Race, Racism, And Discrimination

What we as a community cannot overemphasize is the fact that we cannot barely undo the legacy of a distinctive system such as apartheid overnight. It is our duty to continuously strive towards nationhood, transformation, reconciliation and as South Africans. Nevertheless, nation states are political constructs and thus have to be continuously molded through social engineering. It is hazardous to our democracy for anyone in this community to hold or possess the view that racism is a given. Since time immemorial all the justifications advanced by apologists of this prejudice have been proven untrue. Despite this, some people in our community are still prone to racism and this is the problem which we should address.

In recent years and in light of recent tragedies, police actions, specifically police brutality, has come into view of a large, public and rather critical eye. The power to take life rests in the final stage of the criminal justice system. However, the controversy lies where due process does not. While the use of deadly force is defined and limited by departmental policies, it remains an act guided chiefly by the judgment of individual officers in pressure situations. (Goldkamp 1976, 169). Many current studies have emphasized the racial disparities in minority deaths, primarily black Americans, killed by police through means of deadly force. The history of occurrences reveals the forlorn truth that police reforms only receive attention in wake of highly publicized episodes of police misconduct. The notorious 1992 Los Angeles riots brought the matter to mass public attention and prompted improved law enforcement policy. Significant local reforms resulted, for instance, ending the policy of lifetime terms for police chiefs. Additionally, on a broader platform, in 1994, Congress approved provisions to the Crime Control Act in effort to tackle police abuse in a more structured way.

What contributes to people becoming racist? Numerous factors contribute to the construction of people’s beliefs and ideologies. First, childhood environment plays a fundamental part in creating one’s identity, such as, residing in a monoracial neighbourhood, and family and friends’ sociopolitical view. Second, academic curriculum determines what information one receives. As each curriculum emphasizes varying aspects of historical background. For example, religious schools and racially homogeneous schools tend to have different academic curriculum. All of these components ultimately contribute to finalizing people’s mindsets: ignorance, religious belief, hereditary beliefs, and spatial and social isolation.

Over a century after the emancipation of millions of slaves, and twenty-five years following the declaration that “separate is not equal,” the case Regents of University of California v. Bakke ruled in favor of affirmative action. Justice Harry Blackmun affirmed in this decision that “[i]n order to get beyond racism, we must first take account of race. There is no other way.” As one of the most liberal judges on the court at the time, Blackmun tended to rule favorably in regards to expanding the rights of women and minorities. In presenting this opinion, he explains that issues of race must be addressed and considered in order to fix racism, prejudice, and systemic oppression. In regards to affirmative action (among other positive

Almost everyone has heard the famous hymn, “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” but not all understand the true meaning when it says, “Red, and yellow, black, and white, they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” The moment sin entered into the world, perfection no longer existed. This loss of perfection changed the way humans viewed each other. It made one ethnicity view another ethnicity as inferior, and in doing so, created what people now know of as racism. For centuries, racism has been a part of society, shaping the way humans view each other, but with the aid of Young Women 's Christian Association (YWCA) - Stand Against Racism, racial discrimination and injustice can be eliminated.

Preference, segregation, or enmity coordinated against somebody of an alternate race in light of the conviction that one 's own particular race is superior is prevalent. Prejudice is as old as human culture itself. For whatever length of time that individuals have been around, the contention has remained alive; people have constantly despised or dreaded individuals of an alternate country or skin color. It is said that racism or prejudice is simply some portion of human instinct, but we are not born with racism. We learn to discriminate from our societal norms.

Today, racism and racial discrimination is something you see everyday. Whether it be in a news story, an article on social media, or something that you personally witness, but what is racism? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary describes racism as 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. This means that one race will discriminate another because they believe that their race is better. Some people think that the only people that can be racist are white people. Their definition of racism is summed up to white people discriminating against the minority including African Americans and Latinos. Their definition of racism is not true. Racism does go both ways. Anyone is capable of saying, “Hey, my race is better than yours for this reason.” This is called reverse racism. The term reverse racism is referred to as discrimination against racial majorities inflicted by racial minorities. Reverse racism does exist and it is just as common as racism (“Racism”).

