Fear As the Fundamental Basis for Racial Though in History, Present, and Environmental Effects
Fear is the fundamental basis for racial thought. ‘’Racism consists of ideologies and practices that seek to justify or cause the unequal distribution of privileges or rights among different racial groups.’’(www.soundvison.com). This fundamental flaw of fear in human nature has manifested itself in a historical context, in local and global connections with environmental consequences and could have disastrous ramifications for human kind without transformation.
In a historical context, the first signs of racism did not occur until the 13th and 14th centuries. Then in the sixteenth century Jews in Spain who had been converted to Christianity because
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victims of a planned and purposeful discrimination. During the renaissance and reformation periods, Europeans came into direct contact with darker skinned individuals from Africa, Asia, and the Americans. In the late seventeenth century laws were passed in North America outlawing the marriage between blacks and whites. In a historical context, the first sign of racism did not occur until the 13th and 14th centuries. And then in the sixtieth century, Jews in Spain who had been converted to Christianity became the victims of a planned and purposeful discrimination. With the emphasis on nature in the Enlightenment, age humans were divided into three to five races seen as separate species. Even in the nineteenth century the age of emancipation and nationalism insecurities arising in a capitalist world created a need for scapegoats, hence, racism born in fear of the unfamiliar. In more specific terms and particularly in the late eighteen hundreds in the United States, the southern states tried to hold onto their racist society against freedom fighters in the North waged one of the most devastating war ever fought on American soil. Out of this struggle immersed the racist cult, the KuKlux Klan. This racist reaction grew out of fear of change in their social structure. It wasn't until 1964 that the Civil Rights Act ended all state and local laws ending segregation. There is no shortage of examples of racism in our world. The Holocaust exterminated approximately eleven million people including the six million Jews in an attempt to create a ‘’racially superior’’ society deeming Jews inferior. History has a habit of repeating itself and even today our world is filled with fear and hatred of the unfamiliar. At a local level, there are many, instances in our own communities of racial discrimination. Racial profiling for supposed reasons of safety and security public protection appear to be based on stereotypes of racism rather than reasonable suspicion. Just recently the Ontario Human Rights Commission has stated racially biased policing should be stamped out immediately. This process called carding involves stopping and questioning people without a specific criminal investigative purpose and young black men are most often caught in the web. In the States of the 1100 people killed in 2015, black youth were twice as likely to die. Nineteen black citizens including twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore died after alterations in police custody. Approximately 12-13 percent of the American population is African-American but they make up sixty percent of the almost two point one million male inmates incarcerated in the United States. Even in our communities today in Canada, there remain subtle forms of racial discrimination. Immigration restrictions, the lack of employment opportunities such as failing to hire, train, and mentor as well as lack of housing. Opportunities exist in various ethnic communities in our country, for example, today we are dealing with racism with Islamaphobia. While the Canadian Immigration Act does not specifically restrict immigrants based on their culture, ethnicity of nationality it wasn't until 1988 that revisions to the policy were deemed necessary to protect the cultural heritage of all Canadians, Canada was the first country to pass a national multicultural law. Racial discrimination in the workplace can rear its ugly head either subtly or overtly. The civil rights act of 1964 protects individuals against discrimination in hiring practices, firing or disciplining, failing to provide benefits or segregating employees. However workplace abuses still exist in the form of teasing, offhand comments or other isolated incidents that are less serious. As with employment opportunities, housing opportunities can also be restrictive. Radicalized individuals can be turned away as tenants and may have unequal access to maintenance and repairs. Similar issues may also arise in restaurants, theater and health care services. All of these areas can show biases on the grounds of race-related issues. Racism often leads to the genocide of individuals as well as the destruction of the environment. Wars throughout history based on racial convicts arising from unusual fear and distrust have taken their toll on our environment. The world wars destroyed the landscape in Europe, the Rwanda Genocide destroyed animal habitats, endangering animals as well as wiping out entire generations of Rwandans. Nine-eleven poisoned the air in New York City endangering lives. The Afghanistan war destroyed water sources threading human and animal life. Racism can destroy not only individuals but can ultimately destroy the world. Racism denies human dignity, devastating cultures, and threading democracy. Fear is the fundamental basis for racial thought. Throughout history, in our modern day lives, and in our environment. Racism is destroying morality and if not curbed can ultimately destroy the world. Works Cited URL: http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-02-01.htm Website Title: PBS Publisher: PBS URL: http://www.soundvision.com/article/a-brief-history-of-racism-in-the-united-states Article Title: A brief history of racism in the United States Website Title: A brief history of racism in the United States URL: http://archive.adl.org/hate-patrol/racism.html#.Vm8NpxFH3oA Article Title: What is Racism?
