Racism

Racism
The reality of living in a perfect world is a statement that is far from the truth. Although many of us would like to believe that everyone lives equal lives, is treated respectfully, and has equal rights, it is clear that these aspects are not consistently present in today's society. We live in a diverse world that is separated by race, orientation and gender. A world where the media defines what makes a person “normal” and what types of people are secluded from society because of what they believe in and what they look like. In the eyes of God we are seen as a unique creature with our own individuality, however, to others, the sense of being different is often viewed in a negative way. Racism occurs every day in school, workplaces and in the community through actions and voice, intentionally and unintentionally. It has the ability to lower a person's self-esteem; often to the point where they may feel that life is no longer worth living. Racism could be eliminated if acceptance and equality were present and practiced in our world today.
Racism, which can be considered any action or attitude conscious or unconscious, that subordinates an individual or group based on skin color, or race, is an action that takes three steps to complete. A racist action consists of a prejudgment or negative opinion about a group or person. It is a stereotype or “set image” that is usually based on false information. The last step of racism is discrimination. Discrimination combines prejudice and stereotype together to create an offensive action that has the “effect of limiting opportunities of certain individuals or groups because of personal characteristics such as race or color.”
All humans belong to the same species, live in the same world and were created equally by God. We were all born with dignity and rights and have the potential to attain a high level of intellectual, social, economic and cultural development. We are all unique individuals that contribute to the world that we live in. Unfortunately, culture, skin color and beliefs have a way of breaking the knot that holds us as humans together. Even in the 21st century, where we have become much more sophisticated individuals, the word racism is not a new word in our vocabulary. Discrimination has been around forever.
When walking through a high school cafeteria you can often see the division between ethnicity. There are Black people sitting at one table, Asians at another, Polish on one side, Spanish at the other with Caucasians in the middle. Why is it that we choose to sit with people are in our eyes are mostly like us? Why is it that we would most likely become friends with someone of our own race? Dependent upon the way you are raised, a Black person and a White person may have very compatible personalities, but since they look different from each other, they may never get the chance to figure that out. For example, an Asian girl was brought up in a home where it was she was only allowed to date people of her own ethnicity. Her parents, being racist believed that her boyfriend was “dirty” because he was Mexican. At first the racist views of her parents had no impact on her relationship, but after constant negative expressions were made by her parents, she felt as if she needed to end her relationship. In most cases, the Black and White person does not become friends not because they don't respect each other because of their color differences. Instead, there is an unintentional force that keeps these two people from getting to know each other.
Racism pretty much happens just about everywhere in public just like in the story, “The Train from Hate,” how the conductor kicked the colored family off the train instead of leading them to the coach for African Americans. That’s just plan out wrong, why does someone have to kick someone off for the color of their skin? For a simple misunderstanding of the coaches on the train, someone has to kick them off. It shouldn’t matter what color someone’s skin is in order to ride a train, even if they had no choice to get on the train where it sopped and it so happened to be where the white people are. There is no reason for someone to kick them off. Just like in the song “Black and White” by Michael Jackson, someone shouldn’t judge their friends or who they date because of their skin color. In the song, Michael Jackson says if you are talking about being my baby or my brother it doesn’t matter if you are black or white. Simply saying that if someone wants to date him or be his brother he doesn’t care if you are black and white. This is how everyone should be because it doesn’t matter what is on the outside, it matters what is on the inside. Just like with a book, you can’t judge a book by its cover.
When you walk down the street, do you ever catch yourself staring at people or watching your belongings more closely when a certain race walks by? For example, when a White man walks past a White woman on the street, she usually doesn't feel threatened. When a Black man walks past a White woman, they often walk faster, hold their purse tighter and grasp onto the man beside them. The bible teaches us that “our relationship with our neighbors are recognized as personal in character, the neighbor is not a “unit” in the human collective; he is “someone” who by his known origin deserves particular attention.” (The Bible) If we were to practice the bibles lessons, this type of reaction to walking past a Black man would not be present. Moreover, racism in the community often leads to violence and “gang” fights. In today's society, it is not uncommon to hear about or see two groups of teenagers fighting in the streets. In addition to the physical part of the fight, you often hear racist remarks that are intended to anger and hurt others. Hate against races in communities is often sparked by the media. We live in a technological advanced era where the average person owns at least one TV and one computer and believes everything that they see and read on them. Many people use these resources as a source of information. Thus, when you see discrimination in movies, most accept that as being an unimportant reality, and that racism should just be accepted as something that occurs.
Being racist is an action that is often very easy to do. The most common type of racism is “racial name calling and put downs that are directed at a particular ethnic group.” Any type of racism can leave a person feeling pain, anger, shame, hostility, guilt and embarrassment. How does someone feel gratitude and pleasure from causing someone to go through racist tormenting? The saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me,” is a common phrase that is used by children. Children are taught at a young age to be unaffected from hurtful words that are directed towards them. The seriousness of racial words and phrases breaks the “sticks and stones” saying. Although they are just “words” the meaning behind them are hateful and destructive.
Racism can also occur through actions. “A Persian man was stereotyped for being Arab. He was called Osama and was kicked out of the store.” Racial actions such as this one occur because of the ignorance that we as humans have. Today, most people are prejudice towards Muslims because of the actions that a group of Muslims decided to partake in. Ever since 9/11, anyone that looks Arab is stereotyped as a terrorist. Similarly, when a person walks down the street and sees someone with a bandana around their head and pants down by their knees they automatically assume that they are part of a gang and are out to cause trouble. This is the prejudice that society has because of the media and the actions that one person does which causes a generalization of everyone that looks and acts that way.
Ending racism is not a simple task. Someone can see that just in this short essay, many unanswered questions have arisen. It is very hard to stop racism when it is so hard to understand the rationality behind it. Racism takes the hard work and dedication of a person to take the stand and act out. One way to eliminate racism is to stop being a bystander. When someone is witnessing a person being discriminated against, their initial reaction is to stand on the side lines and watch. This action of being a bystander makes the situation worse. When a bully sees a crowd forming they get a sense of satisfaction and continue to insult their victim. By acting out and standing your ground you are showing the bully that he/she doesn't have authority. When people are with their friends they often use racist words and phrases that are meant to be humorous and descriptive about certain occurrences.
With all of the negative impacts of racism, it is hard to understand why it has not been eliminated from our society. One person alone cannot put an end to racism; it would take the commitment of everyone in the world. Racism happens in many situations every day through actions and voice. A racist action has the ability of lowering a person’s self-esteem and making one feel as if they have been stripped of their dignity. Putting an end to racism is like making soup. In order to make soup a variety of ingredients are needed. The ingredients, representing people, on their own would not be able to end racism or make a good pot of soup. Once all of the ingredients are put into the pot and have mixed together, a powerful and fulfilling bowl of soup can be enjoyed. This group of committed and dedicated people is large enough to stand up to racism. If we as humans could open our eyes to other races and see the person that they are on the inside and stop judging them on color, our world would be one step closer to perfect.