Racial diversity in America has a long and varied history. Here, Jennifer Dawson considers key aspects of diversity and race in American history.
Asa Philip Randolph in the 1940s.
A big part of diversity concerns the reflection of a society’s ethnic makeup in all walks of life - media, work, and more. Even small pieces of progress are important - USA Today highlighted the positive reception to the news that, in 2021, TV looked more representative than it ever had before. However, despite the push towards promoting diversity and equality in society, America has arguably had - and has - a very fractured relationship with the concept. A country forever balancing political reality and moral principle, America has made progress difficult.
Always diverse
America is one of the youngest major countries in the world, and, from the very start, it has been a relatively diverse country. Modern America is a country created from immigrants from every corner of the globe, even if the English Anglo-culture became dominant. Today, data is collected on diversity; according to data experts, this helps businesses and legislators to ensure that laws and regulations are being adhered to. Despite this, the act of collecting diversity data has not always been easy - and has, arguably, been political. As Pew Research highlights, it was only in the 1960s that individuals could self-declare race, and that only thanks to the civil rights movement. Prior to that, race was assigned by officials, and sometimes incorrectly or unfairly. Collusion between officials and racist groups had, of course, been common for many years.
The Ku Klux Klan
While the civil rights movement and other societal efforts pushed government and state authorities to give greater recognition and rights to minorities, pushback came from racist groups - and often, they were aided by the state. The LA Times highlights the now notorious Freedom Riders attacks, where police and FBI worked with the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) and allowed them to attack non-violent protests. This collusion had been a hard aspect to break down in civil rights movements, and despite progress, is relevant even today.
Finding figureheads
Despite the odds stacked against them, proponents of the civil rights movement the world over have effected real change. Nelson Mandela overcame incredible odds to push back and upend the order in South Africa. Martin Luther King, Jr. set the path forward before his assassination; the likes of Muhammad Ali and Asa Philip Randolph bedding it in. However, the past decade has in some ways seen a worsening in conditions that have started to bring about new calls for change. BLM, a movement prior to the George Floyd murder, has shown that. Indeed, WBUR highlights how the Derek Chauvin trial featured a racist defense team, who relied on tropes and stereotypes to defend their ultimately guilty client.
What this has shown is that racism is still alive in the USA. Diversity has come far; what you can now see on TV and in the workplace is evidence of that. Unfortunately, it still appears that many of these gains are conditional, and feel like they could be upended at any moment. More progress is needed to fully awake the American social climate.
