Racial Discrimination
In the contemporary world, people often face various kinds of challenges in the society: social contradictions between individuals or certain groups of people, social stratification, injustice, divergence of political views, gender inequality, etc. However, one of the most serious global problems in the modern society is racism. In the United States, racial discrimination has always been and remains one of the most significant problems. The first victims of racism were indigenous people - Indians. Further, racial discrimination also affected the black population of the country. The paper will discuss the problem of racial discrimination, its causes and ways of addressing it by using ib writing service https://papers-writings.net/best-ib-extended-essay-writing-service/
Racism is one of the international offenses. According to McNeil Smith and Fincham, “racism is a complex phenomenon stemming from a history of oppression that continues within various facets of today’s society”. Racism and racial discrimination include the racist ideology, attitudes based on racial prejudice, discriminatory behavior, structural organization and institutionalized practices that lead to racial inequality. Racism also includes the idea that such relationships between groups are justified morally and scientifically. Racial discrimination manifests in discriminatory legislation and practice. Racism is a theory that attributes superiority or inferiority to individual racial or ethnic groups. It recognizes the right of some people to dominate or infringes the rights of others. The realization of racist theories in practice is expressed in a policy of racial discrimination. It includes distinction (restriction, exclusion, or preference) based on color, race, national or ethnic origin, or descent that violates human rights and fundamental freedoms in the economic, political, cultural, social, and other spheres of public life.
Racism in the United States existed from the very beginning of the state. The society founded by white settlers, who were different in their national and religious characteristics from the indigenous people, was very biased against other groups. The victims of racism were non-white indigenous people and black slaves. Before slavery in colonial America became completely based on skin color, thousands of black slaves served the colonists together with Indian and white slaves. Sometimes, the blacks received freedom and land allotment after working off the term of slavery.
Significant progress in overcoming racism and racial discrimination in the United States began in the 1960s, when as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, significant political and socio-economic measures were taken to ensure equality and overcome the age-old chasm that separated African Americans, American Indians and other minorities from the mainstream of American life. At the same time, racism and racial discrimination still remain among the hottest topics of American public life. According to Sellers, Copeland-Linder, Martin, and Lewis, about 49% of the blacks experienced at least one racist event in their life. Even with the election of the first black president in the U.S. history, racism still continues to be one of the most acute problems. To some extent, the arrival of an African American to the post of the President of the country brought the problem of racism to a qualitatively new level. The election of Barack Obama for the post of the head of the state entailed a strong surge in manifestations of racial intolerance throughout the country. It would seem that such a reconciling factor as the election of an African American to presidency was a step which America has been attempting to make for almost 150 years. The election of an African American president should have been the final stage in eradicating racism in the country; however, it only further emphasized racial difference between American citizens.
The existence of racism in the society is based on many reasons, including intelligence and mentality of the ethnos. Other grounds for racism include economic factors and the living standard. Furthermore, social features, such as a low level of citizens’ culture and awareness are additional catalysts of racism. Economic issues and the inflow of emigrants to the state that produce additional competition for the main category of citizens in the country also contribute to the development of racism in the society. This contributes to the emergence of a racist myth that all the troubles and problems are caused by strangers.
There is also the presence of the so-called ethnocide in most people, which is manifested in the refusal of reunion with representatives of a culture which does not match their rhythms of their culture. Ethnocentricity phenomenon is especially distinctive for countries with the ethnocratic regime of government, where the governing ethnos holds the main posts and high positions in the state. The presence of objective sociological causes for the emergence of hatred and hostility towards other ethnic groups does not explain racist attitudes within a society. Therefore, one can draw a conclusion about the presence of a number of reasons that explain the tendency for racism and xenophobic attitudes in the psyche of individuals. With the most superficial glance at the problem, one can see that racism is one of the simplest ways to find the causes of failures and difficulties experienced by a particular society and state in certain historical periods of their development. In any country, there are a lot of unsolved problems, and the easiest way to solve them is to assign responsibility for failures to ‘others’.
People are already accustomed to white racism, which is discrimination against blacks by the white people. However, there is also black racism, which is called reverse racism. Black racism is an ideology which becomes common mainly in the USA and South Africa among the blacks and carries the idea of the superiority of blacks (Africans, African Americans) to Caucasians. It appeared as a response to white racism.
Racial discrimination negatively affects the development of the society. First, racism contributes to unequal redistribution of resources. Sanders-Phillips, Settles-Reaves, Walker, and Brownlow emphasize that racism is “the primary cause of group differences in material conditions (e.g. poverty, education, employment, and access to medical power) and power”. Another problem that is caused by racism is violence. In the past few years, conflicts that are motivated by ethnic hatred have increased.
