Racism is discrimination or prejudice against a person or group based on their race, which can be expressed overtly or subtly. Racial grouping can lead to over-generalizations and stereotypes. Scientific research shows no significant genetic differences between racial groups.
A race is a group of people who come from a common background, and that group is usually determined based on skin color. Commonly, but not always, people are classified into one of five races: White, Black, Latino or Hispanic, Asian, and Indigenous or Native. Racism, therefore, is the discrimination or prejudice against a person or group based on which racial group they belong to, although it is not always that simple.
This term is actually used in many ways. Some call it white supremacism, the belief that the Caucasian race is superior to all other races. Others define racism as discrimination against the culture, beliefs or traditions of a particular race. The word could refer to the idea that a single race is somehow purer than other races, or that one race genetically exhibits dominance over others. Some believe that racing may be a way to determine behavior and performance.
Racism can be used to refer to racially based prejudice against a person or group of people; it can be expressed overtly or subtly. Explicit expressions are perhaps the easiest to identify; it’s easy enough to see that the actions of the Ku Klux Klan, for example, are racist. They openly proclaim the superiority of the white race and the inferiority of the non-white races.
Subtle racism is a much more sensitive topic and much more difficult to identify. Cultures that contain multiple races often defer to the race that feels attacked to define what constitutes this type. For example, standardized tests that are typically required for applying to a U.S. college, such as the SAT or the ACT, are sometimes viewed as subtly racist because they say that non-Caucasians who come from poverty-steeped backgrounds generally don’t score Also. The lack of good schools, good books, and stable home environments can negatively affect test scores for those students.
While many issues can be cited in reference to racism, one stems from the over-generalizations that are made in racial grouping. The Asian group, for example, includes Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese and Thais. The failure to understand the distinctions between the cultural values of Koreans in general and Vietnamese in general, for example, can be subtly described as racist. There is an inherent assumption that all Asians should be equal and little recognition that people in this vague group come from wildly different countries and cultures. The same is true of Hispanics, a group that shares European ancestry with various Latino Native Americans. Assuming that an Asian person is Chinese or a Hispanic person is Mexican can be called racist.
Racism is not exclusively the province of the Caucasian race, and discrimination between different racial groups is quite prevalent in areas where two groups of different races exist. For example, the rivalry between Asian and black street gangs in urban America may be related to racial tensions that have existed for many decades.
What may be interesting about this source of intergroup tensions is that most people still feel the need to define themselves by race. A U.S. birth certificate, for example, requires a statement of race and cannot spell “human.” Some of these definitions continue because different cultural groups wish to preserve and respect their ancestors, but often such distinctions are relatively unnecessary from a genetic point of view. Significant scientific research into the DNA that makes up all humans shows virtually no significant genetic advantages or differences between racial groups. Some medical conditions, for example, are more prevalent in some breeds than others.
Some argue that the practice of racial classification can further divide people more than it helps as it can lead to stereotypes about a group.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
