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Lonnie Fitch April 21, 2013 Charles Dickinson Racial and Ethnic Relations

Growing up my father always talked to me about how important it was to have a relationship with God. I can remember growing up and going to church; seeing the images of God and Jesus and thinking they look just like me. Born and raised in Idaho I was not accustomed to seeing others that didnt look like me. As I grew up and started going to school as well as having cousins that were adopted from South Korea, I realized that the images of Jesus and God still looked like me and no one else. During my school career at CWI I have taken many classes. One of the many classes was an art history class where we talked about the term anthropomorphism. In the history of religion, anthropomorphism refers to the depiction of God in a human image, with human bodily form and emotions, such as jealousy, wrath, or love (mb-soft.com, 2013). During our class we talked about how the Greeks made their gods look like them. They carved their statues and painted their portraits (which were very few) in the images that best fit their ideal image. With the very few paintings that were shown in the text of my book the images were white people that could afford for someone to paint them. Anthropomorphic representations of the gods invariably reveal more about the human beings who make them than they reveal about the divine (mb-soft.com, 2013). Coloring Jesus white is only one aspect of institutional racism. Even with the official ending of segregation, our cities are still segregated. Most African-American public housing

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residents continue to live in disproportionately minority neighborhoods, while white public housing residents usually live in predominantly white neighborhoods (academic.udayton.edu, 2013). The segregated communities are not only separated by color but many, if not all, are separated by funding. White communities usually have higher income. The more money a subdivision has the more money a school has. Most minorities and students in depressed urban areas do not have access to desktop computers, let alone, laptops and mobile devices such as IPad, IPhone, or IPod (usaonrace.com, 2013). The educational opportunities provided by the different extremes can have dire consequences for the outcomes of each minority group. Most jobs require a minimum of a high school diploma, but even when a minority receives a diploma the wage gap is dramatically different from white person. According to Census data, whites with high school diplomas, college degrees or Master's Degrees all earn approximately twenty percent more than their black counterparts. Even more striking, whites with professional degrees (such as medicine or law) earn, on average, thirty-one percent more than similar blacks and fifty-two percent more than similar Latinos (academic.udayton.edu, 2013). It is clear that America was built on the backs of those we think unworthy of the American dream. The term "institutional racism" describes societal patterns that have the net effect of imposing oppressive or otherwise negative conditions against identifiable groups on the basis of race or ethnicity (civilliberty.about.com, 2013). We have made many mistakes in our country but have also made great strides in our trying to correct those mistakes. Even though we have a long way to go every step begins with one person.

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Works Cited "Anthropomorphism." Public Services Home Page. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2013. <http://mbsoft.com/believe/txn/anthropo.htm>. Category. "Institutional Racism - Definition of the term "institutional racism"." Civil Liberties at About.com - Your Guide to Civil Liberties News and Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://civilliberty.about.com/od/raceequalopportunity/g/inst_racism.htm>. "Institutional Racism in America." autoredirect to main site. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://academic.udayton.edu/race/2008electionandracism/raceandracism/RaceandRacis m.htm>. "It Is Time For America To Address Institutionalized Racism In Education | Race and Ethnic Relations | USA on Race." Articles about race and ethnicity | Race relations & racial tension | USAonRace. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2013. <http://www.usaonrace.com/blogzone/cause-and-civility/it-time-america-address-institutionalized-racism-education>.