Racism And Racism : Singapore

In one way or another everyone encounters racism at many times in their life. Whether they are making the comments or victims of it, racism is everywhere and continues to be denied throughout the world. Neil Bissoondath, a Trinidad native, writes "I'm Not Racist But…" which discusses the types of labels given to different ethnic groups and the encouragement of racism they give. Based on the effective way it was written, Bissoondath's essay is suggested for an English 101 text.

There exists in our community a monster, a monster as old as mankind itself. This monster is known by many names; some call it racism, others discrimination but the only thing certain about this monstrosity is that it can be overcome if we all unite to fight against it. Racism is “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” (Merriam Webster). Racism has multiple causes ranging from living in a secluded community, to the basic instincts of mankind which likes exemplify the differences found in others not like themselves. Racism can destroy the foundations on which a community is laid upon and can intrude upon the peace and sanction of many of its members. By informing members of the community on the reasons why racism continues to persist, encouraging acceptance and providing further education on how to relieve racial tensions, we can resolve the issue of racism once and for all.

Racism is a socially constructed concept used by multiple groups of people and creates a hierarchy of sorts based purely on the color of a person’s skin or their cultural origins. It has been an idea that has existed since the beginnings of civilization. A more modern iteration of this concept was made prominent in the 16th century as European settlers began to explore different areas of the world, specifically areas in or around Africa. But slavery can be seen back in the 1500s all the way to 1880 and was most likely a leading example of what helped define racism up to the 20th century. In Ali Rattansi’s book, “Racism: A Very Short Introduction” , the author connects how slavery and race are closely tied together. European explorers would ignore the cultures the invaded in order to see these people as nothing more than native groups that were meant to be seen in a subservient role. Slavery would continue to grow across the Atlantic and seen as an institution that created large amounts of wealth for those who could reap the benefits from it. As long as money was being made, slavery persisted and was justified. Race and racism was conceived the way it was because the slave owning system was controlled by European colonizers.

While coming up with a topic for this paper, one of my questions dealt with war and cultural groups. I will be the first to admit, Racism was the last thing on my mind. The original question being, “How does war affect a Social Culture and how does it stand today?” When I started thinking about Cultures that had been so deeply affected by war, one of the first that came to mind were the Japanese in World War II. Then I recalled what one person had told me of their younger days at college, when they were attending school. Their name will remain anonymous; I do not want to make the victim’s name public as it has a very personal nature.

This issue of racism is popular by name but tends to be sugar coated by the way people see it. In order to truly understand racism you need to take a bite into the topic in order to get a taste of what it is really like. Racism comes in many different forms and can be seen many different ways. But why even care about racism at all? Why does it even matter? One would think that with such a harsh background regarding racism in America it would no longer exist in society today. But sadly that is not the case here, racism continues to show up all over the country sometimes being worse than others but still racism is racism. People should all be considered equal regardless of what they look like, talk like, or even do that makes them who they are.

The anecdotal instances of racism in Rankin’s Citizen together demonstrates the existence of a structural form of racism. The anecdotes demonstrates that if a person is of colour they suffer different treatment which distinguish them to be an ‘other’ type of person. The idea behind these racist encounters can be further categorized into three categories: overt racism, covert racism, and institutional racism, and these ideas together form the basis behind structural racism.

Racism is happening in contemporary Australia context, it is the culprit for overall poor health in Australian Indigenous communities. It destroy the Indigenous sense of identity that is crucial for the health and the wellbeing of a person. The key to solve the issue is to become culture inclusive and having holistic understanding of racism and Indigenous culture.

Throughout history the First Nations people have always been treated unfairly, and unfortunately much of that unfair treatment still exists today. In recent history, the First Nations people have suffered immensely through various bouts of gender discrimination and cultural genocide. If you take a look at the racism that these people face today it’s clear to see that the one underlying factor connecting all these events is racism. Whether it be through the Indian Act or the creation of residential schools, racism has been the driving force behind these horrible events, and much of that racism has survived to get to this day and age.

