Research Korner: Racism Examples

Ethnicity, Race, Psychology and Culture

Racism does not move tidily and unchanged through time. It assumes new forms and articulates new antagonisms in different situations.   INTRODUCTION               The term “racism” is often used in a loose and unreflective way to describe the hostile or negative feelings of one ethnic group or “people” toward another and the actions resulting from such attitudes. But sometimes the antipathy of one group toward another is expressed and acted upon with a single-mindedness and brutality that go far beyond the group-centered prejudice and snobbery that seem to constitute an almost universal human failing (2002). Racism refers to any theory or doctrine stating that inherited physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial features, hair texture, and the like, determine behavior patterns, personality traits, or intellectual abilities. In practice, racism typically takes the form of a claim that some human races are superior to others. An abuse of the concept of differences among peoples, it has contributed to the practices of discrimination and prejudice among groups in many parts of the world.             Racism was a prevalent ideology in Europe and America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Racist theories about supposed physical and intellectual superiority were advanced by , both of whom insisted that supreme among the races were members of the mythical Nordic, or Aryan, race. Nazi Germany under  based its extermination of millions of Jews and other non-Aryans on this theory of race supremacy and the corollary concept of racial purity. The term for “race” in Western European languages did have relevant antecedent meanings associated with animal husbandry and aristocratic lineages. The recognition of superior breeds of horses and dogs obviously foreshadowed the biological ranking of human beings with differing physical traits. Heredity was commonly associated with blood, and titled families were thought to manifest their royal or noble blood through recurring somatic characteristics. In 1611 a Spanish dictionary included among the definitions of raza an honorific use—“a caste or quality of authentic horses”— and a pejorative one, as referring to a lineage that included Jewish or Moorish ancestors. The “blood libels” against Jews that began in the Middle Ages were rooted in a belief that blood could convey sacred or magical properties. The notion, implicit in these accusations, that Christian blood differed from Jewish was clearly affirmed in the sixteenth century Spanish conception of limpieza de sangre. But the fact that different varieties of animals of the same species could interbreed, as could all humans, meant that such premodern hereditarianism did not threaten the orthodox belief in the essential unity of humankind. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and beyond, the term “race” or its equivalent was also frequently used to refer to nations or peoples—as in “the English race” or “the French race.” Whenever and wherever it was used, however, the term implied that “races” had stable and presumably unchangeable characteristics (2002). The modern theory of race is to be traced to the 18th century with the scientific studies of  who propagated the theory of several basic racial types, the noblest being the "Caucasians" or white groups. The pseudo-science of race blossomed in the 19th century thanks to the writings of some authors – doctrines that would prove so lethal in the 20th century in the hands of the Nazis. Unwittingly, cultural anthropologists added grist to the mill of the racists by their studies of racial types and anatomies and formulation of racial categories, genotypes, and biological differences (2004). The phrase has been more often than not misapplied, as  insists in his latest work, Racism: A Short History. A professor of sociology at Stanford University and author of significant works on anti-black racism,  offers a concisely lucid analysis of the origins of racism, which he defines as hostile or negative feelings of one group towards another and actions that result. The defining traits of race are innate or unchangeable, e.g., skin pigmentation. "Racism exists when one ethnic group or historical collectivity dominates, excludes, or seeks to eliminate another on the basis of differences that it believes are hereditary or unalterable." A racist doesn't hate a person for "what he believes but for what he is." A racist state such as South Africa under the apartheid regime or Nazi Germany legalizes racism and develops a hierarchy to promote and enforce its racist ideology. Race and racism have become foci of interest in the social sciences. In the past two decades there has been a noticeable expansion in scholarship and research about race and racism in contemporary societies. This has been reflected in a growing body of theoretical and empirically based work on various facets of race and racism in both contemporary societies and historical periods. Although much of this research has historically been located within the discipline of sociology, a notable feature of recent trends has been the growth of research in disciplines such as anthropology, politics, geography, media and cultural studies, law and the humanities (2004). This paper will attempt to discuss the premise “Racism does not move tidily and unchanged through time. It assumes new forms and articulates new antagonisms in different situations,” with emphasis on the origins of racism and how it evolved through the years.   BODY   As an ideology, racism has been on the wane since the 1940s, although in a few countries, such as South Africa, it has had the support of the political leadership. In other countries it lingers on as a folk mythology. The overwhelming bulk of scientific opinion in both the social and the biological sciences, however, now rejects the notion that large human populations, such as the so-called white, black, and yellow races, behave differently because of their physical appearance, or that they can be said to be genetically superior or inferior to one another. Genetic differences between population groups do exist, of course. None of these group differences, however, has yet been shown to affect personality, intelligence, or, indeed, any ability that significantly relates to social behavior. In recent years the term racism has been at times misapplied to various related but distinct social attitudes and occurrences. For example, feelings of cultural superiority based on language, religion, morality, manners, or some other aspect of culture are sometimes labeled as racist, but the proper term for such feelings is ethnocentrism. Another loose usage of the term is the notion of institutional racism – meaning any practice that results, intentionally or otherwise, in differential representation of different human groups. Recent theorizing on the nature of racism suggests that over the last few decades it has come to be expressed in more subtle and ambiguous ways because while many white people proclaim egalitarian values, their cognitions and behavior are influenced by prejudices that are buried deep in their psyche. This leads to the possibility that those who perpetrate and those who experience racism may have different interpretations of events that involve racism ( 2001). Thus, race remains a determining factor in both cognitive processing and social action, and racism is still experienced by minority groups, much to the bemusement of the `racist-non-racist' perpetrators, who may believe that they are neither prejudiced nor racist. The perpetrators and the victims of subtle and covert forms of racism probably have different perceptions and understandings of interactions, due in part to the nature of contemporary racism, which may be marked by conditions of ambiguity, and by denial on the part of the perpetrators. So, as  (2001) has argued, rather than disqualifying the views of targets of racism, as has been the case in previous research, the observations of those who experience everyday racism may be more relevant in identifying hidden and subtle racism. The causes of racism are complex and cannot be reduced to a single factor. Its rise and fall are often linked with real conflicts of interest and competition for scarce resources. Historically, racism has commonly accompanied slavery, colonialism, and other forms of exploitation and gross inequality. In other cases, relatively powerless groups that have felt threatened by social and economic instability have blamed other powerless groups for their predicament. Racism is frequently an irrational reaction to a real or perceived threat to the status quo. Racism is rooted on religion. Anti-Judaism became antisemitism whenever it turned into a consuming hatred that made getting rid of Jews seem preferable to trying to convert them, and antisemitism became racism when the belief took hold that Jews were intrinsically and organically evil rather than merely having false beliefs and wrong dispositions (2002). Racism is now increasingly used to mean something far beyond its dictionary definition. It is a racism that is not just directed at those with darker skins, from the former colonial territories, but at the newer categories of the displaced, the dispossessed and the uprooted who are beating at western Europe's doors, the Europe that helped to displace them in the first place. It is a racism, that is, that cannot be color-coded, directed as it is at poor whites as well, and is therefore passed off as xenophobia, a "natural" fear of strangers ( 2005). In the