3.

Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and
moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. Racial separatism is the
belief, most of the time based on racism, that different races should remain segregated and apart from one
another. Classism is differential treatment based on social class or perceived social class. Classism is the
systematic oppression of subordinated class groups to advantage and strengthen the dominant class
groups. It’s the systematic assignment of characteristics of worth and ability based on social class.

Even though the Caribbean is, for the most part, an African majority society, and you see that
throughout the region… when you look at the distribution of economic resources and power in
the Caribbean, that doesn’t necessarily follow through. Racism and classism are intertwined in
the Caribbean mainly because people are more likely to find them at the lower end of class
structures if they’re of certain ethnicities than if they are not, and this leads back to colonialism
and the plantation society.

 Colonial slavery was not exclusively perpetrated by men. European women were also deeply implicated
within its structures, both ‘at home’ and ‘out there’ in the colonies. Wealthy women made profitable
investments in the apparatus of slavery, financing shipbuilding and associated slave trade industries,
including the insurance and banking houses that underwrote slavery. Many, of course, owned slaves
themselves. Women of the poorer classes also found opportunities for economic and social advancement
in the colonies. They farmed small plots of land, ran taverns and shops, and imported consumer goods
and labourers for road and bridge building works. They also worked as domestics on plantations and as
itinerant traders. Colonialism created opportunities for socioeconomic advance for white women,
particularly the unmarried and widowed.

To understand fully the persistance of the " white bias " into the contemporary scene with its attendant
social and political changes certain facts must be taken into consideration. In Caribbean society there is
no alternative to the acceptance of European ideas and values. In Africa or India the individual can
choose between a European cultural component and an indigenous one. There is no such choice before
the West Indian. The Caribbean is peopled by immigrants from Europe, Asia, and Africa. In this
immigrant culture the European is predominant. An example will help to make this clear

The Amerindian in Guyana does not attempt to compete for status in the society. Both the culture (ethos)
and the lack of economic initiative inhibit such activity. Mission education, designed to maintain his
aboriginal status, coupled with isolation have extracted him from the mainstream of Guyanese life.

The historical policy of the British had been to use the coloured people as a bulwark against the black
masses. The more lightly coloured were admitted to reasonably high office, and the ranks of government
service were open to them. Today all colours are to be found in government departments.

In theory, the growth of the black middle and upper classes suggests that ‘race’ retains little salience, and
commentators often claim that social class is now the dominant hierarchical principle of social
organisation. The current image of the Caribbean as a non-racial multicultural cosmopolitan space—a
melting pot of African, European, Indian, Syrian, Chinese and other ethnicities and cultures—sidesteps
the ways in which gender, race, class and sexuality remain intertwined. The residual social and cultural
value attributed to whiteness and white culture speaks to the pervasiveness of colonial ideas about race,
gender, class and sexuality.
White women in Caribbean slave societies were denied some of the freedoms enjoyed by their male
counterparts, and were subject to surveillance and control. However, there is little evidence that they
recognised enslaved women as sisters in subordination. Unlike some plantation women in the American
south, a collective anti-slavery consciousness eluded white Caribbean women. Retaining white privilege
required their racial and social alignment with white males, even though they were subordinated by
ideologies and practices that constrained their actions and regulated their sexuality.

There is a whole colonial history behind the relations of classism and racism in the Caribbean society
such as there was the field slaves and the house slaves and there was shadism and that being encouraged
and actively cultivated by the plantocracy as a way to divide and conquer.
4. Conceptions of justice are abstract ideals that overlap with beliefs about what is right, good, desirable,
and moral. Notions of social justice generally embrace values such as the equal worth of all citizens, their
equal right to meet their basic needs, the need to spread opportunity and life chances as widely as
possible, and finally, the requirement that we reduce and, where possible, eliminate unjustified
inequalities. As Caputo (2002) remarks, the concept of social justice invoked by social work has largely
been one steeped in liberalism, which may serve to maintain the status quo. However, Caputo also
contends that social justice remains relevant as a value and goal of social work.

In addition to promoting equality generally, human rights which are a form of social justice protect
against direct and indirect discrimination based on certain characteristics. Article 14 of the ECHR ensures
that no one may be discriminated against because of their sex, race, religion, political opinion, sexual
orientation or nationality in exercising their rights.

Social injustice can be described as a situation in which dominant population is made known of the
inequity that leads for others due to their relative position in the structure of power (Maus n.p.). Social
injustice is also the way unjust actions are done in the society. Social injustice occurs in a situation where
the equals are treated unequally and the unequal is treated equally. Three common examples of social
injustice include: discrimination, ageism, and homophobia

Discrimination is found in education, housing, employment, voting, lending and credit, land use, health
care services, transportation, public accommodations, and government benefits and services (Find Law
n.p.). Discrimination is described as unequal treatment of persons, for a reason which has nothing to do
with legal rights or ability.  Discrimination is considered illegal by the federal and state laws of the United
States of America. These laws prohibit discrimination in employment, availability of housing, rates of
pay, right to promotion, educational opportunity, civil rights, and use of facilities based on race,
nationality, creed, color, age, sex, or sexual orientation (K. Hill and G. Hill n.p.). Discrimination always
promotes or reveals unfair treatment of a person or a particular group of people on the basis of prejudice
and partiality which could lead to emotions such as frustration and anger. Discrimination seen or
considered as a mild or serious form of suffering, with anger sometimes, in particular, if applicable, anger
at the person or persons who caused it.

In the Caribbean, we see that many people are discriminated based on gender, and race in society which is
a violation of human rights which states that no one is to be discriminated against based on the grounds of
race, gender, education, etc.

   Stereotypes is a cause of discrimination, because one might not think about the stereotypes or prejudices
a person holds might hurt or put other people to disadvantage without the person realizing or knowing.
People, sometimes, think that they are simply behaving in ways that actually reflect the realities or
abilities of a group men and women, rather they are actually discriminating and promoting inequality in
the society. A stereotype is seems  positive, the fact that not all persons in that group always meets the
standard that often leads to a positive stereotype, which disadvantages individuals in that group (Gender
Equality n.p.). Greenwald and Pettigrew reviewed experiments and survey methods from published
scientific research on discrimination from the last five decades. They found that the discrimination
observed in those studies occurred much more often as helping rather than harming someone. Hacker
(1992) goes on to argue that racism (leading to racial discrimination) has often been so used and over-
used that it has lost serious meaning. He illustrates inequality between the whites and blacks on a number
of parameters, such as education and employment.

In spreading diversity, there could be a problem with lack of understanding between parties or people. A
person cannot simply put a group of people together with vast differences and expect them to cooperate
with each other immediately. Many people find cultures to be strange and have never had to live or habit
and work together with people from completely different backgrounds or cultures.