Segregation and Racism. Time and time again when we talk about these topics we go back to the early 1900s and late 1800s. During this time African Americans were treated with with the most othe most of disrespect. Lynchings would happen with the simplicity of an African American making an accidental mistake which is found offensive by communities yet is not considered law. We hear many saying that there is finally justice in today 's time, but is there really? What if hints of racial profiling and injustice are being dropped all the time yet we are naive to pick up? On July 17, 2014, Eric Garner, a 43 year-old, African American male was selling unlicensed cigarettes on the streets of Staten Island, New York City. Undercover NYPD officers approached Garner and confronted him while Garner denied and attempted resisted arrest as officers handcuffed him. Finally Daniel Pantaleo, one of the many officers, put Garner into a chokehold and took his life after he said he couldn’t breathe, 11 times. Months later the Supreme court let Pantaleo go free of charges. Although some argue that Garner shouldn’t have resisted arrest and his health conditions caused him to pass away, Garner’s death and trial is an injustice because Garner clearly begged for air and was being handled with excessive force; the problem of racial injustice could be solved through a re-trial without racial profiling for Garner and many others.

Constructed and doesn’t exist otherwise, and if human beings don’t have to be afraid of one another, then where does racism come from” (41)?.

In this day in age Racial stereotypes appear to be as rampant as they were in the early 200s. The discussion and debate about race can be a sensitive and difficult subject for most individuals. Living in America is tough as it is with all of the crisis’s and chaos taking place left and right. That matter of race is a crisis of its own so to speak. One cannot express themselves completely to the extent of his or her liking without being judged, labeled or categorized.

Throughout the assigned texts we have been reading there have been many underlying themes that all contribute to one major theme, racism in early

People tend to isolate or discriminate from those who they see as different from them. It can be because of race, ethnicity, religion, or even job. People need to take into consideration that everyone is different and everyone has their own circumstances.One cannot think of themselves on how everyone else should be. Everyone has a different thought process and a different life. Just because someone is different in some way does not make them any less of a human being. Even if that difference means that the person has no morals, unless thatperson commits a crime with an evil intention it means very little.Discriminating people because of race is like short people discriminating against tall people. How a person is born is

At one point in time the U.S. Census defined someone as a "negro" if they were one-sixteenth black. That is, if one of your sixteen great-great grandparents was of African descent (and the other fifteen were of "white" European descent), you were defined as "negro". In Jamaica, people believed to be of "pure" African descent are described as black. People who are bi-racial are usually described as "colored". In Brazil, there are even more differentiations of those believed to be of African descent. The point of all this is that our definitions are culture-bound and socially constructed. They are, therefore, not particularly scientific and change over time. This does not mean that race and

Families are not always perfect. Indeed, many times as a member of a conservative white family, I have found myself listening to a few rather racist and discriminatory conversations. Now, this is not saying that my family is made up of terrible people, merely that they need to be educated on these issues. The issue that was brought up at my last family dinner was the topic of college, and how minorities (specifically blacks) receive better treatment than whites. After listening to my family, I realized that they were expressing three theories on race and ethnicity: the Human Ecology, Social Darwinist, and Culture of Poverty perspectives were all intermingled in the conversation. Recently, race relations has been a topic for debate in the United States, with many saying that racism is a thing of the past. However, based upon my family’s debate, and the many sources that research the issues, it can be seen that the topic of racism, race, and ethnicity are all still relevant topics in America.

Race is defined as an ethnic group of people sharing the same culture, history and language. However, there is neither a characteristic nor trait that differentiates races. To me, skin color is only skin deep. One’s skin color does not define how one should behave. America is the only country that I know of that defines people by their skin color. In America, rather than one simply being an American they are classified as African American, Indian American, Asian American, and many others. In other countries, people are just simply classified by their nation. An example being, a person who would be called an African American here would simply just be an American. Racism is a learned trait, as no one is born a racist. Many people claim not to