As long as humans have inhabited the earth there have been interpersonal problems due to a variety of personalities that will not always fraternize well. The problem I wish to eradicate is racism. It slithers through our minds and poisons are thoughts and incapacitates our reason. It deceives us, and causes us believe in ridiculous ideas. I always think back to times in history class, when we talk about times of extreme racism, such as the Holocaust, slavery and racism in America. It was always mind-boggling to think people truly had that mindset on a large scale, everything Hitler did in Germany was “legal”, and the Jim Crow laws were real. Although we have made strides in a commendable and virtuous direction, people still need to be
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I have experienced racism firsthand as a wake up call that exposed my naivete. Having grown up in a predominantly white, middle class liberal society, racism felt so far away, and that the open mindedness of the north is accompanied by very little prejudice. Wrong. In reality, it is quite the opposite. Just last year, one of my friends, who was an African American transferred schools after encountering the persistent racial slurs from white students. This came as a shock to the administration, and myself, who, up until that point, thought this was such an accepting school filled with tolerant children. Wrong. While there isn’t much bullying on a physical level, I have witnessed numerous accounts of white students using racial slurs, telling awfully offensive jokes and essentially trying to act “black”. However, the fault does not solely fall upon the heads on one race, each race has played their part in perpetuating racism and prejudice. Racism and prejudice will affect every aspect of my life. We, as a people, need to decide together to enact a national or worldwide change in order to expel racial attitudes. This struggle has been going on since the beginning of time, but as more and more generations pass, there seems to be an increase in tolerance, which is
I have experienced racism firsthand as a wake up call that exposed my naivete. Having grown up in a predominantly white, middle class liberal society, racism felt so far away, and that the open mindedness of the north is accompanied by very little prejudice. Wrong. In reality, it is quite the opposite. Just last year, one of my friends, who was an African American transferred schools after encountering the persistent racial slurs from white students. This came as a shock to the administration, and myself, who, up until that point, thought this was such an accepting school filled with tolerant children. Wrong. While there isn’t much bullying on a physical level, I have witnessed numerous accounts of white students using racial slurs, telling awfully offensive jokes and essentially trying to act “black”. However, the fault does not solely fall upon the heads on one race, each race has played their part in perpetuating racism and prejudice. Racism and prejudice will affect every aspect of my life. We, as a people, need to decide together to enact a national or worldwide change in order to expel racial attitudes. This struggle has been going on since the beginning of time, but as more and more generations pass, there seems to be an increase in tolerance, which is