Racism Today
Race has evolved over the years from the common belief that it is a part of the biology of humans, to realizing that it is actually just a social construct. People today are generally racist because they have learnt from experiences, and from whatever society and culture teach them. This is also rooted in how parents teach their kids. This is seen in the video "Prussian Blue", as the parents homeschooled the twins, and basically taught them history from their own perspective. This included modified details about the holocaust, from the perspective that Hitler had good ideas. This caused the twins to believe strongly that in society, it is an "us vs them" construct, where white people are dominant over everyone else. It is disturbing to know that racism such as this still exists today, but unfortunately the "us vs them" mentality is still very prominent in people today. People have now defined race using social differences, rather than biological. For example, one race is naturally more athletic, and another race is naturally more smart. As these stereotypes have become such a problem today, it has created the tremendous problem of implicit biases and unexamined prejudices, which results in feelings of fear and resentment, whether they are physically expressed or not. Although there aren't genocides and mass slavery evident today, society is still not better off than it was 200 years ago. The stereotypes and prejudices are creating corrupt ideologies and are overall dividing society. According to Jennifer Richeson, a Yale University social psychologist, "it is a myth that this country will somehow become more progressive." Although there have been progressions such as discrimination laws and allowing interracial marriage, the interpersonal biases keep the racist environment alive. Unless this changes, racism will always be evident in society.
i agree i don't think that racism will ever go away because though it may not be as worse as it was before, we still see racism here in America and as much as we try to change that there will always be people who think differently about other races who then teach their children the same things or to think that way.
ReplyDeleteI think racism is a lot more discrete now than it used to be. People don't realize that their peripheral is constantly taking in racist, sexist, and ageist behavior. That behavior is then subconsciously recognized as a norm and repeated. It is a toxic cycle.
ReplyDeleteWhile we are on the topic of race, I recently learned that Abraham Lincoln was equal parts African, European, and Native America.
Racism has changed a lot from what it used to be. Before, racism was embedded in everyones train of thought and was perpetuated by the law. Nowadays, like Emily said, it is more of a social phenomenom. I don't beleive that people are inherently racist, it is more of society telling them what atributed belong to certain races. Inherent racism and hatred is no longer embedded in the roots of society, but differences between races are.
DeleteI feel like this is a pretty pessimistic post. While racial tensions in America are still far from ideal, it's definitely been a huge step up from the previous decades. While there are still people like the twins in the Prussian Blues and the Charlottesville demonstrators, they are a minority within the population and far outweighed by the amount of people who are willing to stand up against them. Just look at all the people who refused the Prussian Blues' white-only care packages or the hordes of counter-protesters at Charlottesville - both of which were in the deep South. To say that there has been no progress made outside of anti-discrimination laws in the past 50 years is to ignore all the social progress that has been made towards a post-racial society.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong: things are far from ideal. There are still a lot of negative racial stereotypes that still need to be fixed, but you can't change those overnight. The only way we can change these is to have more integration so that people can get comfortable with people who have a different skin color. This is something that needs to take months, if not years of inter-racial integration to change for an individual person, and generations to truly fix on a society-wide level, so just because there are still a lot of problems after 50 years doesn't mean its the end of the world. Progress is being made, and we are slowly getting closer to a true post-racial society
I think another essential part of the process of improving conditions regarding racism in America is for people to become more educated on the issues that exist for different groups. Various issues affecting minorities can be easy for people who are not part of those groups to ignore and go on with their lives without really taking the time and effort to understand (hence, white privilege). While there is obviously a ton of work that must be done, I think there are some benefits to the technology and media to which we have access in the current age, as far as bringing exposure to some of the issues that are being faced by different people who were not able to share their experiences before. Nonetheless, the task of combating racism remains very daunting. People will always have certain biases; however, in order to improve conditions, all people-especially those in society who are more privileged-need to take an active approach towards changing perspectives regarding the concept of "race," through our actions on both a small and large scale.
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