Racial Disparities 

 
Source 1: ​A New Civil Rights Agenda: A New Leadership Is Making a Difference 
This article is about the products of the civil rights acts, but more importantly dives into the 
problems that it did not cover. This is especially prominent in our quickly changing society, as 
many look at what our country was founded on, and the promises that it has broken. Important 
points the article made include the fact that America does not see white-black as a fluid concept, 
rather it is a precise placement. Further, new civil rights issues have developed over time, and the 
government needs to change with it.  
 
Thesis 
 
One of the shortcomings of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was its failure to 
envision the need for a fluid model of action to address new civil rights issues in the years ahead. 
 
Evidence and Commentary 
 
“​Bread-and-butter issues such as unemployment, substandard housing, inferior education, unsafe 
streets, escalating child poverty, and homelessness supplanted the right to vote, eat at a lunch 
counter, and attend desegregated schools.” 
“It also created a national expectation that individuals and groups had the right to petition their 
government to right legal wrongs affecting them. In its wake there developed a broad base of 
constituent interest groups” 
“​It is conceivable that at mid-century, Americans will view race in fluid rather than fixed and 
precise terms, not unlike the way Brazilians see their multiracial population.” 
“One of the shortcomings of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was its failure to 
envision the need for a fluid model of action to address new civil rights issues in the years ahead. 
And still the search goes on. Indeed, the issue today is how to develop flexible remedies to 
black-white disparity, the nation’s changing racial and ethnic diversity, and white poverty. “ 
“The most effective of these leaders are people like Bob Moses, a key voting rights activist in the 
South in the sixties, who now teaches math literacy to prepare poor children for the 
technology-driven job market; Eugene Rivers, a founder of Boston’s 10-Point Coalition to disarm 
gangs and rehabilitate young lives; Hattie Dorsey, whose Atlanta Neighborhood Development 
Partnership helps rebuild decaying neighborhoods; and Robert Woodson, head of the National 
Neighborhood Enterprise Center, who brokered a truce among the District of Columbia’s most 
violent gangs and placed its members in paying jobs.” 
 
Sophistication 
 
This writer knows a lot about what they are preaching. It is visible that they have done their 
research. Further, they stay up to date on the issue and the problems that come with it.  
 
Source 2: ​On Views of Race and Inequality, Blacks and Whites Are Worlds Apart 
This article is mostly statistics conducted by Pew Research Center. These statistics are widely based 
on opinions of the general white population and the general black population. These are important 
questions to someone seeking proof of racial inequality in America, because large percentages of 
black people feel mistreated and generally held back in life due to their skin color. Many would 
agree Barack Obama in office was a progressive stride in America, however 2020 has brought up 
more civil rights problems. While the majority of black people would agree that they are 
mistreated, white people are divided. Some believe Democrats are making this a big deal, while 
others believe America’s treatment of black people could improve.  
 
Thesis 
 
A new Pew Research Center survey finds profound differences between black and white adults in 
their views on racial discrimination, barriers to black progress and the prospects for change. 
 
Evidence and Commentary 
 
“Blacks, far more than whites, say black people are treated unfairly across different realms of life, 
from dealing with the police to applying for a loan or mortgage. And, for many blacks, racial 
equality remains an elusive goal.” 
“An additional 42% of blacks believe that the country will eventually make the changes needed for 
blacks to have equal rights with whites, and just 8% say the country has already made the necessary 
changes.” 
“Four-in-ten whites believe the country will eventually make the changes needed for blacks to have 
equal rights, and about the same share (38%) say enough changes have already been made.” 
“In recent years, this centuries-old divide has garnered renewed attention following the deaths of 
unarmed black Americans during encounters with the police, as well as a racially motivated 
shooting that killed nine black parishioners at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. 
“College-educated w ​ hites are especially likely to see their race as an advantage: 47% say being white 
has made it easier for them to succeed. ​By comparison, 31% of whites with some college education 
and 17% of those with a high school diploma or less say their race has made things easier for them. 
White Democrats (49%) are also among the most likely to say that their race or ethnicity has made 
it easier for them to get ahead in life.” 
“Some 12% of blacks say they oppose Black Lives Matter (including 4% who strongly oppose it). 
Even so, blacks have somewhat mixed views about the extent to which the Black Lives Matter 
movement will be effective, in the long run, in helping blacks achieve equality.” 
“About half (48%) of whites say they are very satisfied with the quality of life in their community, 
compared with about a third (34%) of blacks. This gap persists after controlling for income. For 
example, 57% of whites with an annual family income of $75,000 or more report that they are very 
satisfied with the quality of life in their community; just 38% of blacks in the same income group 
say the same.” 
 
