Racism: Definition, Impact and Manifestation
Racism is difficult to define in any one way as it can be seen as different things in different contexts, thus many debates have been had over what the definition of racism really is. This racism definition essay will explain this social issue.
Albert Memmi, defines racism as ‘a generalizing definition and valuation of biological differences, whether real or imaginary, to the advantage of the one defining and deploying them, and to be detriment of the one subjected to that act of definition, to the end of justifying (social or physical) hostility and assault.’ Similarly, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in Australia defines racism as ‘an ideology that gives expression to myths about other racial and ethnic groups, that develops and renders inferior those groups, that reflects and is perpetuated by deeply rooted historical, social, cultural and power inequalities in society. Racism in it’s lightest form would be the racial comments and slanders that people may make, in it’s harshest light, racism could result in physical harassment and injury. If racism is eradicated from society starting with the younger generations, the issue of racism will remain for many years to come. Despite the decrease in racism in today’s society compared to twenty-thirty years ago, racism is still prevalent in communities around Australia and desperately needs to be expunged.
According to the National Anti-Racism Strategy written by the Australian Human Rights Commission, anyone from any racial group can be subjected to racism and discrimination but those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander decent experience racism and discrimination the most. ‘Australians from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds also confront prejudice and discrimination on a regular basis.’ The Anti-Racism Strategy aims to bring awareness to the unacceptable behaviour of racism in the community. Despite Australia being a multicultural country, racism is not a thing of the past and is still prevalent in society today.
Priest et al discusses in ‘You are not born being racist, are you?’ that the ‘attitudes toward racial, ethnic and cultural diversity, including racist attitudes, are developed through complex ethnic-racial socialisation processes. Ethnic-racial socialisation refers to the processes by which children and young people learn about racial, ethnic and cultural diversity and includes verbal and non-verbal messages and behaviours about group membership and identity, social stratification and intergroup and intragroup relations.’ The article continues to elaborate that ‘adults are critical influences on children’s understandings of themselves and their worlds, through both implicit and explicit socialisation processes. In particular, parents play a pivotal role in young children’s ethnic-racial socialisation, and are key influences on children’s development of ethnic identity, intergroup attitudes and behaviours as well as understandings and responses to racial and ethnic diversity and racism.’ As parents are the first influencers of racism, it is important that parents are teaching their children not to be racist but with the older generations, it is difficult to re-educate generation x the implications of being racist.
Teachers are also listed as one of the most influential people on children’s understanding on race and ethnicity by their actions in the classroom. Priest et al states that Brown and Bigler found that situational cues such as the teacher favouring or ignoring a particular student because of their race or ethnicity influenced children’s perceptions of racism.
As teachers and parents have the most influence on children with regards to the understanding of racism and multiculturalism, it is clear that educating children and young people of the issues with racism and the history behind it is important. With teachers being at the forefront of dealing with issues of racism in schools, it is important that teachers are fully equipped in educating students appropriately in hopes to eliminate racist behaviour in the school and wider communities.
In order to teach students about multiculturalism, community, belonging and racism, teachers need to be thoroughly educated in issues with racism and how to teach their students about multiculturalism. Scrimgeour and Ovsienko’s ‘Anti-Racism pedagogy in pre-service teacher education’ explores Chizik and Chizik’s theory that ‘life experiences and pre-existing knowledge of many pre-service teachers provides an inadequate foundation for the deployment of critical pedagogies capable of confronting the reproduction of educational inequalities based on class, racialization and gender’. They argue that teachers need to be properly trained in dealing with matters of racism and that prior experiences are insufficient when teaching a new generation the social issues with being racist.
There are several government agencies that advocate for anti-racism. From these agencies are many government initiatives that provide teachers and communities with support to teach students about racism and equality, considering Australia is such a multicultural country. Educating young Australians is the key to eliminating racism in the generations to come. Projects, such as ‘Racism - no way’ are a project that is run by the NSW Department of Education and Communities for all education systems across Australia. This website provides teachers with resources to educate their students about the different types of racism that they may encounter in and out of the school community and how to deal with it. Educating young people about multicultural and intercultural perspectives, history and the very many cultures in Australia will assist in the eradicating of racism in these communities young people grow up in. The Australian Human Rights Commission started the ‘what you say matters’ campaign to bring awareness to racism to young people in schools. The anti-racism ‘What you say matters’ campaign video addresses the types of racist comments that students might hear in the school community and encourages students to speak up and make it known that racism is not okay. It makes students think about what they have said in the past, making them aware of what they say and that it matters.
