Example Of Casual Racism

In everyday life, everyone experiences racism. Whether it is a humorous racial stereotype joke or to something offensive like asking how Asians can see or asking an Asian person if he or she is Chinese. What we need to remember is that no one is born racist. Racism is either taught or learned. The definition of the term race that was created socially which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of human bodies. The definition of race is how we use it. For example the label “white” instead of using Caucasian. Racism still exists today because is how we distinguish people by their pigment of the skin.

There is still some racism from whites to blacks, but things are beginning to make a turn and some blacks are now beginning to be very racist toward whites. Some African Americans call whites “crackers,” “white privilege,” and other things due to their white race. But, no outrage or protests occur after they say these things and few people even know about the statements because the media will not cover them (Backer, 2015). This proves a double standard in today’s society. Backer states, “When a white man/woman uses racist language towards another race, they get ridiculed for it and very rightfully so. On the other hand, when a minority uses racist language towards any other racial groups, no one seems to care,” (2015). Blacks can say whatever they want about whites with little fear of criticism or backlash, but whites are not allowed to make fun of or criticize black people (Peterson 2015). According to Jesse Peterson, if a white person dares to speak the truth about blacks, he or she will be labeled “racist” and immediately shut down

A major practice that was perpetrated within my school would be aversive racism; in which race was not discussed, and if it was would result in little or no changes to some of the racist practices. Oftentimes people within my community would look for ways to avoid talking directly about race; however would make ill-suited jokes about race, and held outdated stereotypes (Koppelman, 2015, p. 185). For example, African American students who spent time in the library and whose friends were all- white was often referred to as “uncle- toms” or “Oreos,” and whites who had what was considered black attributes were called “wiggers.” These jokes and anecdotes on the face are not obviously meant to be racist, but do result in a feelings

When a person of color says something offensive towards a person who is white, it doesn’t enforce anything onto white people that has deep, cultural, or historical background behind it; and it doesn’t affect their ability to get jobs or how they are perpetually viewed in society. It isn’t right, but it wouldn’t affect them in life-altering way. If it were the other way around, it would be a different story.

How could an individual describe racism in America today? One could describe it as systematic. The process brought on by hundreds of years of oppression because of a superiority complex. It is the removal of basic rights and enslavement. It is the forced labor of a race to build a country that would not acknowledge them as people, only property. That was America in its most unethical form; it is the reason there are still problems today. Without out fully acknowledging the history of America’s past, the country cannot fully understand the racism that is going on today, such as the mass incarceration of the African American population and the killing of innocent black lives. Those are facets of racism in America today.

In my life there has been a small amount of racism. Considering that I’ve grown up in the small town in the middle of Wyoming. Although, I have surely seen the news articles on the subject of racism. Recently, there has been many encounters with this dreaded term in the larger cities. Some are reasonable, others are not so much. When looking over each story available there are a few that really jumps into my path or somewhat upset me.

My example of structural racism that I chose was how on February 24, 2015, the US Justice Department announced that no federal civil rights charges will be brought against George Zimmerman, who was the man who murdered Trayvon Martin on February 26, 2012. This case awoke an evil demon that has been haunting this country since the end of slavery. That demon is structural racism. Even though there was a significant amount of evidence that indicated George Zimmerman murdered Trayvon Martin, he was acquitted because Trayvon was black, and in this country, that’s okay. Structural racism allows for the unconsciously taking of another person’s life without consequence.

There was two FBI agent one who continued to make racism comments. He not only made comments about the criminal case also because he was black. He mention almost every crucifying remark he can make about black people. He used Cultural Racism when he constantly mention things about blacks. Cultural racism is a frame that relies on culturally based arguments such as ‘‘Mexicans do not put much emphasis on education’’ or ‘‘blacks have too many babies’’ to explain the standing of minorities in society. He act as if that black people are good for nothing people. He really shouldn’t place all blacks in the same category because all of us is not the same.

The n-word is thrown around as part of the standard vocabulary among non-blacks. Some of my friends would accept people using the word or making racist comments, and I found myself alone in a sea of people who ignored black perspective because the anti-blackness did not affect them. One student made a comment about how black people are naturally not as smart as everyone else, and while other students have the luxury of ignoring the

Racism can be “defined as the hatred of one person by another or the belief that another person is less than human because of skin color, language, customs, place of birth or any factor that supposedly reveals the basic nature of that person. It has influenced wars, slavery, the formation of nations, and legal codes” (“What”). The face of racism over the past 50 years has changed but yet, some still stay the same. People made laws against racism and it is not as blunt anymore. But opinions and stereotypes will remain which will cause others to still be treated differently.

Racism has reared its ugly face for many decades, destroying families and interrupting lives. Most people do not consciously wake up and “do” race every day. In fact, many participants are unaware of the racial constraints and barriers that are placed on other groups based on the amount of melanin in the skin. Regarding racism in America, many are under the impression that racism is a thing of the past and that as a country, we have removed the element of racism from our culture. Many make statements like, “how can that be racist, if we have a black president”, or that person is just “pulling the race card, they aren’t a real victim” to combat accusations of racism. In events of apparent

These people are correct in a sense; loud and public acts of racism are no longer prevalent in the US as they were in the past. However, today racism is stealthy and unspoken, and often deftly covered up with fabricated cover stories to legitimize the discrimination. This new breed of racism is perhaps even more difficult to fight against than its more egregious past self; its subtlety allows its perpetuators to claim ignorance of any discrimination, and its lack of media attention lulls Americans into complacence and acceptance of the current system. Further disturbing is the prevalence of “covert racism”, also commonly called “subconscious racism”. Many white Americans may actively stereotype and discriminate against blacks without even being aware of their actions and thought processes (BlackYouthProject). This phenomenon is a sad consequence of being raised a subtly racist society which perpetuates discrimination, even if never openly. Many subconscious racists may also be unwittingly subscribing to “symbolic racism”. In J.H. Moore’s book Encyclopedia of Race and Racism, Henry Sears characterizes symbolic racism as the endorsement of four specific beliefs:

Eric Deggans’ lecture, “Building Bridges Not Walls: Decoding Media’s Confusing coverage of Race, Gender, and Culture” laid out guidelines when viewing media to recognize the racial implications. He began by talking about his “ground rules” for the conversation, which included; “mistakes don’t make you racist”, “talking about race doesn’t make you racist”, and “white people have a stake in racial issues”. I felt as if these three rules have been directly utilized in our class. Professor Plants talks about owning mistakes we make when talking about race, and as long as you hold yourself accountable then it is not a racist act. Also, in class we have to talk about challenging topics within race. It isn’t always easy for different races to have

“There is nothing wrong with a little casual racism.” One of my friends recently commented this phrase to me, in a joking manner, but it struck me. Is just a little casual racism fine? I am one to err on the side of, “All things in moderation” but is it truly not a problem? In our society, today we see racism in our soup. In many ways, I feel as if the word communist has been switched with the word racist. No longer do we call each other a communist if they are stingy or different, we just stoop to the words racist or xenophobe. In the essay, written by Roxanne Gay, called, Surviving Django, Gay makes claims that she was offended by the racially insensitive, supercharged, ego driven film, created by Quentin Tarantino. She proceeds to

attitudes about masculinity will not necessarily be the same for different ethnic groups. They will