Discrimination And Racism Like The Same Things

“Difference is the beginning of synergy” says Stephen R. Covey. Synergy means the cooperation of two or more different organization to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects. Knowing that there’s a possibility of a bigger and sturdier outcome once we all work together as a united nation, we should strengthen our relationship regardless of our differences. Yet why do we let these very ‘differences’ get the best of us? We judge each other with similarity as the top priority in our criteria. From this, anyone can see the impact of discrimination and racism to the betterment of our own society or of our own world, rather.

Discrimination is the act of treating a person unfairly because of who they are, who they’ve chosen to become, and because they possess difference in their own characteristics. It is judgement based merely on color, race, gender, age, etc. It is the act of compromising the ability of an individual, because of these mere judgements. Despite having layers and layers of laws that are focused in the eradication of this hideous act, little, maybe not even a single concrete improvement, can be seen nor felt. An example of the said laws is the Equality Act 2010. In a nutshell, we can define this law as the law that protects people from discrimination. In a broader sense, Equality Act 2010 replaced previous anti-discrimination laws with a single Act, making the law easier to understand and strengthening protection in some situations. It sets out the different ways in which it is unlawful to treat someone. With the approval of this law, the rate of discrimination is expected to descend. And with the proper discernment of the purpose of Equality Act of 2010, an improvement is presumed.

The Philippines is a great example of the overgrowing and despicable practice of discrimination. The never-ending issues of the discrimination of gender and the capabilities that have utterly been disregarded just because of a person’s age. These are just a few of the many examples of discrimination present in the Philippines, what more if it is the whole world? Of course, given that the Philippines is experiencing this horror we can say that there are a lot of room for refinement. With that being said, The Philippines also has it’s set of laws. One example is the Comprehensive anti-discrimination law or Senate Bill 948. This law “seeks to penalize discriminatory practices based on age, racial or ethnic origin, religious belief or activity, political inclination or conviction, social class, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expressions, marital or relationship status, disability, HIV status, health status or medical history, language, physical features, or other status. It seeks to minimize any and all forms of discrimination.” Discrimination according to this law is “rated as highly impactful or likely and one of the most highly interconnected risks, and is gaining in prominence in perceptions of likelihood and impact.” And offenders of this crime will face imprisonment from one year to six years or fined not more than Php 500,000, or maybe even both.

At this rate, you might be wondering what the impact of discrimination in our country is. The only visible impact shown by the media nowadays is the impact on the emotional side of an individual that is a victim of discrimination. Nevertheless, we become ignorant as we turn a blind eye on this subject matter. The impact of discrimination is not a one-time-one-person kind of thing, it can affect a whole country. “The economic risks of unemployment and underemployment have also increased in both likelihood and impact over the past two years.” Being compromised of unity, it paralyzes the social capability of one country. Therefore, barricading it and containing it of the potential that lies beyond one country itself. Sonny Angara, a Filipino politician says that “Any form of discrimination threatens social instability and economic progress in our country. It is our hope that through this bill, discrimination will be eliminated.” This is the aim of Comprehensive anti-discrimination law or Senate Bill 948. “If we treat each Filipino equally then this means there also will be equal opportunity for all. We must protect every Filipino against all forms of discrimination in order to promote equal protection and equal opportunity,” Angara said. Equal opportunities and equal rights, befitting of a country right?

Racism, on the other hand, is the discrimination of against someone of a different race. It is the discrimination of people of color, like Asians which are deemed to have “yellow” skin and Black Americans or Africans that have a dark complexion. This is not as evident in the Philippines as discrimination, but it has long been a part of the issues studied here in this country. Like discrimination, in order to control or prevent racism, there have been laws that are formed. The Racial Discrimination Act 1975, a law that prohibits discrimination and hatred of other races. This also prohibit any act that might offend, hurt or humiliate groups of people with a different race. It prevents people from posting or uploading offensive materials on the internet and from saying offensive comments in public places against people of color or people with a different race.

Discrimination and racism constantly come hand in hand. When the act of racism is in place, one can see discrimination peeping just around the corner. The act of being treated indifferently just because you’re different, that’s discrimination and racism. Of course, this does not invalidate the truth that there is something wrong and intolerable when it comes to both matters.