Website Title: What is Racism?
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Article Title: The EKOS poll: Are Canadians getting more racist?
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Article Title: Forty-one per cent say 'too many' minorities immigrating to Canada: survey | Metro News
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Article Title: Timeline: Freddie Gray's arrest, death and the aftermath - Baltimore Sun
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Sun
The term “White Privilege” has been a term that’s been used a lot not only by me but by a lot of individuals around me. It’s such a controversial word that has a long history. Whenever I hear this word used against someone else who is white that individual usually denies that they have white privilege at all and usually end up telling me about how they make the same amount as me and everyone else or they make less than other people who are also white. They bring up how there are poor whites and how they work for everything they have. However, i’m always confused why anyone who was white can’t just admit that they have this privilege that automatically puts them higher up than others when it comes to opportunities. There is never really a reason
Racism occurs when one ethnic group or people as a whole controls, excludes, or tries to exclude another on the idea of the differences that it believes are genetic and cannot be changed. A belief base for racism came to a realization in the Americas during the modern period. No clear and explicit evidence of racism has been found in other cultures or in Europe before the modern period. The identification of the Jews with the devil and witchcraft in the general public of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries was perhaps the first sign of a racist view of the world. Real support for such attitudes came in sixteenth century Spain when Jews who had converted to Christianity and their descendants became the victims of a regular pattern of discrimination and segregation.
This sense of difference provides a motive or rationale for using our power advantage to threaten the ethnoracial Other in ways that we would regard as cruel or unjust if applied to members of our own group. The possible consequences of this nexus of attitude. and action range from unofficial but pervasive social discrimination at one end. of the spectrum to genocide at the other. . .
Scientific racism is the act of justifying differences between various groups of people with the pretense that the methods being used have a scientific backing. This was used against different types of people. Scientific racism uses various methods to support the taxonomy of human populations into separate human races that are declared to be superior or inferior. Though scientific racism is now considered obsolete, it can be argued that there are still methods of scientific racism present today, such as in the form of intelligence testing (IQ). For example, it has been noted that Hispanic immigrants achieve lower IQ test scores than white Americans. It is argued that this is due to genetics, when in actuality it is a result of dissimilar educational opportunities.
Racism and social disadvantage being the by-products of Australian colonisation have become reality for Aboriginal people from the early beginnings as well as being prevalent to this day. There exists a complex and strong association between racism and Aboriginal poor health, assisting in the undermining of the emotional and social wellbeing of this Indigenous group. Racism has an adverse and insidious effect upon the psychological and physical health of the Aboriginal people, as it gnaws away on the mental state of the individual, having detrimental consequence upon the standard of acceptable health in today 's modern society. The effects of this discrimination become the catalyst towards the undermining of one 's self esteem which leads to detrimental stress levels, self-negativity and having the potential
Discursive Essay on Racism Racism has existed for centuries, but during the last two hundred years hatred toward ethnic minorities or even majorities has fluctuated. Racism occurs all over the world, can happen to anyone and will always exist. There are three different forms of racism, open racism, violent racism and secret racism all express forms of hatred towards ethnic groups. These forms of racism, although different, all have the same main purpose, to promote hate towards ethnic groups. Open racism expresses freedom of racial thought and speech.
Within all of the texts mentioned, the theme of racism is present, just like in most of today’s societies. All of the researched sources deal with the effects of racism, the foolishness of it and the fact that it still exists in today’s modern and so-called advanced world. No matter how much social attitudes evolve, prejudice, hatred and racism will still exist within aspects of society, whether it be in the heart, in the mind or in the souls of those too ignorant to realize the damaging consequences. While technologically today’s world has advanced, if society cannot overcome issues such as racism and prejudice, it has not evolved at all.