Sophistication 
 
This article doesn’t use much prose or even argumentation, it is just numbers. Therefore it doesn't 
have very much sophistication.  
 
Source 3: 
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This article is a speech by Florida Republican Charles T. Canady. Here he states that America does 
have a dark history, and slavery was proabably the worst we’ve ever done. Canady mentions the 
laws put into place to keep society from judging and making any decisions based on race. He 
believes that we have surpassed that, and that it is almost going backwards. America wants to 
reparate black people and are now refusing jobs and opportunities to qualified people because they 
are not part of the minority. He states that this is as unconstitutional as matters like Jim Crow. 
Canady believes that America needs to strive to be colorblind as to be Constitutional.  
 
Thesis 
 
The way forward in American race relations is to embrace the vision of a colorblind legal order that 
was set forth 100 years ago by Justice Harlan, pursued devotedly by the civil-rights movement, 
articulated eloquently by President Kennedy, and enshrined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 
 
Evidence and Commentary 
 
“The American people are now beginning a great debate over the use of race and gender 
preferences by federal, state, and local governments. In 1996, a majority of voters in California, 
including 29 percent of blacks, approved the California Civil Rights Initiative prohibiting 
preferential treatment in public employment, education, and contracting” 
“This is not the first time that American governments have intentionally discriminated. The 
institution of slavery and Jim Crow laws both violated the fundamental American tenet that "all 
men are created equal" and are "endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights." But 
racial preferences designed to compensate for prior discrimination are also inconsistent with our 
most deeply cherished principles.” 
“[Martin Luther] King explicitly linked this religious view of man to the philosophical foundation 
of the United States. America's "pillars," King said, "were soundly grounded in the insights of our 
Judeo-Christian heritage: All men are made in the image of God; all men are brothers; all men are 
created equal; every man is heir to a legacy of dignity and worth; every man has rights that are 
neither conferred by nor derived from the state, they are God-given. What a marvelous foundation 
for any home! What a glorious place to inhabit!" 

In light of King's personal experiences and the contradiction of sanctioning slavery and segregation 
in a country committed to equality, this is a remarkably optimistic view of the American 
experience. It is a view that propelled the civil-rights movement to great victories.” 

“By passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Congress acted decisively against the Jim Crow system, 
and established a national policy against discrimination based on race and sex. It is the supreme 
irony of the modern civil-rights movement that this crowning achievement was soon followed by 
the creation of a system of preferences based first on race and then extended to gender.” 

“Congress rejected the racism of America's past. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, no American 
would be subject to discrimination. And there was no question about what discrimination meant. 
Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota—the chief Senate sponsor of the legislation—stated it as 
clearly as possible: Discrimination was any "distinction in treatment given to different individuals 
because of their different race.”” 

“Discrimination of a most flagrant kind is now practiced at the federal, state, and local levels. A 
white teacher in Piscataway, New Jersey, is fired solely on account of her race. Asian students are 
denied admission to state universities to make room for students of other races with much weaker 
records. There are more than 160 federal laws, regulations, and executive orders explicitly 
requiring race- and sex-based preferences.” 

