Rim MekonnenRacism in the 21st century1. Throughout U.S. history, white people have dominated society by passing laws limiting the power of minorities such as Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans. For hundreds of years, white people have controlled minorities using laws and mind games to ensure that those minorities never threatened their control. In the 1950s and 1960s, Congress passed laws to protect the civil rights of minorities, such as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited discrimination based on "race, color, or religion" in the job market. . Although many people would say that racism ended decades ago, in the Indiana Law Journal's "Piercing the Brilliant Veil: Two Stories of American Racism," Deborah Jones Merritt argues that there are two stories of racism in our society.2. Deborah Jones Merritt believes that there are two stories of racism in society. One is where racism has been eradicated and minorities are in high positions. In the other, minorities live in poverty, have higher rates of imprisonment and are less likely to find employment than their white counterparts with identical qualifications. The preceding story shows the disadvantages that minorities face both in schools and in society, where whites are more likely to receive financial and academic aid. The author believes that both stories are true: the first demonstrates America's commitment to social reform while the second shows the existence of racial discrimination in which minority children grow up. These stories are significant because the existence of positive action where there is no racism hurts. both whites and minorities, but on the other hand, affirmative action recognizes the fact that whites receive better...... middle of paper...... more comfortable to work with other minorities than with whites.5. Because of my experiences as a minority, I believe Merritt described the difficulties many minorities face in the United States even today. It showed that minorities are treated differently in the labor market, in the education system and in the health system. At school, minority children face opposition and discrimination, which builds over the years and reinforces their feelings of inferiority over the years. The perfect solution suggested by the author is using affirmative action programs to recognize the difficulties minority students face and allowing white students to interact with them and learn more about them. Eradicating affirmative action would allow white students to attribute their preference for white lab partners, for example, to the lack of competence of African-American students..