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Racism in Canada and America

 

        Racism is a certain kind of  prejudice, based on  faulty reasoning

and inflexible generalizations  toward a specific group.  The word

prejudice comes from the Latin noun praejudicium, which means  a judgment

based on previous decisions formed before the facts were known.   If a

person allows their prejudiced beliefs to block the progress of another, it

is discrimination.  Those who exclude all members of a race from certain

types of employment, housing, political rights, educational opportunities,

or a social  interactions  are guilty of racial discrimination.

 

               For centuries conflicts have taken place among three main races,

Caucasian, Asian, and Negro ranging from snobbish social exclusion, to

state- sponsored genocide.  Racism is  an  unmerited fear or dislike of a

people because of their ethnic heritage.  When colour is not a reason,

other reasons such as language, religion, nationality, education, sex, or

age become the reason of prejudice.

 

               Sociologists, historians, anthropologists and archeologists believe

racial discrimination happens more often and most harshly when two groups

with different skin colours and unique physical features come into contact

with each other and the two compete for the same thing. History shows that

all attempts at  a racial  dominance result in conflict and avoidance.

But, some communities   without  disturbed racial conflict can take

advantage of all its citizens potential and move toward elimination.

 

               Our hate is caused by witnessing the behaviour of the Ku Klux Klan,

our unfavourable feeling toward a person without actual facts and the

verbal abuse that we get almost  every day  of our lives (if not us, then

there is someone in the world being hurt right this very minute.).  The

most effective way which I believe this issue can start to be stopped is by

talking it out rationally without involving racism at that point in time

and bringing everybody together as equal as the next.

 

               Africans were brought to the colonies and forced to work a lifetime

for no wages.  The master took all the profits to save the small amount he

used to provide food, clothing and shelter for his slaves.  Without being

able to read or write, the first Africans in America had no defence against

the refusal of their people.  The dehumanization of the African-American

slave stands out as one of the most brutal and savage torture in history.

 

               Not being able to defend yourself against the hurt that people can

put a person  through,   can scar  you for life.  We need to see what the

world is doing to each other and instead of turning to violence or some

other kind of defence to get even.  It would be easier if we just come

together as one and help the people who are discriminated  against in

understanding  that they are not what  person's  say they are.

 

                 From  birth to about age twelve, children collect information

about their world.  They learn from many ways including their school,

family, neighbours, friends, and the community.  They also get information

from books, movies, television, and other media.  From this information

they gain beliefs, attitudes, and opinions. (An  opinion is a  belief

that  is stronger than impression and less strong than positive

knowledge.)

 

        Attitudes are feelings and emotions held toward a person,  idea,

or things.  Attitude, opinions and the way we treat people are based on

our beliefs.  If beliefs are prejudiced, then our attitude and behaviour

will be the same.  Racism is a belief based on faulty reasoning,

misconceptions, and generalizations.  Stereotyping is an exaggerated belief

associated with a group.  It is produced by name calling, racial slurs, and

jokes.

 

               Victims of prejudice often develop a faulty belief in the same way

children learn to be prejudiced.  They learn to protect themselves by

creating self defences essential to their survival.  A slur directed at a

particular ethnic group is likely to get these results in a confrontation:

pain, anger, shame, hostility, guilt and embarrassment. Students admitted

that they had used racial slurs when angered.  I have noticed in our own

school, that the students tell racial jokes and used ethnic names but they

say that they don't mean what they say it's just for humour's sake.

 

               Race  hatred often leads to violence.  People  whom  form groups to

defend America from a minority takeover  fall into the category of

extremists.  There are gangs in America today who walk the streets

measuring out a perverse form of  justice  to a whole race by choosing an

innocent person of such race to beat or kill.  Such gangs are usually

powerless as people, so they seek strength in numbers.  People with shared

hatred gain a pseudo power within the organizational structures of such

groups as the neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.

 

               Race hatred, permitted to gain unlimited power, will be disastrous.

The state - sponsored genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany is an example of

what happens when people who hate gain power.  Hitler's extermination took

the lives of six million human beings for no other reason than they were

Jewish.  It started in little ways, an ethnic joke, stereotyping that was

never challenged, then restrictions, loss of jobs, loss of civil rights,

loss of voting rights, and the loss of life.

 

               Racists have very specific beliefs about their own groups and

others. Columnist Ellen Futterman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says,  We

are guilty of race prejudice.  We might go out of our way to avoid certain

words and phrases in our everyday speech only to find ourselves laughing at

a racial or ethnic joke later.   Even though we may say that we could never

be racist or prejudice against a certain type of person, (I'm not saying we

are), it is interesting how someone can just say something hurtful and not

even realize what has been said.

 

               What can be done to stop racism? A famous document from the Johnson

era, called the Kerner Report, stated that there must be strategies for

action that can produce progress and  make good the promises of American

democracy to all citizens urban and rural, white and black, Spanish surname,

American Indians and every minority.   We can't expect only the people of

colour to take a stand in the elimination of racism.  This issue includes

each and every one of us whether it  is  black, white, orange,  yellow,

Australian,  Russian, Ukrainian, or Irish.

 

        If you have been called names that are directed to your colour,

race, the way you talk, act, or walk, you have experienced racism.  (Based

on the lives of human rights leaders,  there  is no single way to take a

stand.  Each person has to decide whether to take a leadership role or to

follow  a  leader,  whose beliefs  or  goals he or she shares. Taking a

stand against racism and discrimination is  not  casual involvement.  It is

a total  commitment).

 

               Racism is an emotionally charged subject.  If you have ever been

discriminated against, you know it is difficult to think or act calmly.

The first reaction is to attack.  But it is only fair when taking a stand

against racism or  discrimination that  you state your case directly,

fairly, and accurately, using facts, and evidence to support your claims.

Before you can take a stand against racism and race discrimination, you

need to know what it is, how it develops, and how to recognize it in  you

and others.  According to Alfred Fleishman, St. Louis newspaper columnist,

Racial prejudice is one of the scourges of our society.  And when it grows

and lurks, especially where it is not even noticed, the danger is even

greater.

 

        Up to the point of life which we are in now, we don't even  realize

what we say, the jokes we tell or the music we listen to.  Some think of

some major issues as a joke but really there is always someone being hurt

whether they show it or not.

 

               Today we stand for equality, justice and freedom.  Where Canada and

America  stand  on racism and discrimination today and tomorrow is where we

stand because we are what is needed to stop the hate.