In the film, “Race – The Power of an Illusion,” different researchers explain the perception of the idea of race according to Americans. Many argue that it is a product of scientists while others say that it is an old idea. In the American society, the real meaning of race is based on the social realities and not the physical variations. For example, physical attributes such as nationality, religion, and language also define the term race in the American society (Rosenblatt 18). The concept of race has been to justify the exploitation of one group by another.
In the American history, there are many cases depicting how those that were not white in color were treated. Being white in color meant high chances of accessing better opportunities in the country. The quality of amenities offered to white people was high than that of non-white people (Race-The Power of Illusion). There were laws established to define the term black. Some stated that a black person is the one with one sixteenth of the black origin and the other was that who had one-eighth of the black ancestry.
Inequalities associated with races should be highly discouraged in the society. In America it came a time when the law became more compromised in that even the definition of white or black it depended on the case of the individual and power. The “blacks” were not allowed to obtain citizenship of the country even by naturalization (Race-The Power of Illusion). Those that were lucky to get the citizenship of the country they were not given full access to the vote.
There were significant changes after the end of the Civil War. The blacks had the opportunities to own properties and lands, which they did not have right to do so before. Ideally, in a society, all people should be treated equally regardless of their races differences. However, that was not the case in the United States. Even after obtaining the right to own properties, land was sold at high prices to blacks than to the whites (Race-The Power of Illusion). In addition, for a black person to obtain a loan to aid in the construction of a housing project, it was tough than for the white person (Race-The Power of Illusion). The loan system should have been granted equally to everyone without looking at the physical differences and race differences.
The main idea of the film is how to create a colorblind society. This is a situation whereby all people would regard everyone as equal and as the same citizens of the same country. The country had reached a level where people were not treated equally. Even after a law was instituted to ensure that the blacks had equal opportunities to live in the same areas with the whites, some white people ran away and sold their properties in for the fear that those areas would be dominated by black people (Race-The Power of Illusion). From the film, it is evident that one of the leading causes of racism is upbringing. Children are very reliant on their parents, and this helps them to be what they are as they grow up. Some of the decisions children take mare influenced by the opinions of their parents. For example, if the parents have a negative attitude against a particular group, then it is hard for the children to change that thinking. For the society to be conducive to everyone, then even the constitution should protect everyone instead of favoring a particular group.
Racism has affected the lives of the American people. The oppressed groups found it difficult to continue struggling for equal access and opportunities. The blacks had a difficult time searching for well-paying jobs. Many members of the targeted groups faced an economic depression because of their status (Chin 226).
High-quality services should be provided to everyone in the country without leaving out a particular group of people. Even in health matters, the ethnic minority find it hard to have access to health services. The ethnic minority groups get poor quality care, and this leads to worse health outcomes. Health officers are trying to solve those inequalities because this has threatened the total health of the whole nation (Race-The Power of Illusion).
In my view, to reduce the effects of racism, the administrators of institutions should ensure that they introduce a campaign to fight against racism (Pritscher 24). The campaign should target to eliminate any form of discrimination based on race in the institutions. Debates between whites and blacks on the subject of racism in the country should be highly encouraged. The objective is how to end this practice. Even scientists cannot determine the race of a person by extracting blood samples of people of different races, thus racism is only in the eyes of individuals and not in the blood. As the world changes, our ways of thinking should be changing too. The old thoughts of race supremacy should be replaced with new ideas. As depicted in the film, the hope of all humankind is to see that the issue of racism has come to an end.
Work Cited
Chin, Jean L. Racism in America. Westport, Conn: Praeger Publi, 2004. Print.
Pritscher, Conrad P. Skin Color: The Shame of Silence. , 2013. Internet resource.
Race - The Power Of An Illusion. California Newsreel, 2003. film.
Rosenblatt, Paul C. The Impact of Racism on African American Families: Literature As Social
Science. , 2014. Print.
