Arguments Against Racism Essay

Racism is a hot topic all over the world, but what really is racism? Miriam-Webster defines racism as “poor treatment of or violence against people because of their race; the belief that some races of people are better than others.” In more colloquial language, racism is discriminating anyone because of their race and or ethnic background. Racism is all around us, and racism will be prevalent until the end of time. The idea of racism developed from “xenophobia,” which is the fear of foreign peoples. Many people want to believe that being racist is hereditary, that some humans are born hating other races, but I assure you that this is a false assumption. According to African American writer Alex Haley, “Racism is taught in our society,
it is not automatic. It is learned behavior toward persons with dissimilar physical characteristics.” Imagine you are arrive at a concert and the crowd is separated into two groups, blue eyed people and brown eyed people.
You are in the blue eyed group and you get placed in the back of the concert, you are not given any concessions, and you are treated rudely. The other group, the people with brown eyes, get front row seats, free food, and are treated with the utmost respect. You would think to yourself “This is crazy, they are discriminating against me because of my eyes; I can’t control that.” Well, racism is the same exact thing. Racists discriminate against people based on their skin color, something they cannot control. The chemical melanin is responsible for eye color along with skin color. How can anyone discriminate against a person because that person has more of a certain chemical in his body? An example of racism occurred in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man. She was arrested for her non-compliance and her arrest sparked controversy all over America. Parks' protest inspired 42,000 African American citizens to boycott the Montgomery city buses for nearly a year. Rosa Parks insightfully said, “Racism is still with us. But it is up to us to prepare our children for what they have to meet, and, hopefully, we shall
overcome.” One important feature of racism, especially toward Blacks and immigrant groups, is that they were once slaves. Racism can be compared to the way anti-Semites hate Jews. “Anti-Semites view Jews as subhuman but also superhuman: devilishly cunning, skilled, and powerful.” Blacks and other races are seen by racists as merely subhuman, more like animals than men such as themselves. If the focus of anti-Semitism is the attempt to be purely evil, the focus of racism is to express superiority over “inferior races.”