modern era the underlying assumption of "racism" is a belief that differences in the culture, values, and/or practices of some ethnic/religious groups are "too different" and are likely to threaten "community values" and social cohesion. Note the evolution: as belief in racial differences and racial superiority wanes in polite society, some parties expand the meaning of racism to condemn political decisions such as worrying about too much immigration (even of poor whites), preferring one's own culture, fearing radical Islam, and implementing effective counterterrorist measures (2005). This attempt to delegitimize political differences must be rejected. Racism refers only to racial issues, not to views on immigration, culture, religion, ideology, law enforcement, or military strategy. But it cannot be denied that racism has taken many forms and has evolved or changed through the decades. It did assume new forms and articulates new antagonisms in different situations. Specific forms of racism exist, like institutional racism and individual racism. First, we must make the familiar distinction between institutional and individual racism. Institutional racism refers to specific institutions or pervasive social forms that embody racism or racial injustice—such as word-of-mouth recruiting at a mostly white company, which leaves potential racial minority applicants at a disadvantage; or educational institutions failing to provide an atmosphere and services sensitive to the experiential and cultural differences of racial minority students, thus failing to provide equal educational opportunity for those students. By individual racism is meant any racism on the part of individuals, which can include actions, beliefs, attitudes, even feelings. The most common forms of individual attitudinal racism are bigotry, prejudice, and a belief in one's racial superiority, and these attitudes prompt many forms of racist behavior. However, individual racist acts can be unintentionally racist, particularly in institutionally racist contexts, where an individual is simply doing her job or conforming with "standard practice" so that her actions have racially discriminatory effect, but not the motivation (1999). The terms racism and racist are distinctly moral or morally charged. In speaking of a "racist remark", a "racist stereotype", or a "racist policy", people condemn in strong terms the object in question. In the dominant culture in some countries, to accuse someone of a racist action or a racist sentiment or belief is to charge him with a serious moral failure, and most people wish very much to avoid being thought to be or being called, "racist” (1999). Racism is a racial, socio-political and psychological phenomenon that occurs within a context of racial differences; it involves a set of beliefs about and attitudes toward a different racial group(s), which are rooted systemically and sustained institutionally within a larger context of political and economic hegemony (1994). In other words, the true nature of racism is only masked when conceptualizes as the biased generalization of one racial group about another racial group. Racism is only masked when conceptualized as the biased generalizations of one racial group about another racial group. Racism is inextricably linked to the distribution of wealth and the "distribution of resources across groups." G.M.  argues that racist institutions are controlled by white people who attempt to regulate "a reservoir of cheap and coercible labor for the rest of the country.” The 'evidence' of fundamental differences between white 'Caucasian' and 'Negro' was seemingly overwhelming, and all to the latter's detriment. One aspect of this was the previously mentioned endurance of 'physiognomical' (including phrenological) thinking. A sense that physical form reflected underlying psychological character endowed physical anthropological descriptions with a powerful racist rhetorical force. To measure 'facial angle', prognathousness, blackness, and brain size was to quantify proximity to a European aesthetic-cum-psychological ideal, which was tantamount to measuring degree of evolutionary advancement. While this occasionally backfired (e.g. greater European hairiness), the implications could usually be evaded by special adaptational pleading (hair was retained in the colder northern climate). A low brow, a protruding jaw, and small skull possessed psychological meanings which were felt to be self-evident, almost matters of direct perception (1997). From a legal standpoint there are ways that a person can deal with racism in law enforcement and the workplace when he or she is aware of constitutional rights and the law ( 2002). Racial inequality is one big problem of racism. No doubt labor market discrimination has diminished in the past sixty years, and whites are clearly less prejudiced today than they were in 1940. But these developments tell us very little about contemporary patterns of racial discrimination and racial inequality ( 2003). But at present, this is not so prevalent and many other forms already exist. Some feel that to discuss racism, one has to be political. Well, racism by definition is political because it is centered on power. Racism is more than race prejudice and/or bigotry. It is more than individual attitudes and actions. It is the collective actions of a dominant racial group. Racial prejudice becomes racism when one group's racial prejudices are enforced by the systems and institutions of a society, giving power and privilege based on skin color to the group in power. The psychological aspect of racism begins with the rise of Spencerian and Darwinian evolutionary theory in the 1850s, when   and  cousin  opened the Psychological discussion. In traditional Christian cosmology, 'Mankind's' basic unity was an article of faith: we are all descendants of Noah's sons and daughters-in-law. This seemingly explained the main varieties of physique and colour with which Europeans were familiar-white Europeans, brown Asians and black Africans (1997). By 1800 the broader European perspective had fundamentally altered. Imperial expansion, and accelerating technological sophistication, gave ideas of intrinsic European superiority ever more credibility. The Enlightenment notion of history as progressive and directional made it inevitable that differences between peoples and cultures would eventually be construed evaluatively as reflecting relative levels of advancement (1997). This entire episode has implications beyond the race issue, bearing directly on current debates about the social construction of science. There is a continuing desire to see science as containing some transcendental core immune to the impact of 'external' factors such as funding and ideological interests. It may now be grudgingly admitted that the appeal of evolutionary theory as a metaphor and rationale for capitalism contributed to its acceptance and cultural impact but beneath that, it will be said, exists some 'pure' a historical scientific nucleus of objective knowledge. In the case of the extensive scientific work on race, however, this certainly seems highly dubious. To put it bluntly, all this research was on something which was not there. All that exists is a vast range of human morphological diversity. The very concept of 'race’ was entirely a product of non-scientific forces, and no core of objective scientific knowledge about it, no enduring gains in scientific understanding, were obtained. That this diversity per se can be partly explained in evolutionary terms may be admitted, but the ‘race’ concept and its hierarchical progressivist interpretation prevented any permanent 'scientific progress' in understanding it. If this is so, 'Scientific Racism’ provides a clear case where apparently normal natural science can be conducted in terms bearing little relationship to any existing 'transfactual' natural phenomenon, and is only explicable in strong social constructionist terms ( 1997). One can therefore trace the origins of the two main forms of modern racism — the color-coded white supremacist variety and the essentialist version of antisemitism—to the late medieval and early modern periods. Since the idiom of this period was primarily religious rather than naturalistic or scientific, it could only be through some special act of God that some peoples could have been consigned to pariah status or slavery. But any such invocation of what might be called supernaturalist racism came into conflict with the main thrust of Christianity—the salvation of the entire human race, which, according to the New Testament, was of “one blood.” It was because he argued from this perspective that Las Casas was more persuasive than Sepu´lveda. On a popular level the great curses served to make it easier for Christians to treat other human beings as less than human ( 2002). The notion that there was a single pan-European or “white” race was slow to develop and did not crystallize until the eighteenth century. Direct encounters with Africans had of course made Europeans aware of their own light pigmentation, but in other contexts whiteness, as opposed to national and religious affiliations, was not a conscious identity or seen as a source of specific inherited traits. At a time when social inequality based on birth was the general rule among Europeans themselves, color-coded racism had little scope for autonomous development. In the New World, where European pigmentation could be readily compared to that of black slaves or copper-toned Indians, color soon became one—but only one—of several salient identities ( 2002). As we have seen, something that can be legitimately described as racism existed well before the twentieth or even the late nineteenth century. Prejudice and discrimination, fortified by ideologies claiming that the differences between human groups of apparently divergent ancestry are immutable and have implications for social inclusion or ranking, have a history that goes back to the late Middle Ages. But racist principles were not fully codified into laws effectively enforced by the state or made a central concern of public policy until the emergence of what I will call “overtly racist regimes” during the past century.  