In recent decades, racism has become increasingly strained. Racists divide people not only by race but also by their belonging to a particular culture or religion. From this point of view, a person becomes a slave of the dominant culture. Prohibition of love for one's own nation, ignorance of its history and culture contributed to lack of spirituality, emptiness and denial of universal values, degradation of the individual, increased aggressiveness, and hostility. Soulless attitude towards man has also been expressed in barbarous attitude towards the native nature, which is perceived only as a habitat. The reaction to the imposed non-national being is often the rapid growth of national selfishness and extremism. It should be remembered that any existing problem always lies in the depths of history. Nothing is motivated by the desire of people alone. It should not be forgotten that certain political or social conditions push every person to acquire certain opportunities and views. However, it is crucial to remember that modern people, regardless of the course of history, are required to maintain tolerance to the person of any nation. All large-scale, global, worldwide issues can be eradicated only if everyone starts from himself or herself, or rather finds the strength to overcome his or her prejudices towards people of another nationality, culture or religion. Racism is truly a relic of the past, which has not been removed from people’s lives yet.
Clearly, addressing these issues requires coordinated efforts of all stakeholders – the state, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and communities. The success of such efforts will be straightly proportional to the political will of the state to enact a system for the protection of fundamental rights and mechanisms to ensure effective implementation of these rights. Solanke emphasizes that there is a great role of media in shaping racial prejudices. Thus, additional measures such as educational programs in the field of human rights and public information campaigns are also needed to prevent the growth of intolerance and racist attitudes and promote respect and tolerance.
Racism and intolerance destroy the lives of individuals and communities, depriving individuals of the fundamental right to equality and non-discrimination and fomenting ethnic hatred. Fighting racism has become one of the most pressing issues on the international level. The principle of equality requires states to take special measures to eliminate the conditions that cause or contribute to the inculcation of racial discrimination. Proceeding from the fact that discrimination is a consequence of a combination of various factors, activities should be comprehensive, including economic, regulatory, information and other measures at various levels of social and labor management.
Thus, the problem of racism in America certainly remains to this day, but it takes new forms. Although there are a large number of institutions in the United States that develop programs and technologies to combat racially motivated crimes, the grounds of the problem are firmly established in the American society. Racial discrimination raises a number of challenges that prevent normal development of the society. Segregation is detrimental to the society and civil rights. The society that is dominated by racist ideology has some kind of problem. It can include a very low level of life because people tend to blame representatives of other races for their troubles. It is crucial to deal not with racism itself but with its causes.
Racial Discrimination
In the contemporary world, people often face various kinds of challenges in the society: social contradictions between individuals or certain groups of people, social stratification, injustice, divergence of political views, gender inequality, etc. However, one of the most serious global problems in the modern society is racism. In the United States, racial discrimination has always been and remains one of the most significant problems. The first victims of racism were indigenous people - Indians. Further, racial discrimination also affected the black population of the country. The paper will discuss the problem of racial discrimination, its causes and ways of addressing it.
Racism is one of the international offenses. According to McNeil Smith and Fincham, “racism is a complex phenomenon stemming from a history of oppression that continues within various facets of today’s society”. Racism and racial discrimination include the racist ideology, attitudes based on racial prejudice, discriminatory behavior, structural organization and institutionalized practices that lead to racial inequality. Racism also includes the idea that such relationships between groups are justified morally and scientifically. Racial discrimination manifests in discriminatory legislation and practice. Racism is a theory that attributes superiority or inferiority to individual racial or ethnic groups. It recognizes the right of some people to dominate or infringes the rights of others. The realization of racist theories in practice is expressed in a policy of racial discrimination. It includes distinction (restriction, exclusion, or preference) based on color, race, national or ethnic origin, or descent that violates human rights and fundamental freedoms in the economic, political, cultural, social, and other spheres of public life.
Racism in the United States existed from the very beginning of the state. The society founded by white settlers, who were different in their national and religious characteristics from the indigenous people, was very biased against other groups. The victims of racism were non-white indigenous people and black slaves. Before slavery in colonial America became completely based on skin color, thousands of black slaves served the colonists together with Indian and white slaves. Sometimes, the blacks received freedom and land allotment after working off the term of slavery.
Significant progress in overcoming racism and racial discrimination in the United States began in the 1960s, when as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, significant political and socio-economic measures were taken to ensure equality and overcome the age-old chasm that separated African Americans, American Indians and other minorities from the mainstream of American life. At the same time, racism and racial discrimination still remain among the hottest topics of American public life. According to Sellers, Copeland-Linder, Martin, and Lewis, about 49% of the blacks experienced at least one racist event in their life. Even with the election of the first black president in the U.S. history, racism still continues to be one of the most acute problems. To some extent, the arrival of an African American to the post of the President of the country brought the problem of racism to a qualitatively new level. The election of Barack Obama for the post of the head of the state entailed a strong surge in manifestations of racial intolerance throughout the country. It would seem that such a reconciling factor as the election of an African American to presidency was a step which America has been attempting to make for almost 150 years. The election of an African American president should have been the final stage in eradicating racism in the country; however, it only further emphasized racial difference between American citizens.
