Essay on Analysis of Appiah´s View of Racism

Kwame Anthony Appiah who wrote “Racisms”, believes that extrinsic racism is when people has a belief that different races are different genetically and that results in different treatments. “members of different races differ in respects that warrant the differential treatment, respects, -such as honesty or courage or intelligence – that are controversially held (held at least in most contemporary cultures) to be acceptable as basis for treating people differently.” (p.691) This is morally wrong to Appiah because it is not true at all. Humans are humans, even if there are different races, the genes that contributes to race does not set different races’ intelligence and moral standards, it is the teaching and environment that shapes the people. “the genes that account for the gross morphological differences that underlie our standard racial categories are not linked to those genes that determine, to whatever degree such matters

Throughout history African Americans have faced and still face many hardships. African American males in particular are often linked to negative statistics and stereotypes. In fact, they suffer more and are victims of racial profiling and racism more than any other ethnic group. Racism has a deeper meaning than most people may think. It goes beyond what the average person may think. Racism can be defined as, the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. In particular, it stems from one person thinking that his or her race is more superior to another.

Racism is an ideology that is based on the principle that human beings can be subdivided and ranked into categories as being inferior or superior. It’s worth mentioning that in recent years the concept or notion of racism has changed. Racism in the post-racial twenty-first century is now marked by subtlety that discriminates against individuals through unnoticeable or seemingly passive methods. Although overt racism has decreased since the 1960s, it has been supplemented by what is called colorblind racism,” which refers to “contemporary racial inequality as the outcome of nonracial dynamics” (p. 455-456).

Kwame Anthony Appiah's article “Racisms”, claims racism to be a view of racialism which are the “heritable characteristics, possessed by the members of our species, that allow us to divide them into smaller sets of races… these races share certain traits…” (Appiah). Appiah argues that humans need a definition of

“A major problem in understanding race relations in the United States is that we tend to understand race, racism, and the form of racialization as constants rather than as variables”(Pg. 8). As Americans we think of racism as harboring the sentiments of the KKK (constant), which is the cause of racialization,

Wise’s examination of the inconspicuous character of racism 2.0 dovetails fittingly with our course’s recurring theme of institutionalized racism. In class lectures we have defined institutionalized racism as the discriminatory practices that have become regularized and routinized by state agencies, organizations, industries, or anywhere else in society. Although such practices might not be intentionally racist, they end up being racist nevertheless as consequence of the systematized and unspoken biases that have become increasingly convoluted and entrenched within society over time. It also doesn’t help white people to recognize these discriminatory practices considering they have been unconsciously tailored to be consistent with white perspective and mentality. In her article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh examines not only how white folks often consider themselves to be a normative figure within society, but also how they are carefully taught not to recognize the advantages they gain from the disadvantages that impair people of color. In the article, McIntosh acknowledges the reality of her own white privilege and expresses, “In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth” (McIntosh 4). In fact, even if white folks do not believe themselves to

For Shelby, it seems as though Garcia contends an individual’s “attitudes” not his or her “beliefs” are what make the individual racist (479). Still, Shelby maintains that “beliefs are essential to and even sufficient for racism” (480). Basically, Shelby argues that in order to determine whether a person is racist or not, the reasons for one’s dislike of another must be evaluated. Shelby gives the hypothetical case of Stephen (white) disliking Andre (black) because Andre was having an affair with Stephen’s wife. In this example, Shelby illustrates that Stephen’s derives his dislike of Andre from Andre’s behavior not his race (480). Thus, Shelby raises the question of what racism actually signifies. Rather than disliking someone simply on the basis of skin color, Shelby suggests that is has a “deeper meaning” (480).

The objective of John Blake’s article, Admit You’re a Racist, is to expose the stereotypes that American people have regarding race, and may be completely unaware of it. People only become aware of these social biases through conversation with another person, as their ideas come to the forefront. The concept of being racist is difficult to accept, since being racist is socially unacceptable today. The author wants the audience to see that when one makes prejudicial racist statements, that the person is racist. The author also wants people to see that it is important for people to see racism in themselves so that they can make a change in themselves, thus making society a better place. John Blake argues that people have racist ideologues imbedded in them successfully by use of ethos and logos arguments.

