Racism as a Social Problem - Paper Sample

Introduction

Discrimination has become a rampant issue across the world. Many places around the world still look down on some groups of people for various reasons. One of the most prominent forms of discrimination is racism, which is widespread across European countries. To understand racism, it is essential to understand what race is or what it means to discriminate racially. A race can be defined as a group of people with a common ancestry who also speaks the same language, for example, the American race. The idea of race as we know it now is grouping people together according to their skin color, hair type, and mostly the facial structure.

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Discrimination of Particular Groups of People

Racism can, therefore, be defined as the discrimination of particular groups of people based on their ancestry or inherent features such as facial structures. Racism is a belief or doctrine that one’s race is more dominant or significant than the other persons or that the other person’s race is inferior to yours. This belief and notion assume that inherent differences among various racial groups determine their cultural or individual achievements. Therefore, people are judged depending on how they look: your skin color and facial structure about your ancestry, which means no one gets to know who you are.

Racial discrimination is an issue that dates back to the seventeenth century and has still not been eliminated in most areas. In this article, I will explain the causes of this discrimination, its origin, the consequences it bears on the society as long as it exists, how we can all play our role in stopping it. This is an issue that requires a deeper understanding of how it works and how to curb it before it ruins the world. This article will start with where racism originated from and how it got to this point. There is also a case study of a country with high rates of discrimination and how it has been affected by this issue, which will help know what approach to take on the subject of racism.

Slavery

In the seventeenth century, slavery was a prominent issue experienced in most European areas. Human beings would be bought and sold like commodities in markets from one person to another. Just like any other marketing strategy, those selling had to market their ‘goods’ well so that they can earn good money from it. This marketing entailed speaking about the prowess and natural strength of the slaves, which would be an advantage for all the hard work that they would consequently get there. They would talk about their strength and animal-like features that would make them good servants.

The Slave trade was mostly made with black people as the commodity, and because of this, there arose a need to distinguish the slaves from the black people. In the mid-1600, the servants began freely committing themselves to servitude so that once they were done with their term of service, they would procure land. This arrangement did not work, however, and most of them were not rewarded with the land as expected. They were left destitute despite all the effort and time they had put in. They did not like this because they were left hungry and without homes, yet they had worked hard enough to eat and have a home.

The servants eventually got tired and decided to rebel, led by leaders such as Nathaniel Bacon, who led a rebellion and defeated the governor in 1675. He united the black slaves and the mistreated white servants, and they fought for their freedom. After this and many consequent rebellions, laws were made to distinguish between the white servants and black slaves not to unite again to fight their leaders. There was permanent enslavement of people of black descent and for the white servants; they were given jobs as farmers in separate groups from the slaves so that they do not reunite.

It was at this point that laws were made that declared that slaves were property that could be owned and sold at the owner’s pleasure. The rules also dictated that slaves should not be educated or have access to adequate social amenities. It also became illegal for them to own firearms and so they were wholly under the rule of the Europeans. The Europeans had many theories and beliefs about black people, which have been passed down to the twenty-first century.

Charles White said that nonwhite people were inferior because of their black skin pigment. He said that they had more prominent jaws than the white people and thick nerves, which was assumed to mean that they felt less pain and did not have any emotions (Eliassi, 2017). Others said that slaves could eat poisonous fungi and not get sick, unlike the white people who had allergies to most things. Edward Long argued that black people did not have the required knowledge to understand mechanical arts or any manufacturing skills, and the few who could understand it could not do any good work. He called them ‘void of genius.’

With slavery in place, black people were made out to be below white people in all aspects, be it in education, work, health, and even their own social lives. They were despised and degraded from the seventeenth century, and this attitude has continued to date. Even though there were white slaves of a lower class too, they were given privileges that the black people were not given, which went out to show that black servants were still in a lower class than white servants.

Today’s Society

In today’s society, black people have to struggle against many odds to get the same services that white people receive just by being white. Black people are still considered for blue-collar jobs and challenging duties, unlike white people, who cannot be entrusted with difficult tasks because they cannot complete the tasks. Nowadays, there is a lot of structural or systemic racism in place. Structural racism can be described as a system or method of keeping some people from acquiring resources to better their lives. It is put in place by institutions within an economy such as schools, hospitals, and law enforcement places.

Various factors contribute to the growth of racism in multiple areas, and these include poor leadership. Leaders are expected to be at the forefront of the war against racism. They should promote unity and equality among all citizens to pass a good leader. Some leaders, however, are racists themselves, and therefore instead of fighting against it, they encourage it. Some leaders even oppose development in areas with the minority groups because they feel like the people there are inferior to them and do not deserve good services. In America, some leaders oppose the Obama Health Care Policy, which was introduced to end the racial discrimination that characterizes access to health care facilities.

Another factor that brings about racism is ignorance of other cultures. Most people do not know about other cultures different from theirs. They, therefore, are not aware of other people’s way of life, which makes it strange. No one likes strange things, so people will always fight what they do not understand. When a white woman sees a black woman struggling to comb her hair, she will not understand how black hair is because theirs is ever soft. This then becomes a judgment point for them.

Children’s upbringing is also another factor that promotes racism. From a young age, black children are taught to hide from the police because they could be arrested even without committing a significant crime. So they grow up knowing they are not wanted in society, and they are a ready target all the time. As for the white children, they grow up knowing that they should stay away from black people’s neighborhoods because they are risky and dirty. These children later grow up harboring the same mentalities instilled in them by their parents. So even if the two happen to meet, they already have negative perspectives of each other, and racism continues.The use of stereotypes is another factor that contributes to racism. It has already been made evident that some things are meant for white people, while others are for black people. Things like commercials on televisions present black people in a certain way and white people in other ways. Most poor people on television are shown as black while the rich are white. With this stereotyping, racism will never go away because people are reminded every day of their ‘proper place’ in society.

Xenophobia

Another major factor that causes racism is xenophobia. This is the prejudice of people from other countries. That some people are afraid of people from different countries means that they cannot accommodate them or help them or even treat them as equals (Came & Griffith, 2018). This is mostly because they fear that they fled from their country. After all, they did something wrong, and so they are presumed, bad people. Lack of self-love and confidence also promotes racism in that people who have self-esteem issues cannot love or value other people, so they will always dismiss people who are different from them.

There are various ways that racism can be minimized and curbed. One is by joining and supporting anti-racist organizations that sensitize people on the dangers of racism. These organizations offer teachings on various cultures and how to live with people of different origins in harmony. This helps your moral growth as well as paying your debt to society by doing something right. Such organizations also help those who have been discriminated against, getting over the stigma, and leading normal lives.

Schools and religious institutions should educate children on diversity and the beauty it holds. If children are taught how to live and coexist with other children of different races at an early age, they will fight discrimination even as they grow up. Parents, on the other hand, should watch their speech and what they tell their children about other people because children follow what their parents say. When parents learn to treat other people equally despite their race, even their children will learn from them and curb racism.

Conclusion

Political leaders also have a role to play to aid in the fight against racism. Leaders can organize events where they invite people from various areas to showcase their expertise, be it in food, clothing, dance, or for any other thing their community is known. This way, different people will meet up and experience different cultures and understand how they work, which will eventually lead to a love of other cultures.

Another way to eliminate racism would be to eliminate structural racism. This refers to skewed access to employment opportunities or schools. In this case, the government can erect laws against institutions that restrict opportunities from a specific group of people (Colon, 2018). All opportunities should be equal and available to everyone who qualifies for them, and there should be a law against equality.