The existence of racism in the society is based on many reasons, including intelligence and mentality of the ethnos. Other grounds for racism include economic factors and the living standard. Furthermore, social features, such as a low level of citizens’ culture and awareness are additional catalysts of racism. Economic issues and the inflow of emigrants to the state that produce additional competition for the main category of citizens in the country also contribute to the development of racism in the society. This contributes to the emergence of a racist myth that all the troubles and problems are caused by strangers.
There is also the presence of the so-called ethnocide in most people, which is manifested in the refusal of reunion with representatives of a culture which does not match their rhythms of their culture. Ethnocentricity phenomenon is especially distinctive for countries with the ethnocratic regime of government, where the governing ethnos holds the main posts and high positions in the state. The presence of objective sociological causes for the emergence of hatred and hostility towards other ethnic groups does not explain racist attitudes within a society. Therefore, one can draw a conclusion about the presence of a number of reasons that explain the tendency for racism and xenophobic attitudes in the psyche of individuals. With the most superficial glance at the problem, one can see that racism is one of the simplest ways to find the causes of failures and difficulties experienced by a particular society and state in certain historical periods of their development. In any country, there are a lot of unsolved problems, and the easiest way to solve them is to assign responsibility for failures to ‘others’.
People are already accustomed to white racism, which is discrimination against blacks by the white people. However, there is also black racism, which is called reverse racism. Black racism is an ideology which becomes common mainly in the USA and South Africa among the blacks and carries the idea of the superiority of blacks (Africans, African Americans) to Caucasians. It appeared as a response to white racism.
Racial discrimination negatively affects the development of the society. First, racism contributes to unequal redistribution of resources. Sanders-Phillips, Settles-Reaves, Walker, and Brownlow emphasize that racism is “the primary cause of group differences in material conditions (e.g. poverty, education, employment, and access to medical power) and power”. Another problem that is caused by racism is violence. In the past few years, conflicts that are motivated by ethnic hatred have increased.
In recent decades, racism has become increasingly strained. Racists divide people not only by race but also by their belonging to a particular culture or religion. From this point of view, a person becomes a slave of the dominant culture. Prohibition of love for one's own nation, ignorance of its history and culture contributed to lack of spirituality, emptiness and denial of universal values, degradation of the individual, increased aggressiveness, and hostility. Soulless attitude towards man has also been expressed in barbarous attitude towards the native nature, which is perceived only as a habitat. The reaction to the imposed non-national being is often the rapid growth of national selfishness and extremism. It should be remembered that any existing problem always lies in the depths of history. Nothing is motivated by the desire of people alone. It should not be forgotten that certain political or social conditions push every person to acquire certain opportunities and views. However, it is crucial to remember that modern people, regardless of the course of history, are required to maintain tolerance to the person of any nation. All large-scale, global, worldwide issues can be eradicated only if everyone starts from himself or herself, or rather finds the strength to overcome his or her prejudices towards people of another nationality, culture or religion. Racism is truly a relic of the past, which has not been removed from people’s lives yet.
Clearly, addressing these issues requires coordinated efforts of all stakeholders – the state, international and regional organizations, non-governmental organizations and communities. The success of such efforts will be straightly proportional to the political will of the state to enact a system for the protection of fundamental rights and mechanisms to ensure effective implementation of these rights. Solanke emphasizes that there is a great role of media in shaping racial prejudices. Thus, additional measures such as educational programs in the field of human rights and public information campaigns are also needed to prevent the growth of intolerance and racist attitudes and promote respect and tolerance.
Racism and intolerance destroy the lives of individuals and communities, depriving individuals of the fundamental right to equality and non-discrimination and fomenting ethnic hatred. Fighting racism has become one of the most pressing issues on the international level. The principle of equality requires states to take special measures to eliminate the conditions that cause or contribute to the inculcation of racial discrimination. Proceeding from the fact that discrimination is a consequence of a combination of various factors, activities should be comprehensive, including economic, regulatory, information and other measures at various levels of social and labor management.
Thus, the problem of racism in America certainly remains to this day, but it takes new forms. Although there are a large number of institutions in the United States that develop programs and technologies to combat racially motivated crimes, the grounds of the problem are firmly established in the American society. Racial discrimination raises a number of challenges that prevent normal development of the society. Segregation is detrimental to the society and civil rights. The society that is dominated by racist ideology has some kind of problem. It can include a very low level of life because people tend to blame representatives of other races for their troubles. It is crucial to deal not with racism itself but with its causes.
