Thisul Mendis (10064)

1
Racism has been, and most definitely still continue to be, a very prominent societal
issue over the last few centuries. As technology continues to advance, our world progressively
more interconnected with each passing day. Travelling from continent to continent takes but a
couple of hours, and migrating abroad – an unthinkable concept a few centuries ago – has
never been easier. However, the colored lens of racism threatens to drive a wedge between
humanity itself, seeming to factionalize us into categories of “us” and “them”. So, the question
arises, why does someone become racist? And most importantly, at what point in a person’s life
are they likely adopt racist ideals? The former question has an unanimous answer by
professionals, it is a result of their beliefs, principles and ideology. The latter is somewhat more
widely disputed, but based on research and analysis conducted by experts in the field of social
psychology and sociology, these ideals can be shaped throughout their life – not as a result of
just their childhood, contrary to popular past opinions. There are many factors that can lead to
a person developing racist ideals and they should be acknowledged if we seek to eliminate
racism, not generalize racism as an ideology they picked up as a result of their childhood.

One of the places where racism is most prevalent is in societal institutions itself. This can
be in educational institutions, economic structures, and political systems, among others.
Politicians may run for candidacy promoting promises to favor the interests of certain
ethnicities, or as in the recent case of former president Donald Trump, outright slandering and
promising to “drive out” certain ethnicities and races (LoBianco, 2015). While in some
universities, impartial discrimination on ethnicities can lead to racism – such as how the ever-
prestigious Harvard University enforces a “quota”, requiring ‘Asian’ applicants to score higher
than applicants from other ethnicities (Reilly, 2019) .

Another major contributor for instilling racist ideals is the concept “In-group Bias”. This
is defined as “the tendency for people to give preferential treatment to others who belong to
the same group that they do” (What is In-group Bias?, n.d.). This type of bias is somewhat
involuntary and oftentimes subconscious. It is in human nature to feel close to people we can
relate to, such as someone who shares the same favorite football team or hobby, but when
such ideals are practiced to the extreme resulting in patriotism, fanaticism, or ethnocentrism
(the belief in the superiority of your own culture), it can lead to racism.
Thisul Mendis (10064)
2
A great propagator of racist ideals are media representations, and their cultural
stereotypes. In our modern era, the media we consume is just as important, if not more, than
the food we consume. Media bias is a topic that draws a lot of attention as it misleads,
manipulates, and propagates negative stereotypes. For example, many services today provide
you with ‘customized’ or ‘personalized’ information – not information that is necessarily true. If
you were recently unemployed, with your internet searches being on looking for new jobs or
people in your situation, you will likely be recommended an article (from a possibly third-rate
site) on how people have increasing lost jobs due to (the stereotypical) “smart immigrant Asian
who works on a lesser pay”. This type of promotion of negative cultural stereotypes and bias is
widely used by several media companies to compete with their great number of competitors. A
popular example of this would be the many cases where Fox News portrayed Donald Trump in
a positive light, in contrary to nearly all others, gaining a significant increase in viewership from
politically conservative Americans (Bump, 2022).

Media representation and biased societal institutions are certainly not something (most)
children would come into contact with, or even be interested on. While in-group bias may be
present, children are just as likely to fight over their favorite cartoon character as they are to
forget their differences and make up the very next day. Does this mean that their childhood
upbringing plays no part in them adopting racist ideology? No, as is the case with most peoples’
ideology and faith, they are significantly influenced by the discrimination and racist ideology
present in their childhood environment. Farzana Saleem, PhD, an assistant professor in the
Graduate School of Education at Stanford University says, “Children receive many messages
about race and racism from a young age” (Weir, 2021). And considering how impressionable
children are, it is easy to speculate on how a hypothetical child who grew up among two racist
parents, in a neighborhood with similar people, and taught about his ‘racial or ethnical
superiority’ might grow up to be a racist. However, what if this hypothetical child, now an adult,
were to meet a person who would go on to be his best friend or lover – one from the
race/ethnicity he was taught to be inferior? Or while working amongst colleagues, from
different races, realizes his biased views? Human ideals are subject to change often throughout
life and so someone who grew up in an environment with racist ideals is just as likely to grow
Thisul Mendis (10064)
3
up to be a person who advocates against racism as a person who grew up in a perfectly normal
childhood environment (without racist ideals) grew up to be a racist – all due to their latter life
experiences (Davis, 2020).

Overall, while childhood can undoubtedly affect whether someone would adopt racist
ideals, it most definitely cannot be used as a final evaluation , due to the many life experiences
they would go through. They may be part of a company or educational faculty that has
racial/ethnic ‘quotas’, be urged to join a certain racist group by his friends or consume biased
media. Racism is a complex issue that is deeply ingrained in societal structures and institutions
and perpetuated by implicit biases and in-group bias – it is wrong, and unfair, to label racism as
merely a result of their childhood. Every human life is filled with a myriad of experiences that
are just as likely to influence them to be racist, as they are not.
Thisul Mendis (10064)
4

References
Bump, P. (2022, April 4). The unique, damaging role Fox News plays in American media.
Retrieved from The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/04/unique-damaging-role-fox-
news-plays-american-media/

Davis, L. S. (2020, June 6). Children aren’t born racist. Here’s how parents can stop them from
becoming racist. Retrieved from CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/06/health/kids-
raised-with-bias-wellness/index.html

LoBianco, T. (2015, November 12). Donald Trump promises ‘deportation force’ to remove 11
million. Retrieved from CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2015/11/11/politics/donald-
trump-deportation-force-debate-immigration/index.html

Reilly, K. (2019, March 12). As the Harvard Admissions Case Nears a Decision, Hear From 2
Asian-American Students on Opposite Sides. Retrieved from TIME:
https://time.com/5546463/harvard-admissions-trial-asian-american-students/

Weir, K. (2021, June 2). Raising anti-racist children. Retrieved from American Psychological
Association: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2021/06/anti-racist-children

What is In-group Bias? (n.d.). Retrieved from The Decision Lab.