Projects similar to those of ‘Racism – no way’, ‘Racism – it stops with me’ and the ‘What you say matters’ campaign are all designed to build awareness and have a plethora of resources that are readily available for teachers in the classroom teaching their students about racism.
The Victorian Department of Education website also provides a wealth of resources that coincide with the course curriculum for each method area of teaching, enabling teachers to teach about racism across curriculums.
There is also a range of information from the Department of Education educating teachers on how they can deal with conflict and links to projects and campaigns that are working alongside the government to promote diversity.
Australian schools try to reduce racism by educating their students on the implications of racism and the effects it causes. Schools encourage their teachers to utilize the resources available to them from the various initiatives mentioned above and more. Along side educating students, many schools implement policies and strategies to make their school a community where students and teachers alike feel a sense of belonging, where they work and learn.
Jihad Dib, the school principal at Punchbowl High School, NSW, spoke about the school’s transformation over the last eight years since he became principal. In the TED Talk in Sydney, he explains how Punchbowl high was a school known for fighting and racism. There was no sense of community and students were only there because they had to be. Many of the students and the community would refer to the school as ‘Punchbowl Prison’ with barbwire around the gates and metal bars covering all the windows. As newly appointed principal, Jihad Dib knew that things had to change if the school was going to survive.
His goal was to make students and teachers at Punchbowl high a second family, where students and teachers would go and help each other out, be there for one another and share support.
The first things he changed in the school were the appearance of the campus. Making the school more inviting and a place where students would want to be meant that they felt less like it was a place they were being held captive. The teachers and their mentalities and goals for these students were the next change made. For Punchbowl high, the teachers needed to band together to form a united front, with clear standards across the board, sending a transparent message to the students of this high school.
This sense of community and consistency amongst the teaching staff is important if a message is being sent. Many schools lack the coherence that Punchbowl high has when spreading awareness of racism. Some teachers are not strict enough when encountering racism in it’s lightest form, therefore sending the message that racial slurs and comments are acceptable. Utilizing the ‘one for all, and all for one’ mentality allows students in a school community to understand the expectations of their actions and sets a standard to which they will abide by.
Punchbowl high school has started an array of programs, during out of school hours that encourage participation of different students with different talents. These programs give the students a sense of purpose and belonging whilst doing something that they are good at. Students of punchbowl high have teachers that work with students individually, encouraging each and everyone to strive for something better. Many students in high schools fly under the radar and are not encouraged enough to participate in school activities in fear of being singled out for a range of reasons. Students need to feel that sense of belonging to their school community, that they are able to contribute something to be apart of the school. A safe place where they don't need to be ashamed of who or what they are.
Scarvelis et al’s ‘Do schools promote social inclusion?’ interviews Thai-born adoptee students who moved to Australia during their schooling years. Many found it difficult to fit in to the schooling community in primary school with little to no English ability. Although many of them found it easier when attending high school, this was also when they experienced the most racism from their peers for being racially different. Students found some sort of belonging from similar peers and despite the projects and campaigns promoting anti-racism; there was still discriminatory behaviour evident from these students’ peers. These students never felt safe to be themselves and that sense of belonging that they needed to strive in high school.
Lawrence states that ‘when inequality grows within society, several major problems are likely to emerge. Shrinking opportunity, reduced economic efficiency, reduced investment in public goods such as education, a wide range of heath and social problems and reduced trust and participation in civil activities’ therefore eradicating racism, removing hierarchies and social superiority will create a better, more efficient growing generation of young people. So whilst schools are utilizing external resources from various government initiated projects and campaigns, and having policies in place to try to make their school a community where everyone has a sense of belonging, their downfall would be the lack of a united front from the teaching staff towards the students. Setting a clear standard and expectations of student behaviour and zero tolerance for exclusion and discriminatory actions.
In conclusion, inequality and racism is a recipe for a never growing community. Racism is learnt from parents, teachers and socialization; and whilst schools in Australia are working towards building a community without racism by educating young people from an early age and developing a safe school environment with a sense of community and belonging, teaching staff still have a long way to go in order to eliminate all forms of racism in schools, starting with a collected standard and expectation of the students with regards to racism and exclusion, followed by the support and education of parents and people in the wider community of the school.