Racism, it is defined as the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races (Oxford Dictionary, n.d.). In layman’s term, it is an idea wherein one group treats another in a negative way leading to the outcasting of one form to another. One of the major basis of racism is the physical appearance of a person that trends to be a discrimination in the society. Not only the physical aspects are being judged but also the culture, tradition and practices are been after for. In racism, it is always viewed as the barrier between the black and white in terms of who is being more civilized. The perception of the majority is that if you are black, you are in a low level but if you are white then you are of higher rank than that of the other (Fredrickson, 1934). Racism in the U.S. Foreign Policy is evident; supposedly it aims to serve and create a bridge between different races of international community for democratic, secure, and thriving world. The concept of racism is said to originate during the past 500 – 1000 years. It started when the Non-Westerners were dominated by the Western powers that had bigger impact on history; an example would be the slavery started by the Westerners in which Africans were enslaved. The root cause was the racist belief that Black Africans were less fully humans than the white Europeans and their descendants. Racism has existed throughout human history up to this date. It was able to influence wars, slavery, and the division and formation of different nations.
Racism is a huge social problem in the world today. Many races today are being discriminated for being a certain race. Racism has been a social problem for a quite long time now, and it is still a social problem. The vast majority are being discriminated because of a certain group of a race, or person, done something that was awful, but this does not mean the whole race is to blame for the actions of others. Other races are looked down upon because of the color of their skin or maybe because they look very different. Racism has led up to genocide because one group fears another, or because of the way a race looks. A person who is racist is not born racist, they are taught to be racist or they see other people being racist, and they want to
When was the last time a person’s skin color changed the way you thought about them? I can’t believe people will not like someone over something as simple as the color of your skin. It’s sad because our society will always be infected with racism. There are two parts of racism. There’s one who receives it and the one that absorbs the mistreatment. This could lead to low self-esteem, psychological pain, and PTSD
It causes discrimination due to the fact that it causes tensions to build when people refuse to associate and interact with each other based on irrational thoughts. It is a common fear that can be accurately described by citing the red scare in the 1900’s. This event in the domestic community caused discrimination and isolation of other cultures based on unrealistic information. Similarly, in recent times, stereotypes that existed towards those of German descent in the era of the red scare now exist and are posed on those of African American culture. As a result, Xenophobia is an intense area in which prejudice
I have been aware of institutional racism against black people for a very long time. I have taken criminal justice classes and juvenile delinquency classes in the past; the disproportion of arrest, convictions, and sentences was discussed. I know about the mortgages, the housing, syphilis, and other terrible things this country has done to black people. The combination of my personal experience and my knowledge may be perceived, as it has been in the past, as denial of the impact of racism. I feel that underplaying other aspects, down playing the experiences of white people, and ignoring the poor white people, is actually hurtful to the overall conversation. I am of the opinion that it gives actual racist and those that reject change my story
A controversial argument in America is whether extreme racism is considered a mental illness. Extreme racism is being at the mindset of causing someone harm generally to the point where murdering someone takes in action. Criminal injustice has been occurring for decades in America, however many would question on why it occurs. Most are due to extreme racist acts upon a community of people. While crimes increase most individuals claim that it is being caused by those who are suffering from mental illness not because they disagree with a certain group but because they have been triggered to commit the crime by the illness.
I live in a world where there is no equality and people judge you based on your skin color. As a fifteen year old African American girl, I face challenges every day because of my skin color and how I act. I try to live my life free but I get stuck with stereotypes everyday and now it’s time to change. It’s time we actually talk about RACE instead of labeling an entire group and know the real meaning of racism.
I have never taken such an enjoyable and mind riveting class in my short time at Chapel Hill. My reflection paper will be a collection of my thoughts and responses to various ideas that were presented throughout the course. At the beginning of the course, I knew racism existed and that it was an horrendous thing to experience and witness. The rawness of material presented throughout the course made me think deeper about racism. The examples and models that were brought forward exploited the intricacies that are ingrained in society’s reinforced racism. Throughout the entire class, I realized that racism is a difficult thing to combat and will most likely never be entirely eliminated because racism begins at an individual level first and then proceeds to a societal level.