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Racism- An Aid to American Society

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Racism – An Aid to American Society?
“Racism is actions, practices or beliefs, or social or political systems that consider different races to be ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities.” (Newman, 2012) Racism has promulgated after the slavery in America, and these practices are still evident in our generations today. Oftentimes, when the word “racism” is heard by many, negative characteristics on these actions will be dominant. Many perceive racism as disrespect to one’s rich culture and heritage, thus causing a lot of hatred. Despite my strong objection on the act of racism, I believe that racism played a major role in the development and rise to …show more content…

Racism is what justified America’s thirst for expansion through the Manifest Destiny which gave an ideological dimension to its actions. It is important to see, at this point, that America is a country which gives a huge importance to its national beliefs which include liberalism, self-determinism and democracy. Tierney (2011) says that it is ingrained so much so that there is a liberal hegemony in the way Americans think, making its existence natural to America and its inhabitants. The liberty of Americans justifies the Manifest Destiny’s expansionist ideas by its dimension of free development for Americans. Race, here, became one of the determinants of who were to pay the price of that development and who were to profit. While countries such as Russia and China imposed their ideologies on their countries which already had their nationalist ideologies, America was born under its own, making the connection between its core beliefs and Manifest Destiny an effective engine to justify the latter. When the original version of the Manifest Destiny was accomplished in 1890, “free development” was found to be possible through two more activities, nation-building in the Americas and Imperialism (“Manifest Destiny”, n.d.).
Nation-building took form in slavery in tobacco farms, developing from an economic venture to a cultural endeavor (p.109, Fields, 1990). Slavery also led to the empowerment of the other citizens, with both forming

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