Why Does Racism Still Exist
Racism is one of the most important and one of the most widely discussed topics around the world. The reason for this is that it happens in all different ways and severity. Racism is defined as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior” and because of this it is used by many as a form of fear and is seen as a way to gain dominance and is seen in many big events such as in World War II when the Nazis killed a bunch of different minorities, specifically the Jews. Racism is experienced in different severities depending on the situation and location because in a lot of areas different color skin is seen as a bad thing and most of the time because it is different and people are scared of what they are unsure of. Racism seems to be something that is started over time
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because no one is born and automatically hates a certain color of people and by acknowledging that this is true it would seem that the situation that one has been raised in has more of an effect on your thought process rather than through your experiences with this type of people. Racism is also affected by people stereotyping such as: Whites being crooked, Asians being sneaky, and African-Americans being criminals.
Whether or not it is realized or not, thoughts such as these do not help lead people out of this racist thoughts but continue to help spread racism and make it an even bigger problem than it was before. A big misconception is that racism is only seen by the lower classes and that more underdeveloped countries have these problems, but this isn’t that case at all. Racism does happen in under-developed areas such as in Zimbabwe, where there has been increasing racial tension because of a lack of money and land so the poor black farmers are blaming the white farmers for this and are racist to them, but racism is also seen in well-developed areas that you might not ever suspect such as until recently, in South Africa, there was a separation of Europeans and Africans called the Aparthied. Even in well off and racially diverse cities there is racism, such as in Paris, where a period of violence against African farm workers in southern Italy left some 70 farmers injured. This ended up causing police to evacuate over 300 workers from the region. The workers were easy targets because they were
poor fruit gatherers that couldn’t really stand up against attacks that were done to them. Racism is seen a lot in the field of work such as some Northern American countries trying to get in a cheaper foreign labor force but then causing racial tensions because of shortages of work once the current labor force is dropped to make room for the new and cheaper foreign labor force. Article one talks more about different examples of racism and how racism is seen in different countries and how all racism isn’t just the same two types of people, but how in America it might be the Whites versus the Blacks, but in Asia it could be two people of the same skin color such as the Malaysians disliking the Chinese and showing racism toward them such as limiting the highest level of education that a Chinese man can acquire. Some systems have even seemed to be built around racism such as the Caste System in India which is literally to put people in different classes making some people, according to the system, better than others and even though this type of thinking isn’t as popular anymore since the Caste System was stopped, there are still many people that look down on others because of what caste they might have been and how wealthy they are. The second article gives you a look through the eyes of someone who is on the negative side of racism and how they feel when they are labeled as their stereotype. The problem with racism is also that if one some people of a certain color or race follows the stereotype then it just makes other people assume that everyone of that race is just the same and they’re all as bad as the one. This is seen specifically by a twenty-three year old black male in the streets of Chicago. This man was a graduate student attending the University of Chicago and enjoyed walking through the streets at night and by doing this he saw the way people looked at him just because of his color whether it be some girl who thinks she’s in some serious trouble or a mom at waiting at a crosswalk who locks her door and stares as he walks by their car. In reality, this man could barely take a knife to cut open a chicken, let alone hold one to some ones throat and take something from them. What people don’t realize is that by labeling people by these stereotypes they cause problems with the people they’re stereotyping against and can even make these people prejudice against the ones stereotyping them. This man from Chicago had always been around people that did follow the stereotype and because of this it also caused problems with the people that didn’t such as in the 60’s or 70’s this man was working as a journalist for a nearby Newspaper agency when one day he was rushing into the office of a magazine with a deadline story in hand, was mistaken for a burglar. The office manager called security and, with an ad hoc posse pursued him through the labyrinthine halls, nearly to his editor’s door. He had no way of proving who he was. He could only move briskly toward the company of someone who knew him so that they could vouch for him and let security know not to throw him out. On another separate occasion, he was killing time before an interview when he walked in a jewelry store to look around and as soon as he started to look the lady went back to the back and brought out a Doberman pinscher. Things like this are not seen very often to the majority, but to the few that are stereotyped these types of situations are seen every day. Brent Staples “Just Walk on By” was an article that used first person analysis to draw in readers using real life examples of what it is like living in discrimination in today’s world. Staples gives plenty of examples of racism like “Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny. It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” (Staples,1) This is in reference to the man just walking down the street and how he feels when people label him as something he is not. The other article “Racism” by Anup Shah focus more on world incidents and numbers. Shah uses more examples from around the world such as, “In 2008, a study found that Australians in general are welcoming of diversity but some 1 in 10 Australians still hold racist views — a ratio likely to be less than in some European countries, but still high the lead researcher noted. Muslims were most feared or loathed for “not belonging”, and followed by indigenous Australians and Africans.” (Shah,1). Article one and two both seem to have the same focus on drawing attention to the topic by using real life examples whether by first or third person.
The one problem with racism is that there is no one way to stop it because it happens in so many different ways and places. Honestly, racism will probably always exist to some extent because there will always be someone who looks down on someone else because of their color, or in other cases they are just scared because of what they’re not sure and when people are scared they are more likely to have negative reactions toward whatever is stimulating this response. Another big reason people seem to stereotype is based on appearance. It seems that here in the United States, for example, that racism seems to be mainly white versus black. Most of the time people are viewed by the way they carry themselves and not their skin color, such as seeing a black with sagging pants and a tattoos might draw more fear than one who is wearing a polo and a pair of jeans. The one true way to stop racism is to just stop talking about and let the world run its course because by always bringing up the topic of racism we can never truly stop it because it can never be stopped and forgotten. If racism is to be stopped for good it will take years of “forgiving and forgetting” to end it.
because no one is born and automatically hates a certain color of people and by acknowledging that this is true it would seem that the situation that one has been raised in has more of an effect on your thought process rather than through your experiences with this type of people. Racism is also affected by people stereotyping such as: Whites being crooked, Asians being sneaky, and African-Americans being criminals.
