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Is Racism Really Prevalent in America and How Should We Respond?

Is racism really dominant in America? For the most part, no. In fact, according to many polls, America is listed as the least racist country. Does it exist? Yes.

Interestingly enough, in a poll done by Ramussen Reports, "Among black Americans, 31% think most blacks are racist, while 24% consider most whites racist and 15% view most Hispanics that way." (2013, Lifestyle, n.p) In a poll done to exploit the most racist countries in the world, America was not listed. (n.a, 2016, n.p). Of course, we cannot turn our eyes from the issue; we can't say it doesn't exist, when it still does. Bullying exists and always will. People are judged all of the time on their appearance, whether they are fat, skinny, pretty, or ugly. Now, how do we address the situation. Well, in my opinion, what we should do is teach our children that somebody's skin color, hair color, eye color, or weight means nothing in itself; it is the soul that matters, and we should not be mean or judgmental only based on somebody's outward appearance, something they cannot change which does not define them.

If we stop bullying people because of what they look like, then the world is a happier place not just for blacks but people who are not "pretty" enough or "thin" enough compared to the models on the magazines. We need to look at the core and address that issue, not just help the blacks, for instance, but ignore the other races that have less of an issue; we need to teach kids that what someone looks like doesn't matter period and not focus purely on "race" so to speak. I don't' see how teaching that is counterproductive toward racism since it would seem to me that that would help much more than going on about how us privileged whites don't get it, because it's not like we haven't suffered some form of bullying based on our looks which can be compared to a racist attack in so far as it's emotionally damaging and more or less not too different except "racism" is toward a group and there's a form of "power" involved from the race that is formed up of more individuals (Irving, 2016, n.p), but, still, our race is human and to pinpoint that there are more whites in the government doesn't mean anything necessarily since it wasn't (we would hope) the color of their skin that got them there but their qualifications and probably who they knew. Also, to make whites feel like they don't understand and don't get it and don't suffer is not going to help because we all suffer and it's empathy that pushes the other to react, not a finger pointing at them. It is better to say, "didn't it hurt your feelings when Molly made fun of your curly hair? Well, so-and-so is made fun of because of their skin..." that works much better than "You don't know what it's like to be so-and-so because you're privileged and have never suffered any form of racism." That is only going to make whoever you're speaking to get defensive or offended since you know nothing of their life and you are seemingly making an assumption (that they're privileged) based on their skin color, something they have no control over and, for all you know, maybe, individually, they are the furthest from being privileged.

This all being said, we should reflect on the positive, that as the years progress, racism becomes less and less of an issue and America with its immense diversity is comparatively probably one of the least racist countries since, when your neighbor is black/asian/Spanish, and you have formed a relationship of some kind with them, it is much harder to see skin color as anything more than an exterior appearance that does not make a person who they are.



Found in an article written by Kyle Becker here

Links to sites mentioned: 

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/lifestyle/general_lifestyle/july_2013/more_americans_view_blacks_as_racist_than_whites_hispanics

2016. n.a. Website found at: https://businesstech.co.za/news/lifestyle/116644/the-most-racist-countries-in-the-world/

Irving. 2016. http://www.debbyirving.com/qa/are-prejudice-bigotryand-racism-the-same-thing/

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