Background Information Facts And Figures About Racism (Research Paper Sample)

Racism
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Background Information on Racism
Day by day global issues seem to maintain a rapid increase in the world. These global issues are seen happening in most of the countries in the world and are seen having serious impacts on the people and the society at large both directly and indirectly. Such global issues include crime, economic development, racism, tribalism, unemployment, drug abuse and the list is endless. Racism has become a serious global issue which is happening everyday almost every country causing somber consequences to the people, society and the overall world population who happen to be victims of racism. These effects include unfair treatment, or conflicts that would result to war. Racism is some form of discrimination due to beliefs that certain characteristics in different people are inclined by their race and that certain races are better than others.
Racism is seen to happen mainly due to the obduracy and high levels of unawareness that exists in various groups of people in the society. In fact racists feel that people of other races that is not their own are not good as them or they do not deserve better treatment than them. Such people are full of pride and they want their races to be praised while on the other hand putting in too much effort towards discriminating other people of races different from theirs. Racism often occurs due to various reasons which could be, one, these people who turn out to be racists were born and raised in a racist society or possibly that people from foreign races did hostile things to other people of their or other races hence some sort of revenge or taking caution. This paper will therefore, discuss in detail the global issue racism, the situation in the world, its causes, effects and the solutions being implemented to solve this global issue.
Facts and figures about racism
There exist facts about racism all over the world from studies, research and surveys conducted on the same. For instance according to biology, they say race divides people based on genetic factors all over the world that are responsible for the existence of differences in physical appearances such as the varying skin tones. Evidently, human beings have been divided into races both socially and genetically CITATION Leh16 \l 1033 (Lehnardt, 2016). Additionally, recent studies on genetics have indicated that skin colors that sometimes are the basis of racism are said to have the possibility of changing in like one hundred generations to come as a result of environmental influences.
Furthermore, in late 20th century during the colonial era about 10 million people were killed as a result of their race and color. Additionally, racism is seen to have been tragic considering that the Africa-Americans even after 30 years of civil movement rights they still remain disadvantaged and oppressed. Firstly they make up about 12.8% of the U.S population and their income which is about 2.1 million is below the poverty levels in the U.S and evidently racism explains this CITATION Muj14 \l 1033 (Mujahid, 2014). Moreover, in 1998 high rates of racial hate crimes were reported, and around the same time in 1995-1997, the unemployment rates for African-American was highest as well.
Where is racism happening?
Racism is still a relevant issue and as much as we would like to deny it, the truth is it is still being experienced and the truth is something really needs to be done since it is all over. Firstly, racism is seen in happening at schools, this is where some students are bullied just because they look different from others, while others are denied best grades in school or even graduations to the next class simply because they are of a certain race. In higher institutions, some courses and privileges are spared for specific races and the students from disadvantaged races end up doing other courses that are not of their choice. Secondly, racism is happening at home, resulting from people’s personalities and views on certain issues is largely influenced by the background where they have been brought up from. Looking into racism some families still criticize different groups of people of different race and as a result, children growing up in such families continue with the same culture and keeps racism happening.
Furthermore, racism is also seen happening online in social media platforms. We are in this generation that everyone is in social media, where news, fashion, jobs, and even shopping of products goes on there, and sadly, so does racism. Some social media users are seen spreading racism in the social media by use of certain videos which describe a certain race, sending offensive messages to people of different races. Moreover, racism still happens at workplaces. Most people work hard so as to secure better jobs in the future, so some of these keep individuals looking for jobs and due to racism some do not get these jobs based on their color or even after they get these jobs they world in an environment where they are always being teased or fail to be considered for promotions CITATION Bri15 \l 1033 (Brice, 2015). In other cases racism is felt in the public places, media and even in the shopping places and sports as well.
It is sad even with the many efforts put to create awareness and reduce racism, it is still happening almost everywhere. But the question remains why it still ensues. Firstly, racism is seen to still occur because we take on the perception and attitudes of the people around us. As a result, if we grow up in families and communities that show racist opinions we tend to be more like them and take on those perspectives and that means continuity of racism. Secondly, people just hang out with people of their race. It is typical for people to spend time with the people who have same beliefs, background and culture; this creates a sense of belonging which is very important for any individual. However, this may result to failure of understanding and appreciating other people of different races but it’s just because, they only spending time with people of their race.
Notably, people will always blame people for their problems, this leads to racism. This was something formed long time ago where strange, and different people were treated as a threat and people treated these people in some way and for them to be safe they would kill or do anything just to make them goCITATION Lon17 \l 1033 (Long, 2017). In these societies when bad things happened, the blame would be put on these people of different races. This culture is seen to still exist up to today and as a result racism resulting from people blaming other people of different race from theirs is in fact increasing.
Causes and Effects of Racism
Racism is one among the global issues that is most repulsive within humankind. Having existed for a long time it has been haunting our past and has resulted to degradation of our future. There are a number of reasons why people of one race feel that they are more superior to others and why they feel that other races different from them are inferior CITATION LID13 \l 1033 (LID, 2013). The truth is most of these people do not even understand why they react that way towards other people of different races, but they just do unknowingly. Cognitively, there are causes and effects of this situation that should be looked into.
Firstly, racism is caused by long generational histories that seem to promote superiority and inferiority of races from one generation to another. As a result children are seen growing up with racist attitudes; they get this from the people bringing them up, the extended family and their communities at large. Further, another cause is individualism among most individuals. Evidently, most people are seen to prefer ‘us’ to others, in places of work, institutions and so on but can people have this tendency and not be racists CITATION Ban111 \l 1033 (Banton, 2011). This tendency eventually makes people feel superior and viewing people of different races whom they may not have interacted either in group or individual level as inferiors.
For instance, Black people and other interest groups of color seem to have prejudice towards white men for instance, by saying that Blacks are better lovers than whites. Cognitively, this kind of racism is seen to come from the feeling of inadequacy and inferiority by the blacks where they look for a way to make they feel better hence coming up with such statements CITATION Ban11 \l 1033 (Bantonn, 2011). However, looking into this from a deeper perspective it is as a result of internalized external racist attitudes.
Importantly, as racism has the above causes there are effects that result from racism. Firstly, racism leads to reduced country development and success as a result of failing to allow collective contributions for all citizens which are key factors for development. Additionally, racism leads to low contributions to the society, economically, socially, emotionally, and politically, this is as a result of denial of quality education to certain groups of people due to their race. This is not only a loss to these groups but loss for the entire populations including those who feel superior to the others CITATION Sil12 \l 1033 (Silverman, 2012). Racism contributes to failure of understanding and appreciating our differences and similarities.
Additionally, racism affects and completely destroys our moral values. As it is from the bible Christians are commanded to love their neighbors as much as they love themselves and this is not only for the Christians most religions are seen to advocate for this CITATION Ter15 \l 1033 (Teresur, 2015). Therefore, when people develop racist attitudes towards people who seem different from them then that is disobeying this golden rule and undermining our morals as well because in our ...