Argumentative Essay On Racism In Schools

Racism is one of the world’s biggest problems still today. Many people do not understand that racism still exists in our schools, work forces, homes, etc. Racism may not be as bad as it once has been, because of the fact that slavery is now over, but it sure has not gone away. Racism still very much exists and it is time for people to start thinking about certain solutions to this matter. Many people argue that it just depends on whether a person was brought into the world as a racist or not. Which is not the case here. In fact, an individual cannot be born a racist, but only learn to become one as they grow older. Although we are closer than ever before, causes such as mainstream, government, and racism groups are road bumps we need to conquer

in order to minimize the racism in our society today.
One cause of racism would be frustration. For example, when a person is having a bad time economically, they would find it easier to just blame immigrants for taking away their jobs/creating fewer opportunities. A psychological factor is also a common problem that is found at the root of racism. People with a rough childhood can sometimes give off anger and hate towards others (Hayes 1995). This can make someone inclined to dominate others as these qualities attract to racism because of the way racism divides the world into superior and inferior groups. Frustration and aggravation are really all in the mentality. One can only wonder what goes through the minds of people in situations such as these. If your life wasn't going in the way that you had planned, what makes it someone else's fault? When really the choices you make in life would be your responsibility and your own fault.
It's understandable that people are more comfortable with something they already know. Things they can recognize. They find it hard to adapt to a culture that they are not already familiar with. An example of having to change in order to not surround ones self due to the difference of ethnicity when the Chinese have been moving into Vancouver, and the suburb of Richmond went from one in twenty to one in three of its residents being Chinese, many people were not happy with how quickly that happened in two decades. This rapid change was not acceptable for many of those who moved out for that sole reason of having wanted to live in a “white town” again. But of course, one does not have to be a racist in order for racism to surround them.
There are those that argue that, "Well I'm not the one making those racist remarks, it's her." Well, okay. One may not be the one actually throwing out the insults, but silence doesn't necessarily mean you can prevent racism, if anything it gives others a bigger chance of provoking it. Studies show that people are reluctant to speak out towards their friends or family who like to express their racist views. Which encourages the racists from not only just voicing their opinions, but jumping into direct violence.
The mainstream is one of the strongest impacts of racism. You hear politicians talk on the TV or radio talk show hosts complain about minority groups and even immigrants and a good amount of the population will nod their heads in agreement. A man in Toronto named Ernst Zundel believed that the Holocaust never actually happened and that it is all a Jewish conspiracy. This man is known for his views and it has been said that he is a very powerful influence in Canada among those who promote racial hatred (Lethbridge). Those that are considered racists look up to those types of individuals as 'respectable' for expressing these revolting opinions and views publicly. But, the mainstream is not only being used by racist groups, but by anti-racism groups as well. There was an anti-racist group known as the Anti-racist action (ARA) who used violence to get their message across. The ARA trashed the home of spokesperson Gary Schipper, in June of 1993. The media cannot ignore these problems, and by broadcasting it worldwide, it publicizes the views of these responsible groups. Obviously, the mainstream can be used in both for and against racism, but it is easily perceptible that extremists have more advantage in the media than the anti racism groups do. When racists voice their negative opinions in public, the media will be all over it, but if an anti group mentions solutions in order to prevent racism, it is very rare that one will hear about it on the radio, see it on Tv, or read about it in the paper.
There has been so much racism in the work force as well. In 1996, Wayne A. Elliot as faced with racism. When he started working at a warehouse at Lockheed Martin Corp.'s, his new white colleagues harassed him, Elliott recalls, as did his manager, who would yell at him, call him "boy," and tell him to "kiss my butt." And when Elliot would go to complain about the disrespect, his manager did nothing but assigned Elliott to collect parts to be boxed, which involves walking about 10 miles a day. Whereas the others, whites, sat at a computer the whole day.(Bloomberg) Keep in mind that Elliott outranked them on the union seniority list.
If people also learned about the problems blacks faced in the early 1800's and 1900’s, they would respect them more.

In the 1800 and 1900’s, racism was a big thing going on. Blacks were to seem as if they were not equal to whites. White men and women made it clear that they thought they were above blacks, having priorities such as getting to sit in the front of the bus, having their own private bathrooms, water fountains, better schools, houses and even jobs. But whites would try to excuse any act of being a racist by "only having good faith effort to equalize the two educational systems"(Brown v Board of Education). In the Plessy v Ferguson case, Homer Plessy attempted to sit in an all-white railroad car. Yet, Homer could easily pass as white due to the color of his skin, he due to his ethnicity, he still had to sit in the "colored" area of the train. But after refusing to sit in the black railway carriage car, Plessy was arrested for violating an 1890 Louisiana statute that provided for segregated “separate but equal” railroad accommodations. He took it to court, and won and the “separate but equal” doctrine was made. Under the doctrine, government was allowed to require that services, facilities, public accommodations, housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation be separated along racial lines, provided that the quality of each group's public facility was

equal.
There are many ways in order to prevent racism. However, this does not mean that it would put an official end to racism because racism might just always exist as long as we live. But what the government and institutions and rest of the public can do is help minimize racism.
Although the days of formal, government-authorized discrimination are over, the imprints of these long-ago footprints continue to linger. There is still a lot of work needed in order to completely eliminate the idea of racism and cultural differences, but as the world has come thus far, having a black president when years ago, it was said to be impossible, there is a chance for everyone to be looked at as equal and be accepting of the differences that make a person who they are.