What Is Racism and Is It Being Prevented Today?

What Is Racism and Is it Being Prevented Today?

Why is racism even a thing anymore?

 

In the image above the little girl is protesting to fight racism

As the African American man walked across the street he saw the white man drag his child in the house. "Why? What was I doing wrong?" The man thought, deeply bothered. This is an example of racism. While it may not seem like a big deal, most people wouldn't have done anything if they had seen a white man cross the street. However, because it was a black man things changed. This is a problem. Racism has been present in our world for a very long time. It pertains to many races and can even occur in the same race. There are many different views relating to racism. Some are pushing hard for a change and others are cool with letting racism happen. Why wouldn't we want equality in our world? Imagine yourself in their shoes and what they experience on a daily basis. How would you feel? We need to take action and practice ways to combat racism. Some ways to do this are recognizing your own privilege, validate the experience and feelings of people of color, call out racist 'jokes' or statements, and more. You can also attend protests and support different communities on social media. If we do all of these things we can create an equal and unified community. 

While our generation has tried to push for more equality, the issue still hasn't been solved. There has been improvement but there are still prejudice people out there. The prevalence of racism varies between racial groups. From the website National Library of Medicine, a statistic was found. The statistic being the following statement, "Our findings stand in contrast to Boutwell et al.'s estimates, revealing that between 50% and 75% of Black, Hispanic, and Asian respondents (depending on the group and analytical approach) reported discriminatory treatment." (Lee, Randy) The crazy high percentages provided show that racism and discrimination is very prevalent in our world today. 

There have been many cases of inequality that have occurred in the past two years. While some occurred on the national stage, there are a significant amount of other cases that did not reach the news. A case that appeared on national news that many may recall is the incident relating to George Floyd. This case was an absolute mess in so many ways.

Below is an image of George Floyd, who has now passed due to brutality 

This incident relating to George Floyd caused an uproar throughout the world. Many protests were held, news stations were like drug addicts craving the latest updates regarding the situation, and the phrase "ACAB" was created. The term "ACAB" refers to "All Cops Are Bastards." People were infuriated with the way this man died and did everything in their power to put away the police officer that killed him. Another phrase that became more popular was "BLM" this stands for "Black Lives Matter." Along with this phrase comes a fist that is held in the air to symbolize "BLM."

Below are soccer players kneeling and holding up the fist.

As stated previously, there were cases that did not reach national news. However, this does not mean that these particular scenarios hold any less significance. If anything, these small scale events happen regularly rather than the deaths that have plagued the news in 2020-2022. An example of this is as follows:

As Coach Chris was grabbing his belongings out of his car, a white man approached him. There was a look of disgust on the mans face and his finger was raised and pointed directly at Coach Chris. He was unsure of what to do and was not sure why he was being targeted. His mind was racing with the possibility of what he could have possibly done when he heard the racial slur escape the man’s mouth. All he could do was stand frozen in anger and disbelief. 

“What do you want from me?” Coach Chris said, venom dripping from each word. 

“Why do you look so funny?” The man said with a mocking tone.
As the man continued to taunt him, Coach Chris knew he was looking for a fight. 

Although he wanted nothing more than to fight back, and show the man that he was not one to be messed with; he refused to retaliate.

This example is small scale and relates to someone who probably deals with racism every day. However, there was no need for racial prejudice in this situation. He was minding his own business and was doing nothing to start a fight. Also, he couldn't retaliate because no one would take his word for how the fight had started. In this situation if you are the one who is discriminating someone based on their race, you need to take into consideration how that person feels in those situations. 

In addition, another mind boggling fact to wrap your brain around is some people still think it is okay to be racist. However, this may not be the person's fault. Sometimes the way children are raised the seed is planted that if someone looks different than you that person is weird. People could potentially be insecure in their own skin and feel the need to make fun of someone who is a person of color because they wished they looked like that person. Some people could feel that because you are a different ethnicity you do not fit society's standards and cannot complete the daily tasks of life. This creates judgement. Peer pressure to judge others also occurs more often than not. If a young individual sees someone their own age or older being racist, they will also think it is okay or even cool to do. 

Solutions:

Imagine if your family member was in the place of George Floyd. The determination to end racism would be all encompassing. You would do everything in your power to prevent the start of racism if that meant your beloved family member could live their life to the fullest. If everyone could put themselves in someones shoes who is Black, Asian, Hispanic, or any race, they would also want to prevent racism from occurring. 

The National Network to End Domestic Violence shared 8 ways to prevent racism. Some of the ways are:

1. "Learn to recognize and understand your own privilege." (NNEDV)

3. "Validate the experiences and feelings of people of color." (NNEDV)

5. "Call out racist 'jokes' or statements." (NNEDV)

I chose to list these three ways because I feel that they would be the most useful in helping prevent the start and spread of racism. These ways prove that you don't have to start big, extravagant events to prevent or end racism. Small and simple ways can help tremendously.

The first way I listed relates to white individuals. A lot of people do not realize the privilege that they have. They do not have to worry about discrimination or unfair treatment when it comes to applying for jobs or other simple tasks. However, if people learn to understand the privilege that they have they may begin to realize the unfairness that people of color face. The second statement I mentioned is also very important. Continuing to invalidate the feelings of people of color makes them feel unnoticed and unimportant in todays society. This needs to change. Lastly, there are so many racist "jokes" that are around today. While you making be joking it still doesn't excuse that you are being racist. If you are present when a racist "joke" or statement is made all you have to do is politely tell that person they are in the wrong and how to avoid doing it again. Practicing these ways of preventing racism will be incredibly beneficial in the long run. 

People are continuing to retaliate against discrimination and racism to lessen the amount of deaths and to focus on an equal community.  If we unite as a community we can create peace and equality. Each small act of preventing racism is beneficial. The change we need is not immediate but gradual. As each day passes we get closer and closer to ending racism.