Racism: Term Definition and History of Display of Racism Remarks

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Racism is defined in so many ways. Even without the use of speech, someone can express racist remarks through their body language in response to his/her feelings and how they view the other person to which racist attitude is directed (Gaertner, 63). In the past, I thought of racism as something that happened some time back and is no longer a serious issue in the United States but some interesting facts that I have come across prove otherwise. A simple definition of racism as per a majority of dictionaries, for example, the Oxford dictionary, is a hatred directed towards a certain person just because of differences in their language, birthplace, customs, and worst of all, skin color. With time, I have come to believe that this racist behavior has a long-lasting impact on society. As immoral as it may sound some people out there still do instigate racist remarks on innocent little children but it is interesting to note that as much as this does immensely impact them, it does not entirely break them up.

A YouTube video documentary called “A Girl like Me” that was produced by a Teen filmmaking enterprise called Reel Works portrays several African American girls talking of how the society portrays them as not smart, not being beautiful, and many other racist attributes. What however troubles me the most, is that this has created some inward feeling of inferiority or dislike to themselves. In the documentary as much as according to popular perception including my perception that by them applying hair relaxers to their hair to make it more relaxed, they look even more stunningly beautiful, on the other hand, it might just be a manifestation of a distorted self-image (Kiri, 1). As disgusting as it may sound, the African American children when faced with choosing a black doll or a white doll up to 15 out of the 20 kids pick the white dolls for the simple reason that they do not like the black ones. I, therefore, do believe that this racism issue that used to be so widespread some time back has impacted the American nation in a very big way. It is no wonder that this form of discrimination is known to have caused the worst wars in the world and led to nations being formed together with all forms of legal codes.

My initial belief about racism especially directed towards the African Americans was that it was always generated from other races and was mostly directed to teenagers or grownups and not children. This small documentary however only proves that racism is indeed directed even to young kids. These young kids through their preference for White Dolls and perception that black dolls are not beautiful only prove that racism has been internalized in them through stigmatization and discrimination. This portrays the start of the development of a poor self-image.

Racist attitudes against African Americans were mostly based on the poor perception of their abilities to deliver especially intellectually. It is widely believed that many successful African Americans who grew up during the height of racism were more driven to succeed and disapprove of this notion. Although not much is told about Charles’s childhood in the Journal for Jordan, he is portrayed to have experienced some discrimination stings as an African American (Canedy, 74). Charles in his letter to Jordan asks of his son not to judge a person based on skin color, religion, or beliefs. Instead, this father believes that this diversity of race should enable us to learn from each other thus realizing the advantage of differences. In short, the father wanted the son to appreciate people’s personalities. What the father wanted the son to do, shows that he had become more confident of his image and was very proud of who he was.

From Charles’s word, I am left to ponder whether before writing those words he was viewing the matter from other races’ point of view. It could be that after his success in life and turning out to be superior army personnel and a leader, he now saw that the inferior racist remarks that had been directed to him were just not sustainable. It could also be possible that it was this sting of discrimination that he experienced while he was still young that drove him to succeed rather than develop a poor self-image like the girls in Kiri’s documentary.

In America since the days of slavery and colonialism, it has been an issue of great importance. With white Americans being privileged in just about anything in the country, African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, and other racially different Native Americans were legally deprived of just about everything essential to them. Before the banning of racially discriminatory behavior in the middle of the 20^th century, slavery structures together with their racist intuitions had comfortably settled in many cultures in the world. Interestingly the decision in the middle of the 20^th century is yet to be fully accepted by some people in this 21^st century times.

To date, a substantive United States of America Population holds some prejudice or more commonly known racist attitudes. Many Organizations that fight for Human rights in the US are said to still hold a strong opinion that there is still the presence of discrimination extending to color communities. Every major ethnic minority in America is said to have acknowledged encountered racist obstacles while dealing with other groups which were also a minority. There is a wide acknowledgment of discrimination against Muslims, Latin Americans, and African Americans.

Ben Carson, the author of the hit book “Think Big” passionately writes of how he becomes an outstanding student Wilson (Carson and Murphy, 40). To him, the idea of African Americans being inferior intellectually is erased through his success in studies as he excelled even among the white kids. This could be portrayed to be as another drive to succeed and disapprove of this notion that African Americans were intellectually inferior.

Therefore as much as racist attitudes and treatment were directed to the African Americans in the not-so-far past, to some extent, it has helped shape the determination in the African American Community. Various African Americans are known to have seceded beyond imagine in whatever area of intellect that they become involved in. Ben Carson a fine example is known to have become a surgery specialist. From a humble beginning and meeting some discrimination stings along his path, he ends up growing on the wave of wanting to disapprove of this notion. Carson ends up being told as a story of an amazing man that gives children the much-needed second life’s chance (Carson and Murphy, 16). Therefore instead of Carson developing a poor self-image, he became even more determined in his career.

With time, there has been a significant drop in those who still practice Racism, especially from the White Americans. This notion is widely so from the fact that gradually as the initially believed inferior African Americans become heroes, intellectuals, and other great people in the American society, it has allowed this society to learn from the differences that the black African Americans bring. From the white house to the great athletes to leaders of various great departments, this constant presence of African Americans in the initially predominantly “white workplace” has very much enabled The United States of America to combat the racism war. Though the war is yet to be won conclusively, there seems to be a great desire in the general public to end this dark history of discrimination.

In the Journal for Jordan, Charles is said to have always called his team “My boys” (Canedy, 74). He is known to have acquired a high rank in the United States Army. In ancient times, the African Americans were used in the wars of the various nations but were still held in low regard in regards to their intellectuality. One such famous story is of the Buffalo soldiers who are known to have been successful in their many war quests (Leckie, 23). With previous discriminations in the Armed forces, the African Americans must have strived to disapprove of the notions that they were racially inferior. With their gradual outstanding performances, they are now an ever-present face in the army. Their ever-present presence helps the other races to get used to them just as their race and this removes this racist notion completely.

Although the success of African Americans helped remove the notion that they were inferior, it might have propagated hatred against them especially from pro-active racists. It is obvious that when the people who hate you will not be at all happy if you were to turn around and succeed. Despite this fact, America is a land of equal opportunities and this helps remove this hatred gradually. With good law structures in place that harshly give punishment to those who show extreme behavior of racist nature to other citizens’, this helps make the country even better to live in.

America has turned out to be a great nation and land full of opportunities. This has been made possible through various reforms through their justice and legal departments. Great reforms have however been attributed to the people who have faced racism disapproving of the limitations that they were initially thought to have. Greater still has been the ability of those who racist instigations were committed against to still give positive remarks like advising people to treat others as who they are and not how they look (Canedy, 74). As much as a poor self image is portrayed in the YouTube video of “A Girl like Me”, there appears strong determination in other characters like Ben Carson in his “Gifted Hands” story and an outstanding soldier portrayed in the “Journal for Jordan”.

Works Cited

Canedy, Dana. A Journal for Jordan: A Story of Love and Honor. London: Random House, 2009.

Carson, Ben & Murphy, Cecil. Gifted Hands. Michigan: Zondervan, 1990.

Gaertner, Samuel & Dovidio John. The Aversive form of Racism. London: Academic Press, 1986

Kiri, Davis. More About A Girl like Me. Web.

Leckie, William. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Publishers, 1967.

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Racism: Term Definition and History of Display of Racism Remarks

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