Differences between Traditional and Modern Racism
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Living in a different society or region other than your specific original organization often comes with a lot of challenges such as language barrier, discrimination and racism. Racism is the act of stereotyping and discriminating others based on colour, sexual orientation or culture (Grosfoguel, 2016). Racism was previously practised in America in the form of slavery (Broeck, 2018). The black Africans were taken from their native lands to go and work for the Americans in their homes, farms and factories. The Africans were considered to be inferior and less intelligent as compared to whites. Blacks were entitled hard labour and harsh conditions of work. The blacks were mainly considered as property rather than human beings. Racism still exists in modern America though it has taken a completely different form. The Black Americans face many social and economic obstacles in the society, together with other inferiority groups such as the Hispanics and the Arabs. Modern racism considers cultural diversity as a threat (Malcom, 2018). It is characterized by factors that eliminate and compresses the minority cultures such as cultural assimilation, restriction of the flow of individual into the country and limiting the minority representation in the leadership. The following are the differences between traditional and modern racism.
A significant difference between the two is that traditional racism is physically oriented, whereas modern racism is more of a social condemnation (Lukin, 2020). The blacks were subjected to physical torture and mistreatments. The whites authoritatively abused the blacks by forcing them to do inhuman things. The blacks had no power for themselves and were typically controlled by the whites. On the contrary, modern racism majorly entails social condemnation and emotional abuse (Morrison, 2017). The blacks and other inferior groups are subjected to an economic barrier such as unemployment and less payment in employment cases. The aim is to make the black Americans less influential in their respective societies. The blacks are also exposed to some voting challenges and discrimination that prevents the majority of them from voting. This denies them an opportunity to choose a leader of their choice, thus leading to them having no representation in the leadership of the country. The modern racism entails indirect discrimination and elimination of the inferior group’s cultures and belief, as opposed to traditional racism, which was based on physical assault and torture. Instead of accepting the divergence cultural existence, corporations and education institution separates the different ethnic groups into distinct categories, making the minority group feel the need to act and behave according to the standard American way.
Over the years, there has been a significant decline in traditional racism in America (Allitt, 2017). This decline has been attributed to by several factors such as the civil rights movement and the Obama presidency. Black Americans developed a civil rights movement to protest against racial segregation and discrimination (Hale, 2016). The result of the campaign was that the White Colleges accepted more Bllack Americans to join the institutions, and the respective boards recruited more blacks as staffs and lecturers in the Whites institution. This gave the Blacks an equal opportunity to develop themselves and become educated, just like the Whites. Because of the civilization, the blacks were more informed and knowledgeable of their rights and responsibilities as citizens, thus condemning racism.
Similarly, Obama’s election in the presidency aimed to advocate for equal supremacy. The Black presidency made the Whites realize that the Blacks were equally crucial in the society, thus there attitude towards the Blacks changed. Obama also started a Black Lives Matter Movement whose aim was to expose the discriminative and inhuman deeds of the White institutions and corporation targeted towards the black (Thomas and Ashburn-Nardo, 2020). The result was a recommendable decline in traditional racism since the white racists were afraid of being exposed.
Both traditional and modern racism can be eliminated if both parties, i.e. the Whites, the Blacks and the government-corporate to fight racism together. However, traditional racism is more comfortable to confront and stop due to its physical nature and minimal government involvement. The government can come up with rules and strategies that can help eliminate the physical abuse and torture of black persons. The government can give severe punishment to the individual racists as an example to other people. On the contrary, modern racism is difficult to eliminate because the government is majorly involved (Ansell, 2016). The discrimination starts by the government who sees cultural diversity as a threat and therefore implements rules and laws to suppress the minority cultures.
In conclusion, it is essential to note that racism is still a significant concern in America despite several attempts to eliminate it. The latter is often characterized by unemployment among the Blacks, police brutality, racial-bias imprisonment and minimal payment as compared to the Whites (Bobo, 2017). Racism elimination is a technical process that can only be achieved by the country with Maximum Corporation of individuals and groups in the society. The first step towards racial elimination is by the parents teaching their children on racial equality and teaching them on the importance of cultural diversity. The children can, in turn, grow up while knowing the importance of distinct groups of people in society, thereby eliminating racism in the future.
References
Allitt, P. (2017). Buckley, Baldwin, and the Decline of Conservative Racism. American Political Thought, 6(4), 616-623.
Ansell, A. E. (2016). New right, new racism: Race and reaction in the United States and Britain. Springer.
Bobo, L. D. (2017). Racism in Trump’s America: reflections on culture, sociology, and the 2016 US presidential election. The British Journal of Sociology, 68, S85-S104.
Broeck, Sabine. Gender and the Abjection of Blackness. SUNY Press, 2018.
Grosfoguel, R. (2016). What is racism?. Journal of World-Systems Research, 22(1), 9-15.
Hale, J. N. (2016). The freedom schools: Student activists in the Mississippi civil rights movement. Columbia University Press.
Lukin, A. V. (2020). The Theory of Universal Racism. Russia in Global Affairs, 18(3), 182-199.
Malcom, X. (2018). Microaggressions, Macroaggressions, and Modern Racism in the Media and Popular Culture. Microaggressions and Modern Racism: Endurance and Evolution, 213.
Morrison, T. G., & Kiss, M. (2017). Modern racism scale. Encyclopedia of personality and individual differences, 1-3.
Thomas, K., & Ashburn-Nardo, L. (2020). Black lives matter… still: moving beyond acknowledging the problem toward effective solutions in graduate training and education. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.