conception of American and South African segregation as the “highest stage of white supremacy” draws attention to the relation between modernization and legalized racism. When the unequal treatment of people based on their race is bureaucratized and “rationalized” in the Weberian sense, one can say that racism has been modernized. The most deadly outcome of a racist regime—the Holocaust—required more than antisemitic ideology and sentiment. It was thoroughly dependent, as  has emphasized, on modern bureaucratic methods and advanced technology (2002). It is widely believed that racism remains a major international problem at the dawn of the twenty-first century. The term is used in some countries and in some circles to describe hostility and discrimination directed against a group for virtually any reason. The French, for example, sometimes use the term to describe biases founded on age, gender, or sexual orientation. Usually, however, the act of racializing the Other seizes upon differences that are “ethnic” in some sense. According to political scientist , ethnicity “is based on a myth of collective ancestry, which usually carries with it traits believed to be innate. Some notion of ascription, however diluted, and affinity deriving from it are inseparable from the concept of ethnicity.” The marks or identifiers usually associated with ethnicity are language, religion, customs, and physical characteristics (inborn or acquired). One or more (sometimes all) may serve as sources of ethnic divisiveness; any one of them can provoke disdain, discrimination, or violence on the part of another group that does not share the trait or traits that have come to define ethnic Otherness. It is justifiable, as I once did in an essay, to describe the essence of racism as ethnicity made hierarchical, or, in other words, making difference invidious and disadvantageous through the application of power. But, as the preceding chapters of this book suggest, I would now put more stress than I did then on the presence and articulation of a belief that the defining traits are innate or unchangeable. Pigmentation, however, is not the only supposedly indelible mark of difference upon which racism can be based, as the history of antisemitism clearly demonstrates (Fredrickson, 2002). Unfortunately, racism survives at the present, and this exists in many forms. If racism is not dead, it is less intense and intellectually respectable than it was a century or even a half-century ago. But human beings continue to mistreat other human beings on the basis of their ethnic identities. In a sense we may have returned to the chronological starting point of this inquiry. Before “the invention of racism” Christians persecuted Jews and Muslims because of their beliefs and the behavior that was associated with them. The Crusades were not fought under the banner of white, Aryan, or Indo-European superiority or the divine right of the Herrenvolk to rule over lesser breeds. The conflicts were defined in what we would today call cultural rather than racial terms. Of course, as has been often shown in this study, the line between “culturalism” and racism is not difficult to cross. Culture and even religion can become essentialized to the point that they can serve as a functional equivalent of biological racism, as has to some extent occurred recently in the perception of blacks in the United States and Britain, and of Muslims in several predominantly Christian nations (2002). According to a well-known philosophical maxim, the last thing a fish notices is the water. Things that are unproblematic seem natural and tend to go unnoticed. Fish take the water they swim in for granted, just as European Americans take their race as a given, as normal. White Americans may face difficulties in life—problems having to do with money, religion, or family—but race is not one of them. White Americans can be sanguine about racial matters because their race has not been (until recently) visible to the society in which they live. They cannot see how this society produces advantages for them because these benefits seem so natural that they are taken for granted, experienced as wholly legitimate. They literally do not see how race permeates America's institutions—the very rules of the game—and its distribution of opportunities and wealth (2003). In the new conventional wisdom about race, white racism is regarded as a remnant from the past because most whites no longer express bigoted attitudes or racial hatred. Racial realists conclude that racism has ended because of the massive change in white attitudes toward blacks over the past sixty years. For example, more than half of all whites once believed that blacks were intellectually inferior. In 1994, however, only 13 percent of whites believed that blacks had “less in-born ability to learn” than whites. Whites also used to favor school segregation by overwhelming majorities, but now 90 percent favor school integration. In the 1940s whites believed they should be favored in competition for jobs. Today, on the other hand, whites unanimously agree that “blacks and whites should have an equal chance to compete for jobs (2003). To racial realists, this evidence means that the color line has been radically altered. Those of us who came of age in the 1960s grew up in a society where racism was overt. It was difficult to ignore or deny; the evidence of segregation was often as stark as the lettering on a “whites only” sign. The visibility of racial discrimination, together with the moral power of the civil rights movement, mobilized people of all races against  laws and ushered in landmark civil rights legislation to end it. Divided into black and white, the world was relatively uncomplicated, and the options were straightforward. One favored either integration or segregation ( 2003). Looking beyond plain old-fashioned racism, however, the another reason race matters is that the most important source of continuing racial disparities in many countries is still the legacy of past patterns of discrimination and racially coded patterns of disinvestment. Disaccumulation, as it is called, persists today in good part because the people of the many countries never moved with sufficient seriousness to remedy it. This is both the most crucial reality to understand in comprehending the problem of durable racial inequality in the twenty-first century, and the one that seems hardest for many people to fully grasp—because this kind of racism is largely invisible. Much of the debate about race in many nations today still revolves around the question of whether ongoing racial disparities in schooling, jobs, income, incarceration, and other realms are mainly the result of current overt discrimination or the result of flawed culture and behavior of people of color. As we have demonstrated throughout this book, the correct answer is neither. Most of the current gap in life-chances and various measures of performance between blacks and whites reflects the legacy of past decisions—decisions that cumulatively resulted in a profound imbalance in the most fundamental structures of opportunity and support in many countries (2003). In America, for example, in housing, in education, in transportation, in employment policy, and in income support/social insurance policy, the choices that systematically disadvantaged black Americans were also ones that, by design or otherwise, benefited white Americans. These policies, in combination and over generations, have had enormous and pervasive consequences. In debates about racism within the United States, some take the position that black people cannot be racist and that only white people can be racist. Others hold a very different view. They say that racism is not confined to one group, that members of any ethnic or racial group can be racist against members of any other group, and that racism on the part of blacks (or Asians or Asian Americans, and so on) is no better or worse than racism on the part of whites. All racism is equal, according to this second view (1999). Additionally, it is important to understand that the key element to racism is the fact that there is a hegemonic relation of oppressor to oppressed. Certain beliefs and attitudes are necessary for being a racist but they are not sufficient -- what is needed are institutional frameworks or social mechanisms through which such beliefs and attitudes are enacted to oppress a particular people (1994).   CONCLUSION   The term racism is now increasingly used to mean something far beyond its dictionary definition. This is because racism is not a stagnant thing and is constantly evolving and changing. Racism is no longer just about color, it is a racism that is not just directed at those with darker skins, from the former colonial territories, but at the newer categories. It is a racism, that is, that cannot be color-coded, directed as it is at poor whites and Asians as well. Racism includes aspects of discrimination in education, work, religion, income, and many more.

