When you hear the word Racism, what do you think? Personally, racism to me is the same as ignorance. We don’t need it and there is no reason for it. In today’s society there is so much diversity, so may kinds and types of races. The ones that comet mind right off the top of my head are; blacks, whites, Hispanics or Latinos. It’s usually the three main races there arediscriminated in one way or another everyday whether it be in publicly, socially, or economically.
Racism is defined as the belief that human races have distinctive characteristics which determine their respective cultures, usually involving the idea that one’s own race is superior and has the right to rule or dominate others.
There are many types of racism like for instance racial discrimination. Racial discrimination is when a person is treated differently by other people because of their race, color, and/or background.
The history of Racism
Racism did not exist until the 1600’s when the English colonists decided to create to enslave the Europeans and the Africans. In the late 1600’s there was a revolution between the black and white slaves against the rich Virginia planters. Things changed dramatically for the African Americans race/culture. They no longer had a chance to someday be free of slavery. Thomas Jefferson who was one of the rich Virginia slave owner also helped in promoting the idea of racism by saying that white were better than blacks.
Johann Blumenbach was the one that introduced the race-based grouping of humans and created a foundation for comparing race and racial characteristics for the next hundreds of years. By the 19th century racism spread. Not just African American were discriminated against, so were the Native Americans, Mexican Americans and Chinese Americans. By world war II, the racial groups had expanded; Mexicans, Japanese, Indians from Asia and Philippines.
Racism is a group of people that cause two effects
- hold back people’s lives by placing them in certain positions of power, status, assets, opportunity, and life changes. Secondly, to keep, spread, replicate this order through economy, politics and literary control. Economic racism is done by pushing a shoving people of color at the bottom economically, and keeping them there.
- Geographically; by keeping space between the white people and the people of color, and making sure that the white people are the ones in control. Culturally; by not allowing colored people the means to communicate, by restricting cultural traditions to assert how people talk and consequently think about society and each other.
So what role does economy play in racism?
Having economic power has to do with having money, status, job position, healthcare, connections, education, and public mobility. Because whites are more likely to acquire management positions, they are the wealthy ones and possess the power to in other words “do what they please”. They can choose who to hire and fire. They are able to move their money around and make more. History also has to do with economy a racism. Whites were the ones in power and so, they were the wealthy ones and had it easy and whatever properties or money they had goes from family to family. Whites are always on top and then come the colored people. “If white workers saw their interests with other workers regardless of race, instead of with other whites regardless of class, it would be more difficult for elites to prevent economic reforms that ended poverty, unemployment, environmental destruction”. “The rule of racist society is that people of color must not have something whites do not. When even a small group of color makes limited economic gains, political interventions are made to try to undo these”.
opinion
We have Jefferson to blame of the ignorance that we all live in today. Just hearing he word racism upsets me. There is no need for it; it’s pointless. If we would just see each other and treat each other equally, racism would cease to exist. Racism just causes pain, degradation, intimidation, helplessness, suicide, rejection, humiliation, aggression, chaos, war, death, and it all has to do with wanting power. Being on top, having more than everybody else, having the power to manipulate. Is that what we want our children to grow up thinking and doing as we do?
Poverty is not an accident
Like salvery and apartheid is a man-made
and can be removed by the actions of human beings.
http://www.hippoquotes.com/
Source: Racism = IGNORANCE