The question “What is racism?” has
been of particular interest in class recently. We tried to assign a definition
to the controversial topic. I was surprised by the fact that most of us
students, including myself, had no idea how to describe racism. Typically,
people associate certain characteristic including derogatory remarks, physical
appearances, and directed toward minorities, with racism. Also, it is
stereotypical to think that racism is a quirk or a particularity that some
individuals develop from personal issues.
Prejudice, discrimination, and bias are all terms that are see as
synonyms for racism. Can these words truly represent the magnitude behind
racism?
Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers
the following definition of racism: a belief that race is the primary
determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce
an inherent superiority of a particular race. Is this definition appropriate?
To me, it seems that the phrase “human traits” suggests that racism has is
dependent on a facet of physical appearance. We know this not to be entirely
true from the mention of Black No More, a
book that proposes the concept that if black people appeared to appear to be
white, than society would be forced to create new guidelines for discrimination.
In this case, race would still exist only not reliant on physical qualities.
After our discussion, I came to the
conclusion that racism is not simply a mindset or a series of actions that make
others feel uncomfortable; it goes deeper. Racism is a cultural logic in which
the consequence is a structural system that distributes advantages to one group
of people and disadvantages to the other.
So we know the gist of racism but
the million-dollar question is—How do we go about correcting a problem so
engrained in society? The United States government has implemented certain
regulations such as Affirmative Action to reverse the damage of racism. It can
be argued, however, that this is simply leveling the playing field. If racism
is such a significant attribute to American society, what steps need to be
taken for all to be seen and treated as equals? Only a person raised in
complete isolation can be void off all racist opinions. How do we stop racism
and still maintain a functional society with human interactions?
Unfortunately, I don’t think that we will ever truly stop racism. As you point out, it is deeply engrained in society and one would have to grow up in complete isolation to not be exposed to racism. I don’t think that we will ever reach a point where everyone is truly equal because as pointed out in Black No More once they couldn’t discriminate based on color; they had to come up with something else. I think that humans need to be able to differentiate themselves and unfortunately, I think a part of this leads to discrimination. Programs like Affirmative Action are reasonable solutions to discrimination; they acknowledge that racism and discrimination are so engrained in society that something needs to be done to help those who are not in the majority. However, despite Affirmative Action there is still discrimination, so there is more to be done and a perfect solution as of now, doesn’t exist.
ReplyDeleteWhile there is no perfect solution for racism, I believe that over time people will continue to venture away from the need of a racial ideology to differentiate from each other. This plan to combat racism may seem feeble, but it has seemed to work the best in my eyes in real life situations. It is true that humans will always search for ways to differentiate from each other because all people are different, but race should not be the only outlet. We said in class that racism is not just a case-by-case situation but that it is based on a community of outside forces inflicting negative stereotypes on the subjects. In other words, people aren’t born racist, but they can be raised to discriminate among people based on race. So if past racial prejudices and ideologies are allowed to fade away with the older generations, then we can eliminate this form of differentiation.
ReplyDeleteI like your conclusion that racism is a cultural logic in which the consequence is a structural system that distributes advantages to one group of people and disadvantage to the others. I feel like that is what we agreed upon in class after analyzing many different interpretations of racism today. And Affirmative Action is in place to correct this. But what is interesting about Affirmative Action that Dr. Johnson pointed out is that one incorrect argument for it is that it creates diversity in the school systems. By the definition you stated in your post, that is somewhat of a racist argument because it is creating a culturally diverse environment to benefit the cultural learning of white kids. I never thought of it that way so I thought it was a very good point brought up by Dr. Johnson. I think the problem with Affirmative Action is that not enough people are educated on what it actually is and what it is actually attempting to do.
ReplyDeleteSure, there isn't a simple fix for the pervasiveness of racism in our society. If there were, we wouldn't even be discussing this. Affirmative Action programs make a good effort, but they really only tackle the results of racism, and not racism itself. Like most problems, racism can be dealt with through better education. Until our class on Wednesday, I'd never had a full class session devoted to the topic; it was always considered far too taboo, especially growing up in a town that was once subject to things like Jim Crow laws. A lot of the things we discussed on Wednesday I had thought about briefly before, evaluating some of the details, but never actually seeing the big picture. Now, I feel like that should have been a discussion I had a long time ago. Once people understand what racism actually is, not that it's a quirk of someone's personality but an entire cultural logic, they'll start to recognize it in their daily lives, and from there steps will be taken to correct it.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is hard to put into a sentence and furthermore words exactly all of what racism entails. I think that I have general idea of what racism looks like to me which is following along the lines of the dictionary definition. However it is mostly a mind set that people are told to have because of the environment that they were raised in. I think for most people it is just something that they are born into, but free thinking people should have the ability to realize that it is incredibly unjust. I would have to agree with the other comments and say that it is impossible to stop it all together. Since we were all born in a time that it is publicly frowned upon to be racist you can see that things are improving even if we weren't around 60 years ago which is not a long time in the big sceme of things to see how far we have come. I think that for a society to change a mindset like this we need to be more sensitive to the ideas of racism because we were desensitized to the idea for quite some time. I am happy to see the improvements and I hope that when my kids look back at my childhood they will be thinking we were crazy for even the slightest bit of racism because we will continue to improve.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that there is a perfect solution to racism-- e.g. one action by the government that will solve everything. I think that racism is a social issue that can only be fixed by spreading the idea that racism still exists and by educating people on the perils of racism. I also believe that in each generation people become a bit more accepting. I believe that after a certain amount of time, we will see racism as we see slavery today. Social programs like affirmative actions will also help the public by giving the minority a better chance to be educated and this will help them to enter government offices and have a better effect on society. This, I believe, will help to lessen racism. Finally, I don't think that we will ever completely get rid of racism, we can only hope to lessen it's effect until it's negligible.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that racism is a quirk. I think it's more of a brainwashing. Seriously, it's a learned lifeway, oftentimes an inherited production of society.
ReplyDeleteWhe you say the "magnitude" of racism, I immediately think of two things: 1. Internalized racism. White v. Black and Brown racism isn't a one-way street, and neither is it from White to Black and Brown. Particularly amongst Black people is a sense that the stereotypes and fears surrounding their OWN race is true; they become scared and wary of themselves. The internalization comes from CENTURIES of being negated, neglected, and oppressed.
2. There was a psychological study not too long ago that flashed faces on a screen. These flashes were literally less than a second, enough time for the subconscious to respond, but not for the conscious mind to register what had been seen. The surveyors flashed male/female, old/young, Black/White/Brown, all kinds of faces to see what parts of the brain responded. Overwhelmingly, whenever a dark face (particularly Black) was shown, the same part of the brain that reacts to fear lit up.
In summation, prejudice is engrained in us, in our society. The only *real* way to get rid of it that I can think of is to grandfather it out. There are some progressive old(er) folks, don't get me wrong, but the overwhelming majority is hard to get through to. As of right now, we are the most integrated, most liberal generation America has ever seen; we've been integrated since birth. I've said for years, sadly, that once my mom's generation dies we'll be in a better social standing concerning races.