Racism

Racism
By Aaron Schwartz

Racism is generally defined as a persecution based on beliefs, practices and institutions that negatively discriminate people based just on their race. Sometimes it’s based on the idea that one race can be superior to another and must dominate it. Scientists still didn’t agree on the origins of the racism discrimination and the way it started its existence. One of the views on the appearance of racism is based on the theory of stereotypes based on cultural factors. People rely on their past experience judging events and others and sometimes their attitude to other races is superficial. Some scientists see the roots of racism in the early ethnic and national conflicts. These conflicts originate from the fight for natural resources and conquest wars of the past and may also have religious background. Another source of racism discrimination originates from the misinterpretation of the Darwin’s theory of evolution. According to these interpretations some races are biologically more prepared for living and have stronger biological characteristics which make them dominative.

Racism can be expressed physically, emotionally, subconsciously. It can be expressed by single individuals or by the whole organizations and institutions.

Racism is usually directed against the minor group of population though can be cases when it’s directed against the major groups like in case with the Black Americans in the United States. The notion of the race problem is very close to the notion of racism and is usually defined as - a social and political problem caused by conflict between races occupying the same or adjacent regions. Unfortunately it still exists in the US and there are a lot of proved of it. Though this problem is paid relatively less attention in the latest time it still exists and newest researched prove it. The recent study made by the University of Chicago proved that white people looking for the job are more likely to get than the black people under the same condition. Black people are oftener stopped by the police and they account for 35 percent of all arrests for drug possession, 55 percent of all convictions and 74 percent of all prison sentences. The level of school segregation has increased lately according to the research of The Harvard Civil Rights Project. All that proved that the racism didn’t disappear but has just changed the way it is expressed. We can hardly meet open violence towards other races in the US but they are still discriminated. Now the attitude to racism could be characterized as so called double-thinking when two contradicting ideas live in the minds of the people. Most of them would proclaim equal attitude to all races and nations but at the same time would prefer to have white neighbors, friends, colleagues, employees, etc. There is no doubt that the problem of racism should be solved but first of all it should be admitted that this problem still exists.

Some modern scientists see the possible way of finding the roots of this problem in studying the racism in comparison to the castes system of India.