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African Americans During The United States

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African Americans in the United States have been oppressed for many years. The continuous oppression and negative attitudes towards African Americans has caused an ongoing ethnic conflict. African Americans in the United States are facing injustices in all aspects of life, socially, economically, and politically. Although the conflict involving African Americans in the United States may not be as severe as other ethnic conflicts occurring around the world, it is still a very important ethnic conflict to address. In a study conducted by Givens and Monahan (2009), “participants associated the African American women interviewee more quickly with negative worlds, where as the white interviewee was more quickly associated with positive ones” …show more content…

In order for conflict to be resolved both sides must understand one another’s concerns and be willing to compromise, thus understanding is the first step to resolution. According to Varshney (2001), “promoting communication between members of different religious communities, civic networks often make neighborhood-level peace possible. Routine engagement allows people to come together and form organizations in times of tension” (p. 375). Additionally, the Varshney (2001) article states that if institutions are created that cater to the cultural, economic, and social needs of both sides then the support for peace in the community become strong. Getting people to try to see eye to eye and co-exist without conflict is a great solution to ethnic conflict. According to constructivists ethnicity and in turn ethnic conflict is what people make of it and that race can be made and erased. According to this idea, resolution can come from getting people to see ethnicity and ethnic conflict differently by promoting communication. In order to be able to integrate and socialize the communities, the hostile attitude toward African Americans must be addressed. According to the Kaufman (2006) article, “to address these problems is to promote not just peace, but reconciliation, addressing the emotional foundations of hostile political attitudes and their symbolic expression, to help stabilize peace” (p. 202). If reconciliation is achieved then integrating the community will be a

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