Abstract
Racism can be defined in many ways but basically racism is the prejudice or discrimination based on race. Since time immemorial racism has been the main cause of the many wars that America as a country has been going through. People can become racist either physically or verbally for example physical violation, intimidation or graffiti. Similarly, Anti Semitism can be defined as a term that is used to describe people who oppose the Jews. Just as racism, anti-Semitism is also discriminatory and it was first used during the holocaust. Racism has been the greatest obstacle that has hindered this country since its formation. Thus if America want to be such a great nation, racism must be dealt with; it must be eliminated. The effect of racism in America can never be forgotten. Despite reasons raised by some scholar to show that racism and anti-Semitism are no longer in United States of America, I feel that racism is still in America. There obviously those who argue that racism and anti-Semitism are just dark patches of the American history and thus do not exist in the present. It is true that the government has established laws to ensure that all people regardless of their skin color are fairly treated; however racism has not been fully eradicated. This essay will provide evidence that racism and anti-Semitism still exist in the U.S.A then provide the counter arguments to this view and responses to the said counter arguments. Generally the paper supports the view that racism and anti-Semitism still exists in the U.S.A.
1.0 Introduction
Racism can be defined in many ways but basically racism is the prejudice or discrimination based on race. Since time immemorial, racism has been the main cause of the wars that America as a country has been going through. To be sincere, racism is not something strange. As a matter of fact it is within our surrounding or even some of us have been victim of the same or even we may have been racist towards others. People can become racist either physically or verbally for example physical violation, intimidation or graffiti. Similarly, Anti Semitism can be defined as a term that is used to describe people who oppose the Jews. Just as racism, anti-Semitism is also discriminatory and it was first used during the holocaust. Since then this word has grown in terms of popularity. Both racism and anti-Semitism have one thing in common; both are discriminative. Racism has been the main problem not only to America but also to other part of the continent. Many people have done studies to establish if racism and anti-Semitism are still evident in the United States of America. The outcome of this analysis has resulted to mixed feelings about the same. Some people argue that racism is still a problem in the United States of America. For this reason America has suffered such a huge financial and economical loss. On the contrary, some admit that there was a high level of racism and anti-Semitism in the United States of America about two hundred years ago. According to this group of people racism and anti-Semitism is no longer a problem in the United States of America today. However, based on the results of many scholars it is evident that racism and anti-Semitism is still a great problem in this great country.
2.0 Arguments for
Top of Form
A study conducted recently in the U.S.A indicates that racism is still a very serious problem in the United States of America. Out of the blacks interviewed, 49% admitted to this fact while only 18% of the whites were of the same view. 35% of the blacks and 48% of the whites were of the opinion that racism was somewhat serious. When they were asked if any of them knew of someone who was racist the respond was amazing. 48% of the black and 43% of the whites testified to this fact. Of all the people interviewed 12% of the black and 13 % of whites confessed that they practiced racism. According to Professor Jack Dovidio who has been doing research on racism for the last 30 year says that more than 80% of white Americans have racism feeling even without them knowing. According to the results of this study it is evident that racism in the United States of America is a serious problem. Both the blacks and the whites are racist although the white are more than the blacks. Racism is a very contiguous disease. Professor Dovido describes racism as a virus which is continuously mutating to new form each day. And as such the racism of the 21st century is completely different from that of the past. In the United States today, racism is neither accompanied to dislike or is it conscious but rather it is expressed in subtle and indirect ways. A classical example is a case where an investigation carried out by the National Fair Housing Alliance found out that real estate agents pushed the backs to areas where the occupant are predominantly the black people. Similarly, the whites are driven away from neighborhoods which are integrated. Racism has widened the gap between the whites and the blacks. If this continues, then incidences of increased crime, poverty and many other evils will be witnessed. Ultimately this will result in reduced economic growth of this great country.
Racism has been the greatest obstacle that has hindered this country since its formation. Thus if America want to be such a great nation, racism must be dealt with; it must be eliminated. The effect of racism in America can never be forgotten. There have been ugly incidences that have threatened to split the nation into two. Examples include the verdict on O. J. Simpson that literally split the nation into two and the beating of Rodney King. In the case of Rodney King, the white police officers victimized the black drivers who violated traffic rules. This is because the white police had resentment towards the blacks because of the Simpsons case. Therefore they directed their anger to any black driver who was on the wrong side of the law.
Results of a just concluded poll indicate that both the black and the whites do not understand each other and therefore they look down upon each other. 76% of the blacks believe that whites are lazy while 11% of the white think the same of the blacks. The large disparity between the two figures is as the result of one group, the black, regarded as the servants should work for their masters the whites. This is a clear indication of the effects of what happened many years back. The rights of the blacks were disregarded and they were forced to work for the white who were seen as the superior. This attitude is still cultivated in both the blacks and the whites
The bombing of the twin Towers on September 11th is clear evidence that racism is far from over in the United States. During this particular day the Al Qaeda launched a series of attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon killing thousands of people while scores of others injured. The then President Gorge W. Bush described that day as a day of infamy. According to Al Qaeda, this was a revenge mission for the attack of the United States on their people. The impact of this bombing was far reaching. Security was beefed up in the entire country and racial and religious profiling became part of “security measures”. All people who were of afghan origin and those from other parts of the Arab world as well as those affiliated to the Islamic faith were considered as terrorist. There was reported case of schoolchildren bettered at school because of their nationality and religious convictions. It became too difficult for any person of Arab origin to have a migration permit to the United States of America. As a matter of fact may Arabs were deported home at that particular time as they were branded as illegal migrants. Many Afghan people lost their jobs and business just because of the colour if the skin colour.
