Jarren Yancey

12/02/10
English 1010
Racism in America

It is my belief that racism still exists in America today. Although there are laws that limit

racism, these laws can and will not limit the secret hatred and prejudices of an individual’s heart.

Only the actions of a person can be, to an extent, controlled. So, if there is a law that dictates that

no one will be denied employment due to race or ethnicity, then employers must abide by this.

Nevertheless, in job locations all over America, applicants are carefully scrutinized and judged.

The reason being for that is employers know just how to weed out those prospective employees

who do not have the “look” that would best suit their establishment. The same holds true for

housing. Landlords, building and homeowners, and block associations work hard to keep their

homes and neighborhoods “intact.” This brings up the problem of how complex racism can be. It

is difficult to characterize racism or place it into any one category due to its far-reaching effects

and implications.

One of the biggest problems in America is racial prejudice, which is an “insidious moral”

(Inequality and Segregation, Rajiv Sethi # 1309), and “social disease” (Sethi #1315) affecting

peoples and populations all over the world. It is diagnosed by the cataloguing of its various

symptoms and manifestations which include fear, intolerance, separation, segregation,

discrimination, and hatred. While all of these symptoms of racial prejudice may be manifest, the

single underlying cause of racial prejudice is ignorance. Historically, a race is defined as a

population with distinguishable biological features ( Bacon, Nathaniel". The World Book

Encyclopedia # 256). While all humans belong to the same species, Homo sapiens, races are

distinguished from one another by such characteristics as hair color and texture, skin color, eye

color and shape, size of limb and body parts, and facial organs (Bacon # 257). Though scientists
 Jarren Yancey
12/02/10
English 1010
have reached the conclusion that these differences amongst peoples are superficial and have

further agreed that all members of the species Homo sapiens have more characteristics in

common than different, mankind itself continues to view each other from the features that are

outwardly perceived.

Indeed, humans are outwardly different in appearance; the problem arises when the

symptoms of the disease become evident: intolerance, separation, and hatred. In a positive vein,

one may embrace the differences of peoples across the face of the earth and marvel at the

uniqueness of individuals who live on a different part of the globe or across the street. Racial

prejudice perverts this uniqueness of the races and takes the view that these differences separate

individuals further into groups, with one group being inferior to the other.

Racism still affects children in school as well for example: An eight-year-old black girl in

South Africa recently told Ted Koppel on Nightline, “White people are better than black people.

Whites know more, have more, and get more. I wish I was white but I am not.” American

children of color do not have to contend with apartheid, but they still do not live in a prejudice-

free society. A quarter century of desegregation has not yet solved the self-deprecation, low

levels of educational performance, or overall quality of life for America's people of color.

Racism in any measure undermines children's self-esteem and erodes the educational process.

Racial equality is such a new concept within our lives that many raw emotions still cloud

our judgments. Longstanding hatred and hurt feelings eat away at the good intentions and bold

efforts that the majority of Americans are trying to promote. Far too many of us speak of equality

and hope, yet secretly rationalize hate, based on little more than stereotypes and stories of

atrocities that happened generations ago.(Sethi # 1326)

 Jarren Yancey
12/02/10
English 1010
There is no debate of the oppression and inequality that has been imposed upon

minorities in this country. Slavery is a black eye on the soul of our nation's history. There has

never been an excuse for one human to own another. We humans as a species and should always

have been treated equally. There simply is no question to the validity of these statements. So why

is it that racism still exists? What will it take for mankind to realize that despite the color of a

person's skin, we are all amazing, complex, individuals, who posses wonderful characteristics

that should be admired and loved?

Most Americans will tell you, that they are not racist individuals. Many of these people

though, are either fooling themselves, or just being politically correct. When you delve deeper

into the subconscious of the human psyche, you discover that many of us have reasons that we

believe justifies racism. These so called reasons or excuses include the reverse discrimination of

Affirmative Action, ignorance of other races, and the belief in the need for retribution for past

injustices. Maybe we should all take some time to look at these issues and into our own hearts, to

see if together we can learn to be better as a species.

There is a few steps in which we should take to end racism, for one, I believe America, as

a people, need to simply stop referring to one another as "Whites", "Blacks", "Hispanic",

"Asian", "American Indian", etc...  We are all Americans. When we place each other in groups,

we put up barriers between one another. The consequence is a loss of dialogue. Fortunately, we

have enough people in all these "ethnic groups" who are smart enough to ignore such trivial facts

like "my skin is white and yours is black, and therefore we are different and have different

needs".  All men were created equal. We as people must look back at history and learn to let go

of what has happened in the past. People must look forward to our youth, because they are the
 Jarren Yancey
12/02/10
English 1010
future of this nation. The way to make sure racism ends with your generation is for each child to

learn to love one another no matter the color of skin. As children look at this nation's past they

will say, as upcoming Americans, we shall not lower ourselves to those standards again. We

shall look forward to the future and not the past. We will make sure that racism ends with the

generation before and not let it creep is ugly head into future. These are a few things that I

believe that we must make possible for racism to end in America, but until then racism will exist

throughout our society.

 Jarren Yancey
12/02/10
English 1010
 Racism in America's Schools. ERIC Digest Series, Number EA 49
 Racism in the United Stated, Wikipedia
 Bacon, Nathaniel". The World Book Encyclopedia. World Book. 1992.
 Inequality and Segregation Rajiv Sethi and Rohini Somanathan Journal of Political
Economy, volume 112 (2004)