The Biggest Problem of Mankind: Racism
Since several centuries, racism remained a prominent topic in American literature. The intensity and implications of racism transitioned drastically from 1700s-2000s. The threat of racism has occurred across the world and has caused widespread disparities and differences among communities, ethnicities, races, and religions. A critical appraisal of the matter reflects racism has a significant impact on the welfare and establishment of societies. Racism played a big role in everyone’s life whether they see it or not. Bias, religion, color, discrimination, and prejudice have remained the guiding principles of racism as observed in the present and historic content. It is essential to discuss the nature and impact of racism in the contemporary era and in the past.
In the 1700s, Racism began to grow rapidly in certain places in Europe. During this time period in Europe, there was a decrease in workers, and no one had a place to turn to or find people to work for them. Black people became the working class for the Europeans and other states advanced to pursue the footsteps of the Europeans to suppress black and deem them inferior. The social status of blacks became property, not people. Laws were passed such as ones allowing for slavery and allowing harm to be inflicted on slaves. Europeans treated “all servants imported and brought into the country who were not Christians in their native country shall be accounted and be slaves.” Racism began to impact everyone around the world as more slave laws began to rise.
In the 1800s, American slaveholders began using the bible to justify their actions of having slaves. Even though some knew that having slaves and performing these acts were wrong, slaveholders would use the bible to justify their actions. Slaveholders would use Genesis 9: 25-27, (“Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves, will he be to his brothers. “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend Japheth’s territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”) to allow their slave actions. Pro-slavery Polemicists would constantly search the Bible to find more verses that would justify their actions. The church says, “Even a parent abuses, when looked at in the right light, It works out for the best,”. No matter what Americans did, they used texts in the bible to justify their wrongdoings. Although the 19th century had a horrible outcome for slaves the 20th century was going to bring up one of the most controversial court cases in history.
In the 1900s, the most contentious topic was that there was discrimination in schools that would not stop. This would turn into one of the most influential court cases ever. Brown vs. The Board of Education in Topeka Kansas was one of the most impactful court cases of the 19th century. Brown decided to go against the Board of Education to fight the right of “Separate but equal” because his daughter was denied into a white school and instead had to go to school miles away. Linda Brown and Thurgood Marshall went against the Supreme Court in dividing schools because it was against the 14th amendment, all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction. Therefore, they are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside. Thurgood suggested that “Segregated schools are inherently unequal”. The case was known as the very first experience where a potential voice was raised against the radical practice of racism in the United States of America.
To this day in the 21th-century acts of violence and racism are still occurring. New Zealand was struck by a violent act against its own people. A mosque was fired upon by a man who killed 50 people. This is why the war against racism needs to be fought and won. People need to learn to love one another not hate because then acts like this will continue and none desires to witness it. In Asia, most of the instances of racism are based on religious grounds, and religion is utilized as a source to manipulate people to gain personal motives. In other parts of the world, African societies and black people are still looked down upon by the white. Similar instances are observed across the world in different regions. It is essential to highlight racism is manifested in each region where the separation of sects and deeds often create controversy. Moreover, the division based on class and color has been the dominant theme of racism. The essential traits of racism are deeply rooted in the societies and are described as, “because these are class actions, because of the wide applicability of this decision, and because of the great variety of local conditions, the formulation of decrees in these cases presents problems of considerable complexity”.
Another critical aspect is the enhanced culture of racism on the internet platforms. Technology is inflicted substantial harm to communities and the youth is the most vulnerable entity. Cyber racism involves looking down upon others and raising the emblem of white supremacy on internet platforms. Prejudice and bias have occupied the paradigm of social networking sites. For instance, a person can post a radical racist post or comment on Facebook and can be appreciated by others who share a similar set of thoughts. As suggested by the inventor of the World Wide Web (WWW), “Humanity connected by technology on the web is functioning in a dystopian way. We have online abuse, prejudice, bias, polarization, fake news, there are lots of ways in which it is broken”.
To conclude, racism is a reoccurring act which is prevalent across the world. We have fought it over and over again, we still have a long way to go. Racism began in Europe as black became the dedicated hard-working class. American slaveholders began using the Bible to justify their actions against slavery. Brown vs. The Board of Education became one of the most influential court cases ever brought to light. Acts of Racism continue to occur today as a mosque was shot and ended with 50 people killed. Racism is reoccurring and still lives in our society no matter who we think we are. Racism impacts everyone directly and indirectly whether we notice it or not it still harms us in some way, this is why it needs to end. It harms everyone regardless of their superiority, inferiority, and class. The need of the hour is to eradicate the menace of racism through potential campaigns and awareness programs on the mass media and the support of the people. It has been destroying the emotions, lives, and beliefs of people which needs to be stopped and removed for good. The integral advancement of society is the key to overcoming these issues related to prejudice, bias, and discrimination. Since these issues are protracted, it is a challenging task to curb them and will require a strategic approach and stringent laws to abrogate racism from the world.