Ethnicity, Race, Psychology and Culture

Racism does not move tidily and unchanged through time. It assumes new forms and articulates new antagonisms in different situations. ...

Racism as a Social Problem

Racism: a social a problem                            1. Introduction             Racism – a prejudice or animosity against the people who are belonging to the other races. It is also a belief that the people of the different races have different qualities and the abilities and the other races are said to be superior or inferior it is as well a social problem that has been occurred many years ago and also passed through many changes. Furthermore, it is the known as the generalizing definition as well as the valuation of the biological differences; it can be real or ordinary, in the advantage of the one defining as well as deploying to them, to the detriment of the one that  is subjected to that act of definition, in the justifying end it can be social or physical hostility and assault. Slavery is one of the oldest and yet the most harmful of all. In the early 16th century, Peru had encountered the inhuman way of slavery in the colonial economic system which finally introduced the great and the never ended debate concerning to the questions of human rights. The important personalities including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Baptist pastor and also Nobel Laureate, led the struggle for the civil rights in the United States until its assassination in 1968. Racism is a phenomenon with continues risen through two opposite opinions and always intense confrontations when it comes to the black citizens. Many people support the human rights to everyone as the same. There are many instances on how the black citizens had been treated through the years by the white citizens. This had happened because there some of the people believed that the black people are thought to represent the society as the lower rank compared to the whites. In the earlier days of the 20th century, the image of racism was largely black and white. Today, racism had become multi-colored as well as multicultural. With the high increase of diverse populations who entered and maintain the communities all over the country, racism had expanded and includes the antagonism between the people of many cultures.               In the 21st century had brought many attempts changes in the society. There are legislations and memorandum which is against the discrimination in its many forms. The     affirmative action had been used as a key to the assurance of the individuals’ equality and opportunity for employment, for the housing, and for the other types of advancements. The television shows also had changed formats and characters to have a political correctness. Nevertheless, the society intelligently and pleasantly maintains its separate point of views in the issues regarding the races. Ancient barriers still exist owing to the truth that it is still not possible to legislate the hearts of men. There will always be those citizens who will fight for the change while the others resist, which seeks to maintain the status quo. These are all issues of the economy, the power, and the control which is not easily relinquished. Inasmuch as racism is still an institutional ideology, there still no improvement unless many individuals work and unite towards it. 2. Perspective on the Racism ( Ecological and Labeling)              In the further study of the racism it has been detect that as an ideology the racism had been lessen in the time of 1940s, though some of the countries including the South Africa it has been supported of the political leadership. When it comes to the talk of the other countries this will remain as a plane mythology. The overwhelming majority of the scientific opinion in the social as well as biological sciences, however, now rejects the notion that the large human populations, this includes the so-called white, black, and yellow races as well, behave differently this is because of their physical appearance, or  they can be said to be as genetically superior or inferior to one another. Genetic differences between the population groups do exist, of course. None of these group differences had yet been shown to affect the personality, intelligence, as well as any ability that significantly can relate to the social behavior.             The example of  how the discrimination on the black people by the other races is happened last on the 1st day of February on the year 1960 were there are four African American college students who sat at a Woolworth lunch counter at the Greensboro, North Carolina. Though the patrons which were black can purchased in the others areas of the store still they were served at the food counter.             Taking other example of what happened in the Britain as one of the situation of the effect of the racism in the environment wherein the black and the Asian people who’s having a hard time looking for the job. The jobseekers had no longer contended with the problems stemming from their recent arrival. The laws which is against the discrimination of the in the employment had been in the place for over the decade. Looking at the background of the stability and the formal rights, the minority ethnic groups of the Britons were expecting to take up the same opportunities in the employment to enjoy by the people. All of the expected they suggest the changes in the employment pattern of the black people. This lead to nowhere and they are converging with the employments patterns of whites and the earlier injustice as well as the imbalances that continue setting the boundaries within the change can occur. ()             In accordance to the to Goldenberg David Theo, the racist culture along with the laws there are many programs that had been made and though the absence of the available opportunities including the preferential treatment programs for the college admissions as well as hiring and promotions seems a modest means one of the necessary but not simply for the integration and for the advancing of the incorporative politics. The programs have been served to draw those the said voices into the academic and the professional positions which had tended to be silence by their exclusion, these voices that mostly proved resistant to the mainstream appropriation. ().             Racism had survived at this moment it is less intense and it is intellectually respectable than it was a century ago. But human beings are continuing to mistreat on their ethnic identities as their basis. Furthermore, we have returned to the chronological starting point of the said inquiry. Even before racism had started, Christians persecuted Jews and Muslims due to their beliefs and their behavior. The Crusades were not had fought under the banner of white, the Aryan, or the Indo-European superiority or the divine right of Herrenvolk to rule over the lesser breeds. The conflicts were defined today that would call cultural rather than racial terms. The line between “culturalism” and racism is not that difficult to cross. Culture and even religion can also become essentialized to the point that they can serve it as a functional equivalent of biological racism, as to some extent occurred recently in the perception of blacks in the United States and Britain, and of Muslims in several predominantly Christian nations (2002).     Trends in Effects of Racism Measured by the Womes's Median Wage a proportion of the Men's and the Non-whites' as the proportion of the Whites, 1939 and 1972     1939 1972 Nonwhites/whites 0 0 Nonwhites women/ white women 37.9 86.8 Nonwhite men/white men 45 70                                                                         Figure 1.             The figure1 shows the effect of the racism which was measured by the Women’s Median a proportion of the Men’s and the No-whites’ to the proportion to the whites. This figure shows the higher the ratio the greater the effect of the racism. By this time we can see that the greater the effect of the racism is on the Non -whites’ women and white women’ which means that the most criticized people are those non-white womens.             