On Racism
Do you remember when you first heard a traumatic word, such as rape, incest or murder? Do you remember that gut feeling that even saying such a word was wrong, like when a kid first hears a curse word? Then, over time, the feeling of uneasiness wasn’t quite as bad for you? Do you remember the time when that word seemed to lose all meaning in your head and was just as casual as saying hello to someone walking down the street? That is what the term Racism has become. For whatever reason, something that has mostly been settled in our society has now crept back up into the context of humanity, causing division where there is none. Not a day goes by without someone, somewhere, is being accused of being a bigot, a sexist, anti-Semitic or a misogynist. The king of this pile, however, continues to be Racism. To start, I will admit that I do not believe in open racism, bigotry or legal backing of such beliefs. I DO believe in profiling and bias, which I will talk about later. You know the format by now, so let’s begin.
According to the Merriam-Webster school dictionary (which is the same one I had in middle school, so it may not be up to date), Racism is defined as follows:
1. A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race
2. A doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles
3. A political or social system founded on racism
4. Radical prejudice or discrimination
Now, before you call me a “douchecanoe” as a nice gentleman named Keith Beckman, of whom I ABSOLUTELY don’t want people bugging, called me (I still don’t quite know what one of those are), I will provide the updated 2019 Oxford English Dictionary definition, which is:
1. The belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.
Not much of a difference between the two, is there? That is a good thing because it shows that we are all on the same page here. Originally, however, it heralded quite a different meaning. During the 19th century, scientists believed that humans, just as any other animal, could be divided up based on how we looked and through our actions; the idea was to divide the “races” scientifically[i]. It’s not really known when the superiority complex came to being, though it is probably true that racism has been around as long as there were people. As far as the term goes, it must have shifted this way rather quickly, seeing that a 1902 definition began to differentiate from the term Racism by calling it Racialism, defined as “[a]n earlier term than racism, but now largely superseded by it”[ii]. We were just barely out of World War II when it began to bear the hateful connotations it has today[iii]. Speaking of today, there are a plethora of versions of racism claimed by those who feel threatened by it, which include, but certainly not limited to Aversive Racism, Colorblindness, Cultural Racism, Economical Racism, and Industrial Racism, all with their own particular subsets[iv].
So the question which comes to mind is rather a simple one: does racism still exist? Believers shout from the rooftops that, in America, this is a resounding YES! One of the more cited forms is the 2017 Muslim Travel Ban[v], which forbade travelers from seven foreign countries in the Middle East from entering the United States. Going off of the idea that the misgivings of some do not define the populous of the whole, congressional Democrats called this move detestable and it was decided that a third version would remain on the 26th of June, 2018[vi]. We all remember the news of the Trayvon Martin case, which sparked many activists who would later form the group Black Lives Matter, an advocacy group that protested the killings of Black men and women throughout the country from Police Officers and other citizens, normally officers who were Caucasian, but not always. In addition, the group known as ANTIFA (Anti-Fascist) began their exploits as early as the 1930s, but the United States version began turning more violent after the election of President Donald Trump[vii] as a way to fight what they believed to be the incoming of a fascist, racist regime.
However, there are many, including myself, who believe that there is no such thing as systemic racism. Many Americans point to the fact that Barrack Obama, a half-black man, was elected in a country where 43 percent of the white vote, 23 percent of the South, voted for him[viii]. We have 10.6% of all of the Congressional seats held by Black Americans with only a population of 12.6% of them in the nation[ix][x]! On top of that, 11.7% of actors are black out of, again I say, 12.6% of the entire population of the United States[xi]! If that were set for Whites, there would be 25,898,400 White actors and actresses in the country. Keep in mind, the total number of members of the Screen Actors Guild stands only at 160,000[xii].
To close, I will extend an olive branch: anyone who is a racist bigot who judges people solely by the color of their skin should be judged as brutally as humanly possible! It is a nasty, disgusting way to treat a human being and these are people who I would not be personally involved with. With that being said, the media, as well as Far-Left politicians, have diluted the term so much that I fear that it has lost all meaning. When you call President Trump a racist, I can follow your logic, even though I disagree. When you begin to call Vice-President Mike Pence a racist, I scratch my head and struggle to see it, though I do understand where you are coming from. However, I’m confused once you call Herman Cain a White Supremacist. It’s simply a political ploy which loses all meaning once you mention those who CLEARLY don’t fill that mold and it is disgusting that someone would stoop so low as to label people with an old wound from the past. Let me make this completely clear: while there may be prejudice still lingering, racism on the scale of the Pre-Civil Rights Movement does not exist anymore. There is no legal condoning of racism, most people don’t have any acceptance of such language or action and most people find most racism appalling. I just think that it’s sickening and hypocritical that the Democratic Party, the one who placed Jim Crow Laws in place, have the audacity to call anyone a Racist Bigot. Look at your history, folks![xiii] I believe that people are so bored that they have to invent oppression. Their lives are so good that there has to be an external reason why they cannot get ahead with minimal effort. I’ll give you the easiest way to die in at a MINIMUM the top 10% of the population:
1. Graduate high school
2. Get a job
3. Don’t do drugs or drink in excess
4. Don’t have children out of wedlock
5. Stay out of Jail
If you do these things, no matter what “oppression” you feel is holding you down, you will be successful.
[i] "Framework decision on combating racism and xenophobia". Council Framework Decision 2008/913/JHA of 28 November 2008. European Union
[ii] "racialism, n." OED Online. September 2013. Oxford University Press.
[iii] Fredrickson, George M. (2002). Racism: A Short History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-691-11652-5.
[iv] Dovidio, John F.; Gaertner, Samuel L., eds. (1986). "The aversive form of racism". Prejudice, Discrimination and Racism. Academic Press. pp. 61–89.
[v] US expands travel ban to include N Korea, BBC "Mr Trump's original ban was highly controversial, as it affected six majority-Muslim countries, and was widely labelled a 'Muslim ban'."
[vi] Liptak, Adam; Shear, Michael D. (June 26, 2018). "Trump's Travel Ban Is Upheld by Supreme Court". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331
[vii] Beinhart, Peter (September 6, 2017). "The Rise of the Violent Left". The Atlantic.
[viii] https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/how-groups-voted-2008
[ix] "ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates – 2011–2015". U.S. Census Bureau
[x] https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45583.pdf
[xi]https://datausa.io/profile/soc/actors#demographics
[xii] https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/29/us/screen-actors-guild-fast-facts/index.html
[xiii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Crow_laws