Overcoming Racism: An In-Depth Analysis of the American Psyche
“Can I help you with anything?” The saleswoman’s bleached white smile spread painfully wide across her tan face. The helpful grin did not reach her eyes, and her blue irises narrowed in suspicion at the contents of my pockets. Within a twenty minute span, she had asked three times if I required assistance. Like most of my shopping experiences, I never felt alone because salespeople surreptitiously managed to pop up at the end of every clothing rack. However, many white customers looked just as clueless in the store as I had, yet she had not rushed to help them. Why track down the black honor student? For all she knew, the innocuous soccer mom in the back corner could be stuffing …show more content…
Humanity’s predecessors were forced to pass judgements on different groups in order to stay alive. After centuries of colonization and cultural cultivation, these elementary prejudices have evolved into a systematic issue: racism. Though prejudice and racism hold similar connotations, there are slight nuances in their definitions. The Oxford English dictionary defines prejudice as a “preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience” while Dictionary.com describes racism as “the belief that some races are inherently superior (physically, intellectually, or culturally) to others and therefore have a right to dominate …show more content…
According to University of Delaware scientist Paul Quinn, babies as young as six months old can identify various racial groups. By the time these children reach the age of nine months, they struggle to distinguish members of racial groups different from their own. Though this disparity seems relatively harmless, this visual discrepancy can result in negative repercussions in the future. For example, multiple scientific studies have shown black patients are under-treated for pain because white doctors cannot easily sympathize with minority groups who have had different experiences than them (The Washington Post). This study predates Beneathea Younger’s quest to become a doctor in Raisin in the Sun, though this evidences highlights the problem as generational. As Beneatha yearned to “fix up the sick...and make them whole again,” she highlights the lack of minorities within the medical field, as blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans make up 6% of US physicians but 25.7% of the general
“Can I help you with anything?” The saleswoman’s bleached white smile spread painfully wide across her tan face. The helpful grin did not reach her eyes, and her blue irises narrowed in suspicion at the contents of my pockets. Within a twenty minute span, she had asked three times if I required assistance. Like most of my shopping experiences, I never felt alone because salespeople surreptitiously managed to pop up at the end of every clothing rack. However, many white customers looked just as clueless in the store as I had, yet she had not rushed to help them. Why track down the black honor student? For all she knew, the innocuous soccer mom in the back corner could be stuffing …show more content…
Humanity’s predecessors were forced to pass judgements on different groups in order to stay alive. After centuries of colonization and cultural cultivation, these elementary prejudices have evolved into a systematic issue: racism. Though prejudice and racism hold similar connotations, there are slight nuances in their definitions. The Oxford English dictionary defines prejudice as a “preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience” while Dictionary.com describes racism as “the belief that some races are inherently superior (physically, intellectually, or culturally) to others and therefore have a right to dominate …show more content…
According to University of Delaware scientist Paul Quinn, babies as young as six months old can identify various racial groups. By the time these children reach the age of nine months, they struggle to distinguish members of racial groups different from their own. Though this disparity seems relatively harmless, this visual discrepancy can result in negative repercussions in the future. For example, multiple scientific studies have shown black patients are under-treated for pain because white doctors cannot easily sympathize with minority groups who have had different experiences than them (The Washington Post). This study predates Beneathea Younger’s quest to become a doctor in Raisin in the Sun, though this evidences highlights the problem as generational. As Beneatha yearned to “fix up the sick...and make them whole again,” she highlights the lack of minorities within the medical field, as blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans make up 6% of US physicians but 25.7% of the general