In the issue of the labeling in the particular and the position of the racist is more complicated that is why it is very important to have a careful scenario and have to think of a situation through which it should be analyzed it well because this will have a potential to polarize. It was indeed impressive to see the moment that the charges of racism had made a sense due to the fact that they strike a nerve; they have the ability to educate the public and will force a constructive change in the policy. On the most recent and yet an exact example is the Bertram Aristotle’s charge about the U.S. policy toward the Haiti which was racist due to the fact that immigrants who are black were turned back but when we look at the other side the white Cuban immigrants were totally welcomed though fleeing Cuba for the many of which have the same reasons Haitians were fleeing. The trouble in the idea of the racism is that it is unavoidable to take on the personal meaning even if trying to use this impersonally which connote the systems as well as the structures of the racial oppression as the institutionalized racism. The popular mind do not understand in the idea that the racism is refers to the objectives or the structural realities that the social scientist and the Third World should know. Most of the people especially the European Americans they define racism as the feeling and the attitudes as well as the actions. Many of the white college students have the same problem and have immediately confuse regarding the objectives and the subjective racism. This has had felt them that they are being attacked personally as being racist though that is not the proper intention.             There are so many African American whether intellectual or militants have seized upon the objective-subjective distinction to the argument that the black people cannot be the racist because they don’t have the power to institute or to uphold the structures of dominations. It was a great assumption that the Black people cannot be racist and they should serves as a green light among the some Africans Americans to the legitimacy and the expression of the crude stereotypes and the hatreds of the ethnic groups which are commonly the Jews, their expressions which will be unacceptable if being voiced by the Whites.             Discrimination is the manifestation of racism. It involves keeping the racialized group apart, setting them aside designated spaces for it will leave under the certain, presumably restrictive conditions. It also imposes differential treatment on the group in the different kinds of fields in the social life. The treatment wherein the group has to participates in line with the render in the inferior.             For the further understanding regarding the discrimination and the labeling in the racism, we can take the example of the South Africa, wherein the term “apartheid” had designed. This is the form of the organization in the economic production that made the blacks as not only a segregated group but as well as the socially dominated. The formulation of Ernest W. Burgess explains on how cities grow outward from the central business districts in Chicago. The process of the distribution had took place in this formulation wherein the people relocates and individuals as well as groups which was depending on their residence and their occupation. 3. Significance of Racism             The application of the racism to the racism problems is that it will generate a huge and great closeness and acceptance to the different culture as well as to the different beliefs. The readers will have also a further understanding of the relevance of the races and the individual equality that was created by our Creator. The interaction among the other groups will also be tight and they will have a thorough understanding regarding the individual differences. 4. Dealing with Problems on Racism (The UN’s Resolution)             The United Nations adopted and had proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The following are the introductory explanation regarding the law in connection to racism. a. The equality and the inalienable rights in all the members of the human family which is the foundation of the freedom, the justice, and the peace in the world b. The human beings shall enjoy  the freedom of speech and the belief as well as the freedom from the fear and had been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the even just the common people c. The human rights will be protected by the law if the man isn’t compelled to have the recourse, a last resort, and the rebellion of the tyranny and the oppression d. Promote friendly relations between the nations e. The equality of men and women which to promote the social progress and have the better standards of life and in the larger freedom f. The promotion of the universal respect for observance as well as the human rights of the fundamental freedoms 5. Applying Racism Perspectives to the Racism Problem              The racism perspective will determine the problem of the racism itself. In the ecological and the labeling perspective it will generate will generate and will have a better understanding on what the term racism is all about. The readers and the people will have a vivid and a broad understanding regarding the racism. This will also have a clear distinction between this two perspectives that will have a solution on the greater problem which is the racism. This problems can be resolved and will start at the small one which are their perspective. 6. Policy to Make on Ecological Perspective             The discussion of the issue regarding racism is broad and need much explanation as well as further analysis. The racism is one of the issues that the any society needs to fix out. Though we know that it is such a hard task to do but then if we should try to reflect on the effect of this then that would be the great reward anyone can received. Anything huge issue can start fixing in small pieces of things.  First and foremost, the family should start it all. Home is the foundation of every attitude of the child, that is why the parents should teach their children on not to discriminate the other races in this manner the child will know and he will bring this as he grows old. Aside from that, the school should teach every student the proper way of respecting other students who are in different races. This will be the training ground of the students to maximize its talents and admitting the other races as well as its belief. The United Nations (UN) also was a great bridge for the other countries as well as the other nations to unite and made an organization that will lead to them to know and discover the strengths, the beliefs as well as the culture of one another. The government also should have a legal matter regarding this issue that will push through this kind of policy by implementing such laws that the masses should follow. This will minimize the racism and will be unite each and everyone. 7. Conclusion             The term racism is now increasingly used and defined to mean something far beyond its dictionary definition. This is because racism is not a stagnant thing and is continues and constantly evolving and changing. Racism is no longer just about the color, it is a racism that is not just only directed at those with darker skins, from the past colonial territories, but at the newer categories. It is racism, that is, that cannot be a color-coded, and this directed as it is at poor whites and to the Asians as well. Racism includes all aspects of discrimination in education, work, religion, income, and many more.             If we look at the issue further we have been infer that the best job to explain the problem is the ecological perspective. This had been used because there are so many instances wherein racism has been the issue in the environmental and the social problem of a person or even the group of people. In this arena we can determine that the racism had been rooted in the small unit of the society. This small unit will lead be a very good basis to determine the discrimination of the other people to the others. There are so many reasons why does people kept on discriminating the other cultures and one of which is the color which was the basis of the other group in recruitment. The belief of the other race is also an important and yet the most reliable reason why they isolate themselves to the others which was given to the fact that this belief will lead to the influence of the groups. The black people are always the victims of this system wherein they had find a hard time in relating to the other nations and as well as to the other races. This will also influence to them to improve, excel, and to diversify their culture despite of the discrimination they encountering in the hand of the other races. Most of them still believe that the black people have the same rights to the other kinds of races, besides they are all humans.               R

