This week, you will prepare your Culture Project Presentation. Create a slide deck that highlights the main points and insights from your research paper using PowerPoint or Google Slides. You should then prepare an oral presentation that you will record and share. The goal of the presentation is to teach your peers about your chosen cultural group in a creative and engaging way that also demonstrates mastery of the course content.

African Americans and their Experiences with the Country’s Criminal Justice System

The plight of African Americans in the United States has been shadowed by racial impunity to some extent in all states for quite some time. This group has encountered varying amounts of discrimination across all sectors, which places them among the most impoverished and vulnerable groups in the United States. African Americans face discrimination in the justice system and difficulties accessing comprehensive immigration and health services that other minority groups frequently have an easier time accessing. A review of the experiences of African Americans in the United States today shows that this group frequently encounters challenges in various aspects of American society that can make it difficult for them to thrive in the same way that many other groups are able to.

Despite the championing for equality and progress among African Americans and other minority groups in the United States that has occurred across centuries, there are still parts of the country where these groups face other forms of discrimination. African Americans sometimes experience discrimination within the criminal justice system, which dates to the slave trades of the 16th century. The various reforms that have been put in place over the years have done little to lower disproportionately high number of African Americans in the country’s prisons. While African Americans make up just 15% of the population, they make up approximately 35% of the total number of individuals in American prisons (Hinton et al., 2018). This statistic raises questions as to whether the law may be skewed as far as the conviction of crimes or the propensity of judges to require African Americans to serve time. For example, the war on drugs is one of the main causes of the high number of African Americans who are currently in prison (Thompson, 2019; Hinton & Cook, 2020). African American youth fall into the trap of drug use and dealing at a higher rate than youth of other races, and some of those who join these rings had no options for earning better livelihoods for their families. However, the problem also reveals some of the underlying issues that contribute to more African Americans being imprisoned (Monk, 2018). These issues highlight the unspoken discrimination by the police that African Americans face each day, and many members of this group who are accused usually fail to prove their innocence before the court. African American men are also more likely to be shot by law enforcement than men of other races (Hinton et al., 2018).

Poverty, workplace discrimination, and educational inequalities are among the causes of these challenges. Currently, African Americans are considered to be one of the poorest ethnic groups in the United States. Many African Americans receive schooling that does not match the quality of the education that children of other races are more likely to receive, which contributes to this problem by denying them many opportunities to obtain stable and well-paying jobs. Poor education is also driven by discriminative funding policies that target poor schools, which are predominantly of people of color. Because students in these schools typically do not perform well on the state tests that determine funding, they are unable to get out of this cycle. Even with quality education, African Americans still face hurdles in certain companies that are slow to embrace diversity (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Monk, 2018).

Many African Americans can trace their immigration to America back to the slave trade, but there is also a substantial population that moved to the United States from Africa over the last century, which is called the Great Migration. Most of them moved to America to gain access to better economic and educational opportunities. Like many immigrants, their expectations were met with countless setbacks. For instance, they had different cultural and educational backgrounds than other Americans, including other immigrants. While America has historically been perceived as a cultural melting pot, the attitudes towards foreigners have not always been positive (Fouke et al., 2018). The need to conform to the status quo has caused misunderstandings, a general lack of trust, and eventual abandonment of some of the cultural traditions that serve as part of the identity of several members of this group (Chattopadhyay & De Vries, 2012). Negative stereotyping, bullying, and cultural profiling caused a rift between new immigrants and the rest of the African American populace, which led to a somewhat internal sibling war (Fouke et al., 2018). Many members in this group battle negative stereotypes that psychologically weigh them down, which bar them from having the ability to make worthwhile contributions to American society. For this reason, assimilation into the perceived American culture can be difficult, if not impossible, for a majority of the members. Hence, a boundary has the potential to always exist between African Americans and the rest of America (Chattopadhyay & De Vries, 2012). Being part of the American dream, therefore, demands more from the members of this group than from any other group in the US