Whether or not it is realized or not, thoughts such as these do not help lead people out of this racist thoughts but continue to help spread racism and make it an even bigger problem than it was before. A big misconception is that racism is only seen by the lower classes and that more underdeveloped countries have these problems, but this isn’t that case at all. Racism does happen in under-developed areas such as in Zimbabwe, where there has been increasing racial tension because of a lack of money and land so the poor black farmers are blaming the white farmers for this and are racist to them, but racism is also seen in well-developed areas that you might not ever suspect such as until recently, in South Africa, there was a separation of Europeans and Africans called the Aparthied. Even in well off and racially diverse cities there is racism, such as in Paris, where a period of violence against African farm workers in southern Italy left some 70 farmers injured. This ended up causing police to evacuate over 300 workers from the region. The workers were easy targets because they were
poor fruit gatherers that couldn’t really stand up against attacks that were done to them. Racism is seen a lot in the field of work such as some Northern American countries trying to get in a cheaper foreign labor force but then causing racial tensions because of shortages of work once the current labor force is dropped to make room for the new and cheaper foreign labor force. Article one talks more about different examples of racism and how racism is seen in different countries and how all racism isn’t just the same two types of people, but how in America it might be the Whites versus the Blacks, but in Asia it could be two people of the same skin color such as the Malaysians disliking the Chinese and showing racism toward them such as limiting the highest level of education that a Chinese man can acquire. Some systems have even seemed to be built around racism such as the Caste System in India which is literally to put people in different classes making some people, according to the system, better than others and even though this type of thinking isn’t as popular anymore since the Caste System was stopped, there are still many people that look down on others because of what caste they might have been and how wealthy they are. The second article gives you a look through the eyes of someone who is on the negative side of racism and how they feel when they are labeled as their stereotype. The problem with racism is also that if one some people of a certain color or race follows the stereotype then it just makes other people assume that everyone of that race is just the same and they’re all as bad as the one. This is seen specifically by a twenty-three year old black male in the streets of Chicago. This man was a graduate student attending the University of Chicago and enjoyed walking through the streets at night and by doing this he saw the way people looked at him just because of his color whether it be some girl who thinks she’s in some serious trouble or a mom at waiting at a crosswalk who locks her door and stares as he walks by their car. In reality, this man could barely take a knife to cut open a chicken, let alone hold one to some ones throat and take something from them. What people don’t realize is that by labeling people by these stereotypes they cause problems with the people they’re stereotyping against and can even make these people prejudice against the ones stereotyping them. This man from Chicago had always been around people that did follow the stereotype and because of this it also caused problems with the people that didn’t such as in the 60’s or 70’s this man was working as a journalist for a nearby Newspaper agency when one day he was rushing into the office of a magazine with a deadline story in hand, was mistaken for a burglar. The office manager called security and, with an ad hoc posse pursued him through the labyrinthine halls, nearly to his editor’s door. He had no way of proving who he was. He could only move briskly toward the company of someone who knew him so that they could vouch for him and let security know not to throw him out. On another separate occasion, he was killing time before an interview when he walked in a jewelry store to look around and as soon as he started to look the lady went back to the back and brought out a Doberman pinscher. Things like this are not seen very often to the majority, but to the few that are stereotyped these types of situations are seen every day. Brent Staples “Just Walk on By” was an article that used first person analysis to draw in readers using real life examples of what it is like living in discrimination in today’s world. Staples gives plenty of examples of racism like “Her flight made me feel like an accomplice in tyranny. It also made it clear that I was indistinguishable from the muggers who occasionally seeped into the area from the surrounding ghetto.” (Staples,1) This is in reference to the man just walking down the street and how he feels when people label him as something he is not. The other article “Racism” by Anup Shah focus more on world incidents and numbers. Shah uses more examples from around the world such as, “In 2008, a study found that Australians in general are welcoming of diversity but some 1 in 10 Australians still hold racist views — a ratio likely to be less than in some European countries, but still high the lead researcher noted. Muslims were most feared or loathed for “not belonging”, and followed by indigenous Australians and Africans.” (Shah,1). Article one and two both seem to have the same focus on drawing attention to the topic by using real life examples whether by first or third person.
The one problem with racism is that there is no one way to stop it because it happens in so many different ways and places. Honestly, racism will probably always exist to some extent because there will always be someone who looks down on someone else because of their color, or in other cases they are just scared because of what they’re not sure and when people are scared they are more likely to have negative reactions toward whatever is stimulating this response. Another big reason people seem to stereotype is based on appearance. It seems that here in the United States, for example, that racism seems to be mainly white versus black. Most of the time people are viewed by the way they carry themselves and not their skin color, such as seeing a black with sagging pants and a tattoos might draw more fear than one who is wearing a polo and a pair of jeans. The one true way to stop racism is to just stop talking about and let the world run its course because by always bringing up the topic of racism we can never truly stop it because it can never be stopped and forgotten. If racism is to be stopped for good it will take years of “forgiving and forgetting” to end it.