Racism as a Social Problem

Racism: a social a problem 1. Introduction Racism – a prejudice or animosity against the p...

A Critical Analysis: African-American racism and slavery- Frederick Douglas

Slavery in Frederick Douglas: A Critical Analysis Race has always been America's crucible. Observant visitors from Alexis de Tocqueville to Gunnar Myrdal have published stern premonitions. According to Tocqueville, "[t]he most formidable of all the ills that threaten the future of the Union arises from the presence of a black population upon its territory” (Tocqueville, 1945).   This essay tackles the views and philosophy of one of the most influential crusader of African-American racism and slavery- Frederick Douglas. I argue that Douglas’ views on racism and slavery are well-grounded and more realistic than that of other philosophers of his time. Furthermore, his views had helped in the liberation not only of African-Americans but also among Whites and other races. Douglas provided us with a classic and exemplary depiction of slavery. In this essay, I shall evaluate his arguments and provide a critical discourse on the highlights of his premises. Slavery was a universal institution, it is not confined to the West; what is distinctively Western is the abolition of slavery. Many people have, of course, resisted being captured and sold as slaves, but no society, including all of Africa, has ever on its own account mounted principled opposition to human servitude. in all the literature condemning Western slavery, however, few scholars have asked why a practice sanctioned by virtually all people for thousands of years should be questioned, and eventually halted, by only one. Paradoxically, it is in America and nowhere else in the world where the legacy of slavery is a contemporary issue, the American Constitution is condemned as a document that compromised with slavery, and the Framers are routinely denounced for being racist hypocrites.   Throughout world history, slavery had few defenders for the simple reason that it had few critics. The institution was uncontroversial, and that which is established and taken for granted does not have to be justified. The American South was unique among slave societies in history in that it produced a comprehensive proslavery ideology. In part, this was because slavery was under assault to a degree unrivaled anywhere else in the world. This lack of attention on slavery implies that it is already taken as a given that racism and slavery exists as a norm in the society. At the height of slavery and racism, a prominent scholar attacked the conception of slavery in the society particularly that of the Western conception of slavery against the Blacks. Though, not purely African, Douglas reiterated several points against slavery. The first contention of Douglas is that slavery and racism is detrimental to human beings and society. The simplest defense for slavery was economic necessity: Someone has to do the dirty work, and better them than us. This position was based on an implicit premise that whites in the South were in a position to compel blacks to perform menial but necessary tasks. It is force, rather than right, that kept the system of slavery in place. However, Douglas reiterated that slavery is cruel as he have shown in his narrative and experiences as a young boy in living in a community of masters and slaves. Freedom from slavery rests on the basic tenet that individuals are masters of themselves and nobody else. Thus, it is not only morally wrong to enslave human beings, it also violates the sense of being. Moreover, in response to the economic argument, Douglas pursued to study when education was thought by Blacks as dangerous. By not allowing them to be educated, the human capital of the slaves are reduced to a minimum thus, development is one-sided. If this happens, progress cannot be attained. To deconstruct the slave mentality, Douglas tried to disentangle himself from the Christian teachings whose mentality is that of the Whites. As seen in the various examples that were discussed in Frederick Douglass's Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave, the cruelty found in slavery was even more intense when placed under the pretense of the slaveholding religion of Christianity. Through Douglass's deconstruction of Christianity, he learns that the white oppressive version of Christianity is much different from his own beliefs of Christianity. Douglass ultimately realizes that the way to stop the oppressive nature of slavery is through education. Thus, the analyses of Douglas is both old and contemporary. Until now, education is seen as the most prevalent means of deconstructing a society fraught with inequalities. Thus, Douglas, used his writings to educate the people on the effects of slavery. In The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas gives insight about the early stages of Douglas’ life, all the way up until the time that he wrote the Narrative in an effort to show the ignorance, callousness, and cruelty that the white slave-holders had towards their black slaves. Douglass's experiences may have been a bit more lenient in some respects because he was mixed and, therefore, treated with a little more compassion because his color was closer to the white hierarchical color structure. However, he still used his experiences and remembrances to create his Narrative and use it as a tool to help abolish slavery. In the first section of the autobiography, Douglass notes instances of slave oppression that he experiences and witnesses in his life. Douglass writes, he then said to her, "now you d---d b---h, I'll learn you how to disobey my orders!