English Composition I

Running Head: RACISM 1

RACISM 5

Racism

Name

Institution

Racism

Racism as a social phenomenon is a controversial topic that most people are not ready to talk about. Although we have been pretending to fight racism, over the years we have continued to show our true racist colors. Racism is an attempt to paint members of another race as inferior by believing that they possess certain characteristics. It is the use of race by some people to determine that they are better than others. It allows certain groups to discriminate against others by denying them certain rights (Kosny et al, 2017). It is the reason that we are still fighting unnecessary wars to date. Although the world has enough knowledge on how to fight racism, the issue still prevails and is being manifested in politics, places of work, and even in education.

Racism in politics is not just a timely issue but one that keeps recurring with great frequency especially during this era of social media. Politicians have mastered the use of racially coded appeals to run racist campaigns and get away with it. Racist comments have been made with the most recent one being the branding of the 'black lives matter' protestors as 'domestic terrorists'. We still believe that certain people are not fit for the presidency and all this is because of our racist mentalities. There is great mistrust between blacks and whites as the blacks feel that they are investigated before elections to be discredited. Although public opinion towards racial integration has changed, there is still evidence of white supremacy in American politics (Krimmel & Rader, 2017). Racism in politics is a global problem. Racial politics are the reason behind most of the wars that have been witnessed in various countries. Many countries are politically unstable because racial politics have interfered with relationships among leaders.

Racial discrimination at work is not something that either of us is hearing for the fists time. Although it is well stated that discrimination based on race toward any employee is illegal, the issue is still there and most of us are silent about it. There have been cases where a person is hired for a job but another one with similar skills is rejected. This is racial discrimination that is hard to prove because the hiring panel will always have a way to cover up their actions so that they do not appear racist. Some workplaces formulate policies that racially disadvantage some people. For example, some insist that people use a certain language, and employees are not allowed to speak their native languages even in personal communications. There have been cases of harassment where people make racist comments about other employees to violate their dignity and make them feel inferior. Reporting this to the managers does not always make the situation better as most people end up being victimized by their colleagues and bosses at work (Kosny et al, 2017).

It is no better in schools as most African American students report experiencing racism in schools. The use of racist language in schools has placed so many black students at a disadvantage in academic attainment. Racism is reflected even in the attainment of grades and black students have to work twice as hard as white students to get good grades. Students make racist comments about other students and no action is taken even after these cases are reported to the school administrations. This means that instead of fostering a culture that is free of racism, school administrations are encouraging racism in schools. Students are not the only ones being affected by racism in schools; teachers and other staff have also reported experiencing racism. They are harassed, abused, and racially stereotyped by students and working colleagues. There is a lack of diversity in representation in school organizations and sometimes students are forced to take part in activities that are against their cultural beliefs. Although educators fail to recognize this, racism in schools is the leading contributor to poor school attendance and the consequent poor performance (Kohli et al, 2017).

Racism is a social phenomenon that has continued to affect us even though we pretend to be making efforts to fight it. It is manifested in different settings and almost every aspect of life. Politicians are using coded appeals to conduct racial campaigns and they are getting away with it. Students and workers at schools are going through racial harassment yet no action is taken against such cases. Racial discrimination at places of work is evident from the process of hiring to the interactions between colleagues in the organization. Racism is a disease that needs to be gotten rid of. This can only be done through the efforts of each of us to fight racism.

References

Kohli, R., Pizarro, M., & Nevárez, A. (2017). The “new racism” of K–12 schools: Centering critical research on racism. Review of research in education, 41(1), 182-202. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0091732X16686949

Kosny, A., Santos, I., & Reid, A. (2017). Employment in a “land of opportunity?” Immigrants’ experiences of racism and discrimination in the Australian workplace. Journal of international migration and integration, 18(2), 483-497. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12134-016-0482-0.pdf

Krimmel, K., & Rader, K. (2017). The federal spending paradox: economic self-interest and symbolic racism in contemporary fiscal politics. American Politics Research, 45(5), 727-754. Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1532673X17701222