“Furthermore, the emphasis on preferences has diverted attention from the task of addressing the 
root causes of black Americans' disadvantage. The lagging educational achievement of 
disadvantaged blacks can be ameliorated not through preferences but through structural reform of 
the American elementary and secondary education system. Preferences do nothing to help develop 
the skills necessary for the economic and social advancement of the disadvantaged.” 
“Preferences attack the dignity of the preferred, and cast a pall of doubt over their competence and 
worth. Preferences send a message that those in the favored groups are deemed incapable of 
meeting the standards that others are required to meet. Simply because they are members of a 
preferred group, individuals are often deprived of the recognition and respect they have earned. 
The achievements gained through talent and hard work are attributed instead to the operation of 
the system of preferences. The abilities of the preferred are called into question not only in the eyes 
of society, but also in the eyes of the preferred themselves.” 

“The way forward in American race relations is to embrace the vision of a colorblind legal order 
that was set forth 100 years ago by Justice Harlan, pursued devotedly by the civil-rights movement, 
articulated eloquently by President Kennedy, and enshrined in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 
way to transcend our racial divisions is to first ensure that we, as a people acting through our 
government, respect every person as an individual created in the image of God and honor every 
American as an individual whose color will never be the basis for determining his opportunities.” 

Sophistication 

This author is well versed in his politics and knows the effects of the Civil Rights Act and the 
reparations the country has striven to achieve.  

Source 4: 

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This article argues that incarceration rates are disproportionate and severely affect colored 
communities. The author says that racial profiling, discrimination against the poor and the justice 
system are not race neutral, and should be reviewed by those in charge.  

Thesis 

While reasonable people may disagree about the causes of racial disparities in the
criminal justice system, all Americans should be troubled by the extent to which
incarceration has become a fixture in the life cycle of so many racial and ethnic
minorities.

Evidence and Commentary 

“Disparities in processing have been seen most prominently in the area of l​ aw enforcement​, with 
documentation of widespread racial profiling in recent years. National surveys conducted by the 
U.S. Department of Justice find that while African Americans may be subject to traffic stops by 
police at similar rates to w
​ hites​, they are three times as likely to be searched after being stopped.” 

“Evidence of racial profiling by law enforcement does not suggest by any means that all agencies or 
all officers engage in such behaviors. In fact, in recent years, many police agencies have initiated 
training and oversight measures designed to prevent and identify such practices. Nevertheless, such 
behaviors still persist to some degree and clearly thwart efforts to promote racial justice.” 

“Criminologist Ted Chiricos and colleagues found that among whites, support for harsh 
sentencing policies was correlated with the degree to which a particular crime was perceived to be a 
"black" crime.” 

“The racial effect of these laws is an outgrowth of housing patterns. Because urban areas are more 
densely populated than suburban or rural areas, city residents are much more likely to be within a 
short distance of a school than are residents of suburban or rural areas. And because African 
Americans are more likely to live in urban neighborhoods than are whites, b ​ lacks​ convicted of a 
drug offense are subject to harsher penalties than whites committing a similar offense in a 
less-populated area. A state commission analysis of a "school zone" drug law in New Jersey, for 
example, documented that 96 percent of the persons serving prison time for such offenses were 
African American or Latino.” 

“Specific policy initiatives that would support these goals include enhancing ​public health​ models 
of community-based treatment that do not rely on the criminal justice system to provide services;” 

“The federal ​crack​ c​ ocaine​ sentencing laws of the 1980s have received significant attention due to 
their highly disproportionate racial outcomes, but other policies have produced similar effects. For 
example, a number of states and the federal government have adopted "school zone" drug laws that 
penalize drug offenses that take place within a certain distance of a school more harshly than other 
drug crimes.” 

Sophistication 

The author recognizes the effects of impartial justice systems in America on colored communities. 
They further acknowledge that others have different views and opinions on this matter, but that it 
is a prominent occurrence in our country.  

Conclusion 

In conclusion, I believe that according to the rubric, the last article articulated the most effective 
argument by bringing in multiple pieces of evidence from different sources. Further, the author of 
the last article made a strong, defensible claim but also acknowledged other perspectives on the 
matter.