Racism is the belief that certain backgrounds are superior or inferior that others. Racism takes different forms such as name calling, verbal abuse, offensive jokes, media commentaries that induces hostility amongst groups, or through discrimination from color, religion or ethical backgrounds (Collins, and David 1999, pp. 7). Racism results into acts of violence, discrimination, psychological torture, lack of self esteem, and in extreme cases physical abuse.
Racism occurs at institutional or systematic levels through practices, conditions, and policies that disadvantage some members of a population (Utsey 1998, pp. 269). It is mostly manifested through prejudice and unconscious bias leading to exclusion of target population from accessing services, education, social services, or employment. While some racist behavior may be directed against some members of a society or ethnic group some people may face it more regularly, depending on their locations, more than others.
Mostly racists discriminate people as a concealing veil to their fear of failure. They react with fear to those who appear as threats of survival or different from them under thinking and intelligence capacities. They become uncomfortable from fear, and end up causing discomforts and pain to others. Instead of making attempts to deal with the differences, or consider such people as resources for development of ideas, they construct differential boarders amongst themselves.
This makes the establishment of a concrete decision to solving racism an unattainable. Solving the racism menace may just be a reality that most of us will never witness. The fact that humankind is in progression makes individual’s ways of thinking complex as it does to the societies, and nations at large. Traditional values may not be forgotten but keep on being replaced by new values, and their dominance reduces. Tough most of these values may be applicable in many scenarios; they only act as platforms of making decisions while the new ways dominate. This remains the fight of mankind curbing racism so that past values where racism was viewed as moral are dominated by new perception of racism being an immoral behavior.
Racism affects both individuals and communities development in a psychological and economical perspective respectively. Racism leads to poor mental and physical health, reduced productivity among students and employees facing the act, and sometimes to reduced life expectancy (Collins, and David 1999, pp. 12). It presents barriers to economic and social development, which contribute to social entrenchment and exclusion. The most conspicuous effect is on its generational evolvement where those facing it currently inherited it from their families.
Racism denies societal members the feeling of equality and being valued. It leads to seclusion and isolation of some communities from developmental matters creating resentment amongst these members. It adds to anxiety and psychological stress that impacts on family and community productivity. It prevents groups from interacting and communicating leading to increased fear, and societal discomfort (Collins, and David 1999, pp. 13). From the discrimination, these communities lack developmental resources that contribute to their low economic status that further the discrimination.
Racism affects economic integration and integration. The perception that some people or community cannot integrate with others, for reasons such as color, makes it difficult to integrate in foreign markets. An illustration may be western states than cannot trade with people or economies from Africa as a result of color disparities. in America the ‘white’ people view the ‘black’ people as poor, and despise them from their color. Bringing up these differences, and changing them up into a solution challenges communities interested in globalization.
I might not have been a victim of racism but observing it happen to people known to me affects my perception on the advantages of diversity. Most of my friends have undergone racism, and this affects the levels of trust they put on anyone thought to be a racist. Most of them feel uncomfortable in class or in any other social places as they feel unwanted and unacceptable by the society. Some of them get offended by the humiliations they receive from racists or feel frustrated to be part of society. This affects their productivity and school performance as they are even denied access to educational material. The most infuriating element of racism is that those who practice it do not know the reasons behind the acts as they have been raised under such circumstances (Utsey 1998, pp. 270). Being a member of the same society where racism is practiced I am disappointed that society has made some of my colleagues at school mistrust me since they consider me as a member of a superior group.
Many organizations, communities, and individuals have been undertaking different campaigns in attempts to stop racism. The Stand against Racism, for example is a movement under the YMCA that creates awareness on eliminating racism. Other organizations in the region advocating for elimination and prevention of racism include Anti-Racist Action, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Friends Stand United initiative, Socialist Avenue, and Civil Rights Congress, among others.
These organizations aim at delivering the message on the effects of racism to individuals, communities, and economies, and the need to respect each other’s originalities and perceptions. They force effective self-regulations to guard against racism. Some f the means used in passing the message include media, and social sites that have become effective in the modern setting.
In Europe, the self regulation measure where every individual is held accountable and liable for events of racism seems to be effective. In US there is need for a relaxed and interpreted First Amendment so that cases of violence and crime to affected people may reduce. Other activities incorporated in majority of organizations against racism include exerting political pressure among leaders so that they act by examples. Freedom of speech is also another policy where racists are denied the rights from a legal point so that they lower their discriminative acts.
Watching some of my friends suffer from the effects of racism, I have been involved in motivating those affected by advising them not to internalize the abuses. I have been encouraging my friends in making them realize that they do not have any problems and they shoes report in case they are faced by the problem. In the future, I intend to collect books that discuss the issue, its effects, and how to deal with racism. I will then encourage my friends to read these books so that they gain the knowledge on the issue as most of them do not understand the reasons behind their acts. From this awareness most readers will view the act in a different angle and rectify their attitude.
This strategy may be limited on getting a set of books on racism, and convincing my friends on the benefits of reading these materials. In addition, racism has prevailed in most regions in the state, and other parts of the world. The strategy may only be manageable within my reach, but getting into regional and global locations may require funding and support from other organizations.
Bibliography.
Collins, Chiquita A., and David R. Williams. "Segregation and mortality: the deadly effects of racism?." Sociological Forum. Vol. 14. No. 3. Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers, 1999.
Utsey, Shawn O. "Assessing the stressful effects of racism: A review of instrumentation." Journal of Black Psychology 24.3 (1998): 269-288.