As in most societies, the health of any group correlates with the average financial status of that group. Being able to afford medical attention is an important aspect of one’s ability to reach the best possible position in live. Many African Americans do not have a high level of family wealth that can be used to offset medical expenses, and they frequently cannot afford comprehensive care for serious illnesses. The average health of members of this group is, therefore, poorer than that of their counterparts of other races. This creates a health system based on class that further aggravates the already existing racial divide. Much has also been said about the quality of care available in black neighborhoods compared to neighborhoods that are primarily comprised of other races. Health facilities in neighborhoods that are primarily comprised of other races are frequently far better than the basic amenities provisioned for African Americans. Like education, the American healthcare system has often been criticized for being discriminatory toward African Americans, especially the poor. Most poor African Americans do not have health coverage, which often means that they cannot afford medical treatment. Accordingly, the life expectancy of African Americans is lower than their counterparts of other races (Taylor, 2019). The group also experiences a higher rate of illness, and their likelihood of death from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer is higher than it is for people of other races (Taylor, 2019). However, homicides are the biggest cause of death within the group (Taylor, 2019). African Americans are involved in gangs and gun fights more frequently than people of other races, and police brutality can also disproportionately affect African Americans. While most of these victims lose their lives on the spot, some also die because they are unable to receive urgent medical attention.

American medical practitioners are currently more aware of the country’s healthcare system’s systemic imbalances that disadvantage people of color. Practitioners are increasingly embracing diversity maintaining professionalism, regardless of one’s background. Professional codes of conduct have also been particularly instrumental in ensuring equity in service. However, there is still more to be done to ensure quality service for African Americans. Medical practitioners should work towards being culturally competent professionals. Cultural competence would likely improve areas like communication and cultural considerations in treatment. Every African American should be regarded as unique from the others and accorded a person-centered mode of treatment to ensure adequate recovery is made. Practitioners also need to understand the key principles of bioethics and effectively implement them in their careers. Bioethics will guide professional decision-making, regardless of individual differences such as culture or gender (Chattopadhyay & De Vries, 2012). The principles of beneficence and justice particularly apply to African Americans. Di Noia et al. (2013) add that practitioners need to consider culturally sensitive diets when dealing with African Americans. Finally, the research proposes understanding the Afrocentric worldview, which will influence dietary recommendations for African Americans. Practitioners should be more aware of how to respond, especially in situations of emergencies. This is because gender impacts individual experiences in different situations that may involve hygiene and sanitization, water, or healthcare access.

In conclusion, African Americans experience various types of discrimination across several aspects of American society, which work together to make their lives more difficult. Efforts should be injected into daily operations to remove bias and racism from health provision, and practitioners should not discriminate against domestic and gun violence victims due to a lack of funds. Instead, they should prioritize the wellbeing of the client and then claim payment after the patient is stable and able to make their payments. The government needs to improve health care services to the African Americans in the slums and giving them access to these services. These steps can help to bridge the gap between the current reality for African Americans and the equality we all desire.

References

Chattopadhyay, S., & De Vries, R. (2012). Respect for cultural diversity in bioethics is an ethical imperative. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy, 16(4), 639–645. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-012-9433-5

Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The flat world and education: how America’s commitment to equity will determine our future. Teachers College Press.

Di Noia, J., Furst, G., Park, K., & Byrd-Bredbenner, C. (2013). Designing culturally sensitive dietary interventions for African Americans: review and recommendations. Nutrition Reviews, 71(4), 224–238.

Fouka, V., Mazumder, S., & Tabellini, M. (2018, March 27). From immigrants to Americans: Race and assimilation in the age of mass migration. VoxEU.org. https://voxeu.org/article/race-and-assimilation-ag…

Hinton, E., & Cook, D. (2020). The Mass Criminalization of Black Americans: A Historical Overview. Annual Review of Criminology, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-criminol-060520-03…

Hinton, E., Henderson, L., & Reed, C. (2018). For the Record An Unjust Burden: The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System. https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/for-th…

Monk, E. P. (2018). The color of punishment: African americans, skin tone, and the criminal justice system. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(10), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1508736

Taylor, J. (2019, December 19). Racism, Inequality, and Health Care for African Americans. The Century Foundation. https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-inequality-health-care-african-americans/?agreed=1

Thompson, H. A. (2019). THE RACIAL HISTORY OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race, 16(1), 221–241. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1742058x19000183