Is race still an issue in the US today? (essay plan)

‘Race equality in the USA remains a distant dream.’ Discuss

How is this still relevant? On the 50^th anniversary of the civil rights movements march in Selma, Obama delivered a speech declaring that racial inequality still remains a strong issue in the US and that it continues to “cast its long shadow upon” America. NYTimes article on whether race still matters today.

This is merely a rough plan and some points need some more work, I'm a bit skeptical about the Birther Movement paragraph since they have pretty much declined (though they are targeting Ted Cruz now) and are no longer as active as they used to be during the first few years of Obama's Presidency. 

Race equality is still an issue	No longer an issue	Conclusion
CONGRESS IS UNREPRESENTATIVE. The very unrepresentative nature of Congress emphasises the extent to which racial divisions continue to exist. Ethnic minorities make up 36% of the US population yet Congress (114th) fails to reflect this with only 46 African Americans, 32 Hispanics, 11 Asians and 2 (17% total). Unrepresentative Congress leads to unrepresentative policies.	However, the role of members of Congress is to represent constituents not a specific race and thus, Congress is not required to ‘look like America.’ Also, in the 1970s there were only 10 African-American Congressmen but today the situation is improving and the fact there are a lot of ethnic minorities in Congress emphasises the more favourable circumstances today. A black president, something that was thought to be impossible, evidently illustrates that the US is not racist. 114th Congress is the most diverse ever.	Regardless, representation is not only poor in Congress but also state legislatures and as a result, unrepresentative and discriminatory legislation has been created.
RACIALLY MOTIVATED LAWS. As a result of Shelby County v. Holder (2013) states have imposed voter ID laws, which have in a sense excluded many racial minorities from the electorate. Minorities are less likely to be able to afford such IDs in the form of drivers licenses, etc and are thus, unable to vote. Also, Alabama HB 56 and Arizona SB 1070 are used to specifically target immigrants and gives authorities power to target minorities with ‘reasonable suspicion.’	However, former Attorney-General Eric Holder and the Justice Department sought to end such discriminatory voting practices via voter ID laws and have to a certain extent been successful through a Supreme Court case (US v. Arizona 2012) in abolishing certain sections (3, 5(C) and 6) of SB 1070.	Such discriminatory laws cannot be eradicated with a simple stroke of pen, the executive branch can do very little to reverse state laws as seen from the fact that Arizona SB 1070 is still standing.
POLICE BRUTALITY. Recently the media has been dominated by incidents whereby the police force have used excessive force against minorities such as the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner in New York and Freddie Gray in Maryland. Such incidents arguably happened as a result of the police force being institutionally racist (e.g. Ferguson PD has around 2 black cops).	Arguably these incidents have been manipulated by the media to portray the police as being institutionally racist. In reality this is not the case and many police forces are ethnically diverse (NYPD is 53.3%). Also, the Obama administration have tackled the issue of police brutality through the introduction of body cameras which some police forces (like Ferguson) have already begun to use.	However, even the NYPD – though it’s ethnically diverse – minorities do bad and fail to reach the high ranks as seen by the fact that only 76 are Captains compared to there being 356 white captains. Fact the killings sparked riots and demonstrations on the issue of race further illustrates that racial minorities have a perception of discrimination.
BIRTHER MOVEMENT. Birther’s question the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate, making claims he was not born on US soil and his presidency is thus, unconstitutional. Although they say they believe Obama was born elsewhere, the underlying issue is his race. Such a movement would not happen if the President were white. The GOP have also greatly expressed doubt about Obama’s place of birth. Birther’s now targeting Ted Cruz (half Cuban), racial element.	Birther’s remain a small and not a very influential organisation, most Congressmen and the US population are accepting of the fact that Obama was born in the USA.	However, though not very influential and weak the fact they continue to campaign and have swayed many GOP members of Congress demonstrates race remains a very political issue and so, continues to exist today.
EMPLOYMENT. Ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans, continue to lag behind the white population in employment. Employers are well known to be discriminatory towards minorities despite them possessing the necessary qualifications. As a result of this unemployment in the poorest districts populated by ethnic minorities can reach as high as 50% in New York and Chicago (2 of the wealthiest cities). 2010 census found that unemployment rates for Asians were 7.5%, 12.5% for Hispanics and 16% for Blacks.	However, the number of minorities in employment is actually increasing greatly which has been aided by the creation of greater racial equality, such as through Affirmative Action. The number of African-Americans in white collar jobs is now over 70% compared to 15% in the 1970s.	Despite the situation improving, certain racial minority groups are the largest unemployed groups in the country and this has consequently resulted in huge wealth gaps between African American and white families, from $85k in 1984 to $236k in 2009, illustrating how it is getting worse as time goes on (The Roots of the Widening Racial Wealth Gap report by Brandeis University) another reason there is high unemployment is due to poor attainment in schools, which brings us to Affirmative Action.