As stated earlier ant-Semitism is an adjective that is used to describe those people who are forever against the Jews. To me, anti-Semitism is a form of racism in the sense that anti-Semitism discrimination is against the Jews. Going back to history Jews emanated from one of the tribes of Judah. Just as racism, anti-Semitism is known to have been in existence even in the era of Greek and the Roman empires. Actually the Romans and the Greeks used to persecute the Israelites. Many were taken into captivity in various arts of the world and as such the Jewish people had no place of their own; homeland. The hatred for the Jews actually became more manifest on the days of Hitler the dictator. According to Hitler the financial hardship that Germany was going through by then was caused by the Jewish people. This made the Germans to detest the Jews completely. This resulted in torturing and killing of many Jews by Hitler during the Holocaust period. It is important to note that not all the Germany people shared the same sediments with Hitler. However they remained silent since they feared that whoever was against Hitler would suffer the same fate as the Jews. Hitler managed to kill about 3.5 million Jews. A wave of Jew persecution and killings did spread to Russia. The then president of Russia Joseph Stalin had hired a lot of Jews to serve in his government. But after learning of what Hitler was doing to the Jews he too followed suite. He fired all the Jews from work and denied them the right to worship. This sparked a great revolt from the Jews and thus terrorized the government agents. After the Holocaust in Germany and the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin in Russia many Jews migrated to the United States of America. But even as they migrated to the United States of America discrimination against them followed them. For instance there were several groups such as the KKK or the Skinheads who were against the Jews. They committed acts which were intimidating to the Jews. For example they would tie a threatening note to a stone and throw it through the window of the Jews home. The KKK would even burn to death Jews if they had done something wrong even if it is a rumor. This went as far as the young American boys started vandalizing the homes of the Jews. These acts speak of the kind of discrimination that the Jews have been through. Even today in America, discrimination of the Jews still exit albeit in smaller magnitudes. Like racism, this can be indirect where though there are equal rights on freedom of worship other group of people may regard their style of worship to be the best.
3.0 Counter arguments
Most scholars agree that racism and anti-Semitism existed in the United States of America even before independent. However, some argue that despite the incidence of the same in Americans history racism and anti-Semitism has gone down to low levels in America. The war against racism started long ago. In 1969, Dr Martin Luther King Jr who was the greatest civil right leaders of all days spoke words which were to be forever remembered even in the generation to come. Dr Martin Luther King Jr fought for equality. He argued that both the blacks and the whites were equal. During one of his meetings held at Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, USA he boldly declared that all men are created equal. His desire was to see a country where blacks and white could intermingle freely, where a black man could walk in any street in the United States without the fear of being arrested. Even after his death there have been numerous men and women who have fought tooth and nail to ensure that equality is achieved to all as well racism is completely eliminated.
Today in America, as a result of these struggles we are enjoying equality. First and foremost, for the first time in history America elected President Barrack Obama as the first Black into office. In addition many other black people have been appointed for the most senior positions in government. The government through the congress has formulated laws that safe guard the rights of all people irrespective of the color of the skin. Today those schools that were only used by the white are now available even for the blacks. Those estates that were dominantly occupied by the whites are now being infiltrated by the blacks. Things have really changed.
These facts stated above speak volumes. United States of America has made remarkable strides with the sole aim of eliminating racism and anti-Semitism with the sole aim of fostering unity in the country. Though racism and anti-Semitism has not been completely eradicated, their levels have reduced considerably. The government has set aside resources to ensure that all people can access all facility equally with the aim of reducing the gap between the black who are considered as poor and the white who are considered the rich. Nowadays white do marry the black and vice-versa. Both the white and the black go the same church. These have resulted in mutual understanding something which kills racism. Intermarriage between all races has promoted unity and reduced both racism and anti-Semitism
Despite reasons raised by some scholar to show that racism and anti-Semitism are no longer in United States of America, I feel that racism is still in America. It is true that the government has established laws to ensure that all people regardless of their skin color are fairly treated; however racism has not been fully eradicated. For instance the total percentage of black people or even the minority in America who hold senior government office is small as compared to that held by the white. When it comes to churches you will find that black people go to churches where the leader of the church is a black guy and vice-versa. There has been a great disparity in terms of housing where you find black people live in ghetto; slum while their white counterparts live in posh houses. For education you will found out that despite the effort of the government to provide education for all, some school are reserved for the whites while others are for the blacks. Another evidence of the existence of antiracism in U.S.A is the constant association of crime with the minority. Other than address the challenges of the minorities’ security forces have been seen to arbitrarily arrest and harass the minority groups so that it is common to find higher concentrations of police deployment in the minority neighborhoods. It is also vital to note that even the minority groups may have discriminatory attitudes towards the majority. For instance it is common to hear African Americans engage in hate speech against the whites. It is also common to have gangs of the minority groups target their activities towards the majority groups or even other minorities. These facts and many others clearly indicate that the war against racism and anti-Semitism is not yet over.
In conclusion racism and anti-Semitism has been with us for a long time. Despite the effort by the government and other civil right leader to advocate for equality, racism and anti-Semitism still remain a major problem in the United States of America.
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