https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/08/05/americans-say-racism-is-a-bigger-problem-today-than-at-any-point-in-the-past-20-years/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-racism-still-flourishes/2015/06/26/d0e1f2e4-1b6e-11e5-ab92-c75ae6ab94b5_story.html
For years there has been racial tension between blacks and whites. The thought now is that it's even worse now than it was twenty years ago which is pretty concerning to a lot of people. Instead of moving past the color of our skin, more problems were only created. The color of peoples skin is still a clear issue in America and there are plenty of reasons for why it's still an issue. It's not like there's only one racism between whites and blacks but also people such as Hispanics, Asians, etc. We only really know of what we hear on the news and it's mainly dealing with issues between whites and blacks.
There has to be something else leading for these random outbursts of racism. What could they be? Is there hope for there not to be cases of racism in America? What could be some key factors in which racism between blacks and whites could be stopped?
As an Hispanic living in the US, I haven't been a victim of a racism, or maybe I was, but I wasn't offended. When I got here people asked questions that explicitly gave a sense me a sense of inferiority. "Is there internet in Mexico? Do you wear a poncho at home? Is it true that people ride donkeys instead of cars?" These sort of questions were kind of offensive, but I didn't over reacted. Clearly, the motivation behind these questions wasn't harming others, but only a proof of the lack of education and cultural awareness. Apparently, racism is present where education is missing. I'm not surprised that in a country where there is not enough cultural awareness something like racism flourishes within its boundaries. Therefore, I think that education is one of the key factors to diminish racism between whites and blacks and also against other cultures.
ReplyDeleteI think that it begins with a misunderstanding and an imagined difference or line put between races. People categorize themselves and then associate negative qualities they see in someone of another race to the whole race. It begins and continues on stereotypes when we should be working to eliminate them. By working in unison, living with, and existing with diverse groups of people, I think people can learn to grow and understand other races and cultures. This would prevent people from prolonging negative stereotypes and become more open to people of different backgrounds. I think that in our growing diverse country it may be hard at first for many to coexist with people they are not familiar with. But I think as time goes on and mixture and diversity everywhere is a norm, people will be able to work and live together without thinking twice about the race of the person next to them.
ReplyDeleteI think that it begins with a misunderstanding and an imagined difference or line put between races. People categorize themselves and then associate negative qualities they see in someone of another race to the whole race. It begins and continues on stereotypes when we should be working to eliminate them. By working in unison, living with, and existing with diverse groups of people, I think people can learn to grow and understand other races and cultures. This would prevent people from prolonging negative stereotypes and become more open to people of different backgrounds. I think that in our growing diverse country it may be hard at first for many to coexist with people they are not familiar with. But I think as time goes on and mixture and diversity everywhere is a norm, people will be able to work and live together without thinking twice about the race of the person next to them.
ReplyDeleteI think that one of the main reasons for these racial outbursts in the United States is that racism has never actually gone away. It may have calmed down for a number of years, but the issue with racial discrimination in our country is still prominent. I feel that there is no true answer to eliminating all of the cases of racism in America. The best possible scenario would be limiting the amount of occurrences. For now I think that we should work as a country to inform people about all of issues with race. If different races and cultures can begin to learn and work together, it will bode well for the future. It think that is first step we can take as a country to stop racism.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that racism will ever go away. It is something that is so ingrained in our country that it will always remain in some way shape or form, so there will always be outbursts. Right now, there is an outburst in racial issues and it seems as though it is a bigger problem now. But as history shows, there will be enough rebellion for a major change to happen. Then things will calm down, and the cycle repeats itself. There is no cure for racism, there will always be those who think they are better than everyone else. This makes them racist, they think they are better than those of difference races. Teaching people about the difference races and culture can definitely help to limit the amount of racism, but it will never stop it.
ReplyDeleteI feel as though some people simply dismiss racism today. I know many people who say they “don’t see skin color” or think that racism is an outdated concept because we have an African-American president. Keeping this in mind, we cannot move forward if people think the problem is already solved. Racism is not usually as obvious as it was 50 years ago, but it is still very much alive. Like Sergio mentioned, many people in the United States have a lack of culture awareness and are not educated enough about racism. I don’t know, however, if things are the worst they have ever been. A Gallup poll from July shows that virtually nothing has changed in terms of race relations over the past twenty years. I’m not saying this is good; I’m just saying things aren’t worse. Obviously progression has stalled and we have a long way to go in terms of understanding people who look or act differently than we do.
ReplyDeleteI can not see how racism will ever go away. In my opinion, the best that we can achieve is to be aware of our judgements of people and try to go against them. One way in which we can lessen the racism is to make people aware of white privilege. If you make people aware of the hardships that other people have and the benefits that others have. This will create an understanding of how their lives are affected by racism. I think that if you teach people abut white privilege then the effects of racism will decrease and the random outbursts may also decrease. Another way to decease the effects of racism is to bring racism to the forefront of our country. On today's news, unless a tragedy occurs we do not hear about these events. I think that, that creates a false sense of our country in that we don't see any racist acts so we believe it is not there. Altogether, I believe that things can get much better and that racism will decrease throughout our country but I do not see how it will every be eliminated.
ReplyDeleteI think if we do not even acknowledge race, then we can stop racism. Using descriptions using skin color seems to encourage racism in a way when related to a crime. Outbursts of racism could be caused by how we compare ourselves to others and focus on the differences instead of the similarities. There is obviously more outbursts of racism in the south compared to the north, because of American history. Going along with Sergio, I admire the ironic truth of how we call America the melting pot of races and cultural and yet there is racism and lack of education of different ethnicities. I would love to say that there is hope to be no more cases of racism in America, but it seems very unlikely. Some key factors in which racism between Caucasians and American Americans could be stopped is thinking about in history, what has American Americans done to Caucasians to hurt them? Really I cannot think of anything. Now what have Caucasians done to American Americans? I can name a lot, such as slavery and segregation. We could also compare, and only make comparisons on how they are like us, and how we are like them. Seeing the similarities will bring us together and bring understanding.
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