohibition Began in Earnest.” Pacific Standard, 2 Jan. 2015, psmag.com/social-justice/one-hundred-years-ago-prohibition-began-earnest-still-paying-97243.
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