í and after rolling up his sleeves, he commenced to lay on the heavy cow skin, and soon the warm, red blood (amid heart-rendering shrieks from her, and horrid oaths from him) came dripping to the floor. I was so terrified and horrorstricken at the sight, that I hid myself in the closet, and dared not venture out till long after the bloody transaction was over (Douglass 26). This instance, among many others, Douglass uses to show the brutality and cruelty of the institution of slavery. In an effort to further appeal to his readers, Douglass uses the American famed "heroic epic" quality in his work. Douglass displays this style when he tells a story about the physical abuse that he received his first time working as a field hand and how he overcame his torment. Douglass also subtlety includes the aspect of African folklore in his writing to uphold his heritage without blatantly stating his pride. Douglass observes the injustices and discrepancies that were prevalent during slavery. One of the most perplexing issues that Douglass tries to understand is how the whites could justify slavery and the brutality that was encompassed in this institution. My Bondage and My Freedom is particularly rich with indications that Douglass's life had schooled him in the complex relationship between outward "performance" and inner nature (Anderson, 1997). Douglass developed a taste for exposing the hypocrisy of the slaveholding culture as a form of inept theater. Silence can be an effective slave's tactic, too, as Douglass himself demonstrates in his refusal to sing hymns at Covey's behest. Douglass's acts of dissent are similarly violent and obedient, radical and conservative, sustained and dramatized in a text that reproduces old canons in new language. Not surprisingly, what used to be called "the Negro Question" or "the Negro Problem" has continued to disturb, and at times dominate, the national consciousness. Frederick Douglass pointed out that the terminology was ungenerous, in that it might be understood to impute blame to the victim. Douglass argued that the problem of racial caste and its attendant ills should more truly be called "the Nation's Problem." Nonetheless, the original designation revealed something of substance. As Douglass himself put it: "The destiny of the nation has the Negro for its pivot, and turns upon the question as to what shall be done with him” (Douglas, 1975). Nearly every African American leader since has expressed a similar sentiment. The version by W. E. B. Du Bois not only reiterates his people's prominence--"Around us the history of the land has centered for thrice a hundred years"-but also helps to explain why it should be so--"out of the nation's heart we have called all that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst” (Du Bois, 1986). That is not to say that Americans have always met the challenge well. In every era, there have been concerted attempts to evade and deny, or at least to temporize. For both blacks and whites, the vision of complete escape has beckoned. Some of the organizations dedicated to an African exodus from the United States have been respectable, others not; but in all cases, they have disbelieved in the possibility of racial accord, if not in general, then at least in light of the U.S. specifics. its proponents, Frederick Douglass rightly denounced the project as pernicious. "No one idea has given rise to more oppression and persecution toward the colored people of this country," Douglass wrote, "than that which makes Africa, not America, their home” (Douglas, 1992). There have been other thinkers who dreamt not of permanent separation but instead of thoroughgoing amalgamation--a physical solution to the race problem through the slow erosion of complexional distinctness. Frederick Douglass speculated about such a radically assimilationist future. Frederick Douglass saw the outcome a bit differently. He spoke not of absorption but of a blending that would lead to the emergence of a new third race, a mixed race--what he called a "composite American nationality." As Douglass knew from his own parentage (a fusion of African, European, and Native American), race is a transient quality. Although slavery ended in the United States more than a century ago, its legacy continues to be disputed among scholars and to underlie contemporary debates about public policy. The reason for this is that slavery is considered the classic expression of American racism, and its effects are still viewed as central to the problems faced by blacks in the United States. Slavery seems to be the wound that never healed--the moral core of the oppression story so fundamental to black identity today. No wonder that bitterness generated by recollections of slavery has turned a generation of black scholars and activists against the nation's Founding--against identification with America itself. Douglas had successfully raised the consciousness of the society in their Platonic views of the society- that it is not an obligation of the Africans to serve the Caucasians, that it is wrong to perpetuate a system that is both morally degrading and inhumane. These arguments while it had been concocted centuries ago still holds in contemporary society partly because of the classic premises and also because slavery has yet to be abolished. Today, slavery may have evolved into different forms but the oppression they have suffered years ago still lingers. Both however are accessories to slavery- while the Whites perpetuates that kind of system, Africa had passively accepted it.   References Anderson, D. (1997) The textual reproductions of Frederick Douglass. CLIO, Vol. 27. Douglass, F. (1992) "African Civilization Society" (1859), in African-American Social and Political Thought, 1850-1920, ed. Howard Brotz. New Brunswick: Transaction, 264. Douglass, F. (1975) The Present and Future of the Colored Race in America," a speech delivered in the Church of the Puritans. New York, in May 1863, in The Life and Writings of Frederick Douglass, ed. Philip S. Foner (New York: International Publishers. 1975 ): III. 267. Du Bois, WEB. (1986) "The Souls of Black Folk", in Writings. New York: Library of America, 545. Tocqueville, Ad. (1945) Democracy in America (New York: Vintage Books: I, 370.

A Critical Analysis: African-American racism and slavery- Frederick Douglas

Slavery in Frederick Douglas: A Critical Analysis Race has always been America's crucible. Observant visitors from Alexis de Tocquev...

