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Racism, Race, And Discrimination Essay

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Colonialism
Throughout this class, Religion, Race, and Discrimination in America, we have learned how racism came about with many different theories. Religion can be defined as, a belief or worship in a higher power, normally a God or Gods. Race can be defined as social grouping or form of peoplehood that is marked by traits that are perceived to be biologically inherited. (Prentiss Introduction, slide 9) With race and religion people or groups of people can justify the discrimination of others because other groups do not share the same beliefs or traits they do. The theory of racism that will be discussed below is colonialism. Three case studies will be provided to show how colonialism created religious communities in the U.S., racial identities, and the efforts to resist racism.
Case Study 1 – El Requerimiento
Colonialism can be classified as religious ideologies justified the seizure and confiscation of foreign lands and enslavement of the colonized people. (El Requerimiento, Slide 3) Colonialism was in the earlier times, between the 15th – 19th century. During the colonial period, the Spanish were discovering America and the people that inhabited it. El Requerimiento is a document that stated the Spanish had the right to take possession of the land of the new world that the natives lived in and justified it through religion. The Spanish claimed that, “God our lord gave charge to one man called St. Peter, that he should be lord and superior to all the men in the world,

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