Racism Research Paper: The Americas Civil Rights Movement (Essay Sample)

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Racism
Introduction
Race is a system of classification that is used to categorize human beings into distinct and large groups or populations by cultural, genetic, anatomical, ethnic, geographical, linguistic, social, historical, and religious affiliation. Race was originally used to refer to groups of people or populations that speak a common language, and then to denote national or international affiliations (Fredrickson 20-21). People began using the term to relate to physical traits that were observable in the 17th Century. Such uses of the term ‘race’ promoted hierarchies that were favorable to distinct ethnic groups. The term was often used in the taxonomic sense, from the beginning 19th Century to denote human populations that were defined by phenotype and genetically differentiated. Conceptions of the society and groupings of races began varying (Locascio 310-311). It involved folk taxonomies that defined crucial types of people based on perceived traits. However, scientists have refuted biological essentialism and discouraged racial explanations for collective differentiation in both behavioral and physical traits. However, racism is the credence help that a specific race is inferior or superior to another. It is the perception that an individual’s moral and social traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. Racial separatism is the belief that different races should remain apart and segregated from one another most of the time based on racism (Fredrickson 23-24). This paper seeks to discuss racism.
Racism entails the belief in racial separatism and differences, acting as a justification for unequal treatment, discrimination of people from that race. Racism is often used negatively and is normally associated with race-based violence, oppression, prejudice, discrimination or dislike. The vice, racism, since the human history, has been in existence. It has been used to infer that one person is less than human because of language, skin color, place of birth, customs or any other factor that allegedly reveals the human basic nature of that kind of person. In the history of human beings, racism has influenced slavery, legal codes, wars, and the formation of nations (Nowell 680-681). During the past 500 to 1000 years, racism in Western powers towards non-Westerners has impacted the history of human beings more than any other form of racism. An example of racism by Westerners was slavery, specifically the enslavement of Africans. The enslavement of Africans was achieved because white Europeans believed that Africans were inferior white Europeans, and less human. The white Europeans and their descendants attributed the abilities and characteristics of Africans to their race. They believed that they were superior to Black Africans. Discrimination based on racism has been used as a powerful weapon encouraging hatred and fear of others in times of wars and conflicts, as well as during economic downturns (Lipsitz 40-41).
Racism is a very touchy subject for some populations or groups, as concerns over free speech come into play. Some people have argued that addressing racial prejudice and discrimination is just but statements and that free speech should let people air views like that without obstruction or restriction. Others have, however, come up to argue that words on racial prejudice or discrimination can result in some very serious and dire consequences (Locascio 312-313). A good example is the Nazi government policies. It is significant to note that racism entails both discrimination and prejudice based on social views of biological differences between populations or groups of people. Racism assumes the form of social practices, actions or beliefs, or political systems that consider races to be inherently ranked as inferior or superior over each other, based on presumed shared inheritable abilities, traits, or qualities. People have used this to treat others differently (Lipsitz 43-44). Racism has a significant impact on people. Psychologists have linked impacts of racism to mental problems. Racism impact both physical and mental health. Studies have documented adverse effects of racial discrimination; one is frequency of racist incidents another is to delve into the psychological symptoms such as anxiety, depression, paranoia and somatization that may be of consequence of such encounters. In addition, long-term experience of racial discrimination impact quality of life and increase in generic life stress (Fredrickson 39).
Racism also saw the rising of movements such as the America’s Civil Rights Movement that ran for several years. There were several issues that were faced in creating equal rights for all citizens during the civil rights movement of the early 19th century (1900-1940). There were issues of racial discrimination in employment and racial segregation in schools; there were consistent threats and lynching of the blacks. In 1900, lynching became a virtual fact of life and a method of doing away with or intimidating African Americans. For example, between the years 1886 and 1900, there were over 2,500 cases of lynching in the country (Lipsitz 33-34). However, the opponents of racism developed strategies to turn the public support against the racism that was institutionalized in the country, and secure law reforms in the United States substantively. Many people, thousands, were reprimanded and detained in nonviolent protests as images of public confrontations inspired public support for the objectives of the movement. Hundreds of thousand public got involved in many marches, voter registration drives and boycotts throughout the United States South (Hardie & Tyson 83-84). Civil Rights Movement aided in the spawning of national crisis that forced the federal government to intervene. The federal government faced pressures to overturn laws on segregation in the southern states, end legal discrimination in education, housing and employment, and restore voting rights for African Americans. Studies show that the blacks who were engaged in defense-related jobs, for example, the ones who were in World War II abroad witnessed minimal oppression related to race than those who stayed in the South. Many of these black soldiers returned to their homes to fight racism (Kivel 50-51).
At the end of the war, the proponents of the civil rights welcomed more signs of liberal change. Through waging a Cold War to curb communism, President Harry S. Truman recognized that racial discrimination in their midst contradicted the claims by Americans that they were leading a free world against discrimination and oppression (Nowell 667-668). Due to his hopes to win the black votes in the 1948 election, President Harry S. Truman orders a desegregation of the armed forces. He also called for the advancement of civil rights through federal laws. Even though the Congress rejected all his attempted appeals for legislation, the moves made by President Harry S. Truman were noteworthy in the civil rights movement (Kivel 53-54). It was because not one American president ever made such an effort since reconstruction. Civil rights activists continued to operate on grassroots and local levels. They continued to press for the termination of segregation...