Representation of Race and Ethnicity in Hollywood Films

Representation of Race and Ethnicity in Hollywood Films   Introduction               This paper discusses the different situations that race and ethnicity is represented in Hollywood films.  It is concentrated on the recent state of the Black actors and actresses in Hollywood industry.  This paper also cited relevant information on interviews and comments from the black men and women in Hollywood.  Popular black Hollywood celebrities were also taken as significant examples in the study,    In the United States, where Hollywood is, race and ethnicity is not more of a factor in many of their industries.  The most evident is the dominance of the blacks in the US National Basketball Association, whether African-American or Black-Americans.  As a matter of fact, you can rarely even see white Americans in the All American Basketball Association.    There has been a thin line that separates the whites from the blacks.  For the fact that the mixture of the two classes has only one outcome – black, there has been a threat of the shortage of the whites.  This will take us to the racism in the America before.  With this practical reason, racism until now is evident in the U.S., especially in the Hollywood.    Scarcity of roles for the black actresses in Hollywood   According to the latest figures from the Screen Actors Guild, Black actresses are cast in only 10 out of 29 percent of all female roles in major film and TV projects. Moreover, in 1990, not a single Black actress made the list of Top 10 box office attractions - not one.      In terms of awards, no black actress has ever won a best actress Oscar, and Whoopi Goldberg--only the second Black actress ever to win an Oscar--became the first Black actress to win since Hattie McDaniel took best supporting actress for Gone With The Wind in 1939 (1991).  This significantly portrays a noticeable discrimination going on in the industry. That is quite a long time not to be recognized.  The reason roots to the chances and number of roles available for the black actresses.    The paucity of roles for Black actresses—and Hollywood's limited vision of them as maids, hookers, sidekicks and best friends--makes it tremendously difficult for them to keep on keeping on, never mind find steady work.  As Spike Lee points out, "The way for Black actresses to start getting more roles is for Black women to start directing and producing their own films."  It would take great an effort for a black woman to get into a movie or a commercial to deserve for it to get past the industries narrow-minded obsession of the “Barbie-Doll Starlet”. In Hollywood films, most Black women who landed in a role that every Black actress wanted, tremendous expectations and pressure placed were upon them, says Lynn Whitfield who won the title role--and critical raves--for her portrayal of Baker in the HBO production.       Racism in Hollywood   Three black actors are up for the top acting prize at the 2002 Academy Awards. It should be a cause for rejoicing. Instead, it points to the appalling racism in the film industry today. Best Actress nominee Halle Berry said as much recently when she accepted the Best Actress award from the Screen Actors Guild for her role in “Monster's Ball”.   Berry is right - though the big players in the Dream Factory do not appreciate ingratitude, and her remark may cost her the other prize. When it comes to what is euphemistically known as "The Business", blacks are not considered people with whom business is done. This is despite the enormous box-office clout, well out of proportion to their numbers, that black people wield. Indeed, if African Americans were a separate nation, we would give Bollywood a run for its money. The three nominations - aside from Berry, there is Will Smith for “Ali” and Denzel Washington for “Training Day” - are, according to most black people in Hollywood, just that: three nominations, nothing more or less. They are no benchmark, no watershed. Sidney Poitier, who is being honored this year for his contribution to the industry, calls Hollywood "deeply disappointing", although he is happy for and proud of the three nominated actors (2002).               Julia Roberts is campaigning for Denzel Washington finally to win the prize he deserves - but even the Queen of Hollywood cannot break through the curtain that keeps black people at the back of the bus.  This has greatly created an impact in the way Hollywood presents a film.  There hasn’t been an equal privileged for the blacks that would give back to every effort the have contributed in the industry.     The specter of racism is everywhere; just don’t say it out loud.  Just as Howard E. Rollins Jr. did when he began to speak out about the discrimination he had witnessed even though he was nominated Best Supporting Actor that time.  Nothing better for him followed after and eventually made him vanished from the silver screen.   The last time that three black actors were nominated for lead roles in the same year was in 1972: Paul Winfield and Cicely Tyson for “Sounder” and Diana Ross for “Lady Sings the Blues”. None of the films was memorable, but they were indicative of the liberal, post-civil rights, Vietnamera sentiment of the time.   Hollywood in Transition   Black people have been in Hollywood since the early two-reelers almost a century ago. Yet so far, here are the numbers that count: Hattie McDaniel, Best Supporting Actress, “Gone with the Wind”, 1939; Sidney Poitier, Best Actor, “Lilies of the Field”, 1963.    In the 38 Academy Award ceremonies since Poitier's triumph, no other black leading actor or actress has won the top prize. Despite 780 total acting nominations and 152 winners since Poitier's award, only four winners have been black, and all have won in supporting roles: Louis Gossett Jr in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Denzel Washington in Glory (1989), Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost (1990) and Cuba Gooding Jr in Jerry Maguire (1996).   Between 1975 and 1980, there were no black acting nominees at all, until protests started. The most recent protest began in 1995 after a People magazine cover story, titled “Hollywood blackout", pointed out that only one of that year's 166 Oscar nominees was black: the director Dianne Houston, co-nominated for a short film. She lost.   , president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has stated that black people in LA are keeping their heads down so as not to scupper the three actors' chances. But the problem of black under-representation has not been solved and will not go away even if Berry and Washington or Smith wins. Actors may be in the limelight, but black producers, directors, writers, directors of photography and techies still find it difficult to get jobs. Most important of all, there are no black faces among the studio execs who can give the green light to a project. These are the people needed to change the industry, and they are not there.   The bottom line is that Hollywood is about relationships: who wants to be seen with whom, who wants to secure favors from whom, who wants to "hook up". It's a question of familiarity, comfort-zone casting, and who's seen "in the ranks".   It has been almost a century since cinema's first undisputed masterpiece: D W Griffith's Birth of a Nation, a celebration of the Ku Klux Klan. It has been more than 70 years since Al Jolson put on blackface to cry "Mammy!" and open up the movies to sound, yet black people are relatively no better off in Hollywood back then.   Come to think of this - four black people on 24 March, posing together for the press backstage after the ceremony: Sidney Poitier with his Special Achievement Oscar; Halle Berry, Best Actress; Will Smith or Denzel Washington, Best Actor; and past Oscar winner and compare Whoopi Goldberg.  It was captioned: “In your dreams”.             Whether related to roles or awards, black actors and actresses haven’t got much to deserve it.  Even through time, the issues of race and ethnicity in the Hollywood industry are still left up in the air.  Even the portrayal of most Hollywood films says it all.  Contributions of the blacks in the industry are remarkably far more significant than the subject of what they are and where they came from.  Even with an increasing number of black actors and actresses, only a few of them, mostly veterans, are recognized; and to note that this documentation took several decades before regaining it.               The case immensely reflects to the way race and ethnicity is represented in Hollywood films.  This industry is no longer an inclusive one; many outside nationalities have wanted to be in the Dream Factory as Hollywood goes global.  In this case, the depiction of race and ethnicity in the Hollywood films should take a smooth and fair description.                   R

Representation of Race and Ethnicity in Hollywood Films

Representation of Race and Ethnicity in Hollywood Films Introduction This paper discusses the different situation...