Racism

2 Pages 430 Words

Racism is the most important and persistent social problem in America and in the world today. It is on the rise in increasing ways. Whether we are talking about ethnic cleansings, group hatred or retraction of equity laws under the guise that these are unfair, the underlying issue is the same. One group, threatened by the perceived loss of power, exercises social, economic and political muscle against the other to retain privilege by restructuring for social advantage. Such actions and efforts call for an understanding of the basic concepts of prejudice and racism, and how to lessen their destructive effect.

It is a normal human response to racial, social, sexual and other forms of differences, because all human beings tend to prejudge others on the basis of limited knowledge, especially if they are different from us. Most of what passes for prejudice in society is the result of ignorance of other groups and their way of life and social condition. Because of the way American society is presently structured, most Whites have almost no conceptual idea nor first-hand experience of life in the African American and Latino communities. This is because the prevailing norms of separation and segregation that prevent people of different racial/ethnic groups from interacting with each other in a meaningful and positive way perpetuate this ignorance of groups, which in turn gives rise to attitudes of prejudice.

What we have in American society is the problem of maintaining stereotypes and actions of discrimination which dehumanize, and in many ways make less of human beings.
We must stop seeking to mold people after distorted human images and allow them the right to be born into the beautiful image of God, thereby bringing about a divine corrective to a dehumanized and dehumanizing world. It is then and only then, that we will have some semblance of a chance to end prejudice and racism.


White people are often ones to be racist agai...