Race and ethnicity are concepts that are constantly associated with the many hateful crimes and events occurring all around us in our daily lives. The race of an individual is an extremely convoluted subject matter in the social world. Discrimination against specific groups of people remains till this day one of the most severe issues that we stumble on, leaving many of us in shock, and consternation. Racism against a certain ethnic group often arises from embedded false assumptions that is associated with the group and their cultural behaviors. There are various different ways in which racism takes form; racism directed towards individuals with Jewish origins is often referred to as anti-Semitism, while racism that is directed towards Muslims is known as Islamophobia. Racism is embodied in various ways, allowing one group to have full authority, holding more political, social, and economic power. Discrimination and racism has a major effect on the victims, the victim’s family, as well as the community around them. Considering that racism is an immensely broad subject, this paper will focus on discrimination in that aboriginal people encounter everyday. Using Max Weber’s classification of inequality, aboriginals hold an extremely low position in class as well as status, as they acquire low or nearly no social prestige or life chances. Firstly, this paper will explore the reality behind first nations in the working force, as well as its affects on on the individual. Secondly,

Racism is a belief that one race is superior to the other or the practice of treating a person or group of people differently on the basis of their race. Racism has been an integrated part of ancient world and is still vastly present in modern society. The ideas of racism are embedded into society, without fault it is part of our national character. Country’s deny their racism; however, views of racism are ingrained into every society.

Racism plays a substantial part in our nations history; from slavery in the seventeenth century through the nineteenth century, to segregation in the early 1900s. The extreme racism of those days are long gone, and continue to just be a memory of the past. Although, prejudice still exists and it always will, because our brains are hardwired to prefer one race to another. That being said; a white person that grows up in an all white neighborhood who also attends an all-white school will very well prefer white people. Same goes for other races as well. But why do we think this way? How does our brain distinguish race and why do we prefer one group of people over another? I have gathered some evidence as to why we think this way and why our brains process racial differences the way they do.

Most genetic variety is not between races, but within races. For example, two Germans are as likely to be as genetically different as a German and an African. However some people still believe that races can be superior to one another and a certain type of people maybe more intelligent or more eligible to rule the world than the rest. In the United States racism started along with the establishment of the country. From the Native Americans in the 17th century to Muslims, Mexicans and Latinos now, America has been one of the most diverse, yet most racist countries in the world. If you tried to define racism using Cambridge dictionary, the definition will be “the belief that people 's qualities are influenced by their race and that the members of other races are not as good as the members of your own, or the resulting unfair treatment of members of other races.” In order for racism to occur, there must be a dominant ethnic group which tries to exclude and eliminate the rest of the groups based on this belief. On the other hand, these other groups, minorities, represent a large part of the workforce, student population, university professors and every other major part of the community. In the United States these minorities are not getting the same treatment they deserve with no proper explanation despite their tremendous effort in the establishment and the development of this country. Hate crimes against minorities, racist police brutalities, ethnic stereotyping, and fear of

To understand whether or not racism is learnt, we first have to divulge into the nature of racism. It is usually assumed that racism has been a part of civilisation since civilisation started, that it is embedded into how people work and that no matter what, it will always exist. Another assumption is that racism derives from the capitalism of the slave trade by white elitist men seeking to dehumanize people for economic gain, and used racism as a way to mask their financial motives to justify enslavement as righteous. After anti-slavery movements began to happen, the capitalist motives behind slavery “took on a new form as the justification of the ideology of imperialism” [4].

“A developed country is one that allows all its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment.” These are the wise words of Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations. Thus, there are a set of tangible criteria to help determine the development of a country, of which economic criteria tend to dominate, with indicators such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as well as other social and security needs of the people, with the recent Human Development Index (HDI) which measures overall well-being of the people. So, with the recent phenomenon of globalization becoming ever more widespread in our society today, there is no doubt that it has impacts, both positive and negative, on the development of Singapore as

The Republic of Singapore celebrated its 42 years of independence in year 2007. Situated at the southern tip of Malaysia, Singapore currently holds a population of 4.68 million as of June 2007. At 704.0km2, it is ranked 4th in the world for its population density. During the past four decades, the economy as measured by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), multiplied by over 20 times (Ghesquiere, 2007, p.11). As a small and extremely open economy, Singapore long term survival is very much dependent on the ability to maintain its viable position and remain afloat in the sea of global competition (Mun Heng et al, 1998, p.14).