On the other hand, the author, Charles M. Blow believes that it is very ignorant of Phil to think of racism as something “without malice” (Blow). The author portrays his upset toward this fact and believes there should be a change to how individuals, like Robertson view racism as something that does not exist in our society. These two perspectives from Phil and one from people with the same perspective as the author create a conflict in which they cannot agree and later becomes another issue for the

It has been a common assumption that the moral character of an individual is linked to their race. Consequently, this has been a major propagator of racism. Furthermore, this has been spread people who the author refers to as “dog whistle politicians” who think that the whites have to succeed because they have the values, work ethics, and orientations required for success. According to Lopez, using colorblindness as a means of looking beyond the skin color of an individual would be helpful in dealing with racism as a whole. Colorblindness has a great role in fighting the establishment of racial policies and in dealing with dog whistle themes. Some of the chief advocates of colorblindness such as Martin Luther King, ending segregation were not the only drive in fighting for civil rights, but also changing the common mindset of linking some races with misery. (82) In recent times, a lot has been done to try and fight the racial stereotyping “deep connection between race and disadvantage” although some gains have been achieved, the author states that a lot has to be done yet.

For instance, when Vladek Spiegelman is being racist towards an African American and Françoise gets angry about it, he explains, “When first I came to New York I worked in the garment center, before this I didn’t see coloreds… but there it was shvartsers everywhere, and if I put down only for a second my valuables, they took!” (260). Although clearly wrong, Vladek’s thinking is very understandable. If individuals observe people of a certain ethnicity performing an action consistently, then it is only natural for their brains to assume that every person of that ethnicity performs that same action. Vladek’s brain spotted a pattern, and then he applies that to every situation he sees. However, this does not prevent people from accepting one another. Françoise still picks up the hitchhiker regardless of his race or background. The human mind may associate races with stereotypes, but that does not prevent acceptance so long as those stereotypes are not given any

For centuries, racism has become the universal epitome of culture, despite the efforts of various civilizations, such as the Western and European to combat these indifferences among people. A race is specific social group that can be differentiated through various ways, from facial features and hair textures, to social norms and habits that constitutes to that group. These differences contribute to our uniqueness and humanity. Because people can be grouped by any number of differences, Man, lead by his ignorance, perpetuated the issue once social-hierarchies began to develop, splitting society to its various groups. As a result, social disparity from one’s upbringing became the common tendency to look down, or look up at people of other

Throughout this course we have learned about many things, one in particular would be Racism. We have learned about many different types of racism along with examples of racism. Before I go into specific examples of racism that I have learn about in this class, I will first define and explain the differences between racism, prejudice or also known as bias, discrimination, race, and racist so there 's a clear understanding of why I picked the specific examples. The definition of racism that we learned in class would be an “Institutionalized system with disproportionate unjust outcomes for a particular race”. Prejudice or also known as bias was defined as “A negative feeling, opinion, or attitude toward a certain category or people” this would be an feeling with no action acted upon, where discrimination is defined as “Action or inaction toward a category of people” which would be acting on the negative feelings or opinions of a certain group. The definition for race is a “Social construct, but a lived reality” while a racist is “Discrimination based on the category of race”. (Disadvantage privilege notes, 2016)

All these inherited features are the same for every person belonging to the same race according to a racist. Since racists believe that human beings divide into races, they also believe that the different races are either superior or inferior (e.g. a racist would call white Europeans a superior race and black Africans an inferior race). The superior races are entitled to dominate, exploit and destroy anyone belonging to an, in their mind, inferior race, and racists do not hesitate to do so either.1 Members of inferior races are not seen as individuals or as human beings with feelings at all.

Firstly, let’s focus on the learnt aspect of racism. One argument for racism being taught is the fact that throughout human evolution, continental travel would have been extremely difficult and unlikely to happen due to the sheer unfamiliarity with the world. For example, dangers, such as predators, or how to prepare or even prolong existence throughout long travels in transportation such as boats would prove difficult. Furthermore, the technology was insufficient and undeveloped to were ferrying people was an unrealistic concept. This indicates that there was essentially no contact between different races or explicitly different looking people which suggests that humans evolved without the recognition of ‘races’ and therefore without the ideology of a ‘superior’ race existing.