Racism And Stereotypes In Today's Society

Main Title: Racism/Stereotypes in Today’s Society

Abstract When we think of racism or stereotyping, we automatically think that it has to do with Whites and Blacks and how racism is dealt with as well as socialized. We base this thinking from history that is taught to us in our classrooms or by our parents. In today’s society, we experience racism in every race such as Latinos, American Indians, and Asian Pacific in which it divides people into categories whom share the same traits and/or same characteristics. Racism arises from people that may have been raised a certain way in their households or have grown with them based off of tragic events that have taken place in our society over the years. Stereotyping consists of thoughts
that are adopted about a certain individual whether it’s something that has effected our society in a negative or positive way, or the individuals way of doing things.
Over the course of history, racism and many of these stereotypes have shaped our society through events that have taken place and has reflected on how it has affected our society as a whole.
Slavery and equality at heart is some of the core factors that helped built America in terms of a dark idea and one that was eventually abolished and made African-American’s along with others of color lives a living nightmare for centuries. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 required that African Americans were guaranteed equal treatment in public accommodations, public transportation and exclusion from jury services. Was this a fair trade for the two-hundred and fifty years of slavery? The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was deemed “unconstitutional” by the United States Supreme Court in 1883. Then in 1876, the “Jim Crow Laws” were enacted as a way to keep African-Americans inferior to white Americans in the United States. In many ways, whites benefited from these (separate but equal) laws, but blacks did not feel the joy in being segregated in every aspect of
society. Schools, jobs, places of recreation and housing were all made exclusive to whites in a majority of the nation due to these laws. From all of the years into the heart of the 20th century in America, white-Americans had the best advantages over any other ethnicity. 1964 was the year America felt that it was ready to enact and approve the “Civil Rights Act of 1964”. In a very beneficial way, this was justice being done for the African-American community and anyone of color in America. As the years went on, society was able to adapt to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and now people live equally amongst each other without exclusion of another individual. The social norms that have been adapted because of the origins have slavery are seen in our everyday lives now. From the dark times of slavery and into the 1960s with segregation, life now for anyone of a different ethnic background has become largely improved and a new minimum for the survival of society. On the other hand, with the number of tragic events that have taken place till date that involves race and stereotyping, sadly racism still exists today.
The United States of America has had a lot of capable examples when it holds regard to racism and stereotyping.
One example that automatically comes to mind when discussing this topic is September 11th, 2001. I remember having breakfast one morning and while watching the news with my parents, I saw two burning buildings and bloody faces running alongside terrified commuters in the streets of Manhattan, New York. An act of terrorism brought out the worst in mankind, but also brought out the very best in a lot of people not just from America, but from around the world who had sent many good thoughts and prayers to those affected by this tragedy. Firefighters and other law enforcement agencies from around the nation raced to New York City to help in any possible way they could to first-responders and those in dire-need to get back on their feet again. In a foreseeable reaction, much anger was also spewed because of this tragedy. Whether it was the bombing of the Afghan mountains in hopes of suppressing Taliban forces responsible the for September 11th terrorist attacks or the hate crimes done in America on people who weren’t even of the Islamic-faith, but looked similar to an ignorant-minded individual. The hate transitioned to individuals who thought the rest of society would benefit off of their actions of terrorizing innocent people who looked a certain way. From this tragic event, people who are Middle Eastern are being pointed at and called racist remarks such as “Osama
Bin Laden is your uncle?”. The terrorists that crashed the plane into the Twin Towers does not determine who every person of brown skin color is or how we should judge their character. Many families and friends were killed in this horrific act and it is understandable that majority of America was upset, however, people should not be mean and call racist remarks towards innocent people. This is the most current example that holds high regard in my mind with America in the last decade that reflects racism and stereotyping.
It seems as our social norms have become accustomed to living alongside people of different ethnic backgrounds, morals tend to be an obstacle that interferes with a peaceful environment. In reference to my earlier remarks on American society after September 11th and the hate crimes as effect of that terrible day, it seems as if society has a tough time to find its place in the moral ladder as to what may help uneducated people understand what might be the difference between a Muslim and Sikh for example. There have been twenty-three recorded events of hate crimes on Sikh-Americans due to the appearance of a beard, turban and brown-skin which confuses ignorant-minded people with their relation to the Islamic-faith. The worst case was in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on August 5th, 2012 when a gunman entered a Sikh Gurdwara (Temple) and shot ten people, killing six and wounding four including a Police Chief John Edwards. The male victims that were shot all wore a turban which is apart of the Sikh faith. This faith is apart of the Sikh culture and innocent people are being killed by racist people that do not understand that every religion is different and it does not harm anyone. When this event took place, the cast did not air this on television anymore than a day which upset the Sikh community. Just like 9/11, many family members and friends died, and it should have been brought to attention just like every other event. The news airs issues that arise more than days at a time, and all these issues mostly involve Whites. Thus events that are discussed in the media involve racism.
I believe that our society needs to be better educated on racism and display how there are different components to it aside from just Blacks and Whites. America only knows of racism based on history, but we need to recognize that it takes place amongst other minority groups as well. The reminder is that people, no matter what their background may be will always have the same human characteristics of morality, justice, conscience and virtues. With society, the common stereotype is that we are all out to help only ourselves and people will continue to be ignorant to understand that we cannot judge everyone to be the same because of other’s mistakes. I learned that we take Caucasians as the more dominant group and how people of color form opinions of themselves and their culture. We see Caucasians as being privileged in our society and having more opportunities whether it is getting into a University or within employment. People in our society should expose themselves to different races and cultures with an open mind to prevent further ignorance spreading throughout our society.

References

O 'Brien, Brendan. "Wisconsin Shooting: 7 People Killed At Sikh Temple, Including Shooter (LIVE UPDATES)." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. . PBS . "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow . Jim Crow Stories . Civil Rights Act of 1875 Overturned | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013. .