Racism is part of the human condition and, though we may try to rise above it, it will always be with us.
Name
Institution
Racism is part of the human condition and, though we may try to rise above it, it will always be with us.
The global fight against racism has been there for many years, and it is unlikely to end soon. Maybe the only way to end racism is to end races, but races are works or nature that human beings cannot end. American society is a multiracial society with several races. Even though Kendi (2019) defines racism as ideas or policies that aim to discriminate against color or ethnicity, based on this argument, human beings are not racist because racism is embedded in individuals’ ideas, actions, policies, and society. Blacks versus whites have been the subject of debate, with blacks being the most discriminated against when it comes to racism. Racism is deeply rooted in our culture that it will remain part of us despite the efforts to rise against it.
Forms of racism
When I read Kendi’s book on ‘How to become an anti-racist’ and various articles and opinions, four types of racism are evident in contemporary American society. The first one is where humanity is explicitly denied to a racial minority. This aspect of racism is rooted in the slave trade and has since been passed because, as Kendi puts it, racism is an idea that can be passed from one generation to the other. For example, African Americans have poor access to healthcare services compared to Native Americans. The second form of racism is formal equality defined by the law, but the law is enforced differently across the races. Thus, there is equal law but a different application to different persons depending on the group an individual is in. The third form is where individual people are stereotypically represented based on their racial groups. As an individual belonging to a category, you learn to be loyal to that group’s ideas and cultural practice but oppose other groups because of racial differences. For example, when you are white, you believe that Whites are racists while there are no black racists. The fourth one is where their people, especially of a given class, deny the existence of racism. As a result, they oppose all anti-racial movements and ideas.
Kendi (2019) argues in his book that “We are surrounded by racial inequity, as visible as the law, as hidden as our private thoughts” (p.15). Kendi defines a racist as someone who supports a racial policy, while people who object to racial policies and ideas are anti-racist. Fight against racism entails many things and requires individuals to be self-aware and constantly examine and criticize themselves. This is because we often act racially without realizing our racial nature. For instance, in American societies, many people staged demonstrations to protest the death of George Floyd at the hands of white Minneapolis policemen. Still, there are hardly any demonstrations to protest white persons’ deaths at black people’s hands. This further confirms Kendi’s idea that racism is something that had been rooted in culture and has a long history not only in American society but across the world. Therefore, every person is ideally a racist.
Floyd’s death and subsequent protest reflect Kendi’s arguments on racism in three ways. First, there is a historical belief that people of a certain color, African American, for that matter, are inferior to the whites. Secondly, it is common to think that only whites are racist; thus, anti-racism is a fight against policies and ideas supporting white supremacy. Thirdly, people have consumed racial culture, and changing the culture requires a radical reorientation of consciousness. It is hard to tell the exact origin of racism. It is hard to explain the idea that only whites are racist. Probably it originated during the slave trade period when whites perceived themselves as superior while blacks perceived themselves as an inferior race, and the idea passed across generations. Many people hold this notion and understand racism as discrimination of blacks’ segregation by the white people.
Racism is an acquired characteristic.
No one is born a racist. Assume that we place all children younger than two years but come from different races, subject them to equal treatment without exposing them to the existing societal norms, policies, and ideas on the supremacy of a particular race. If we let these people grow together, free to interact with each other so they can form their own system of belief, I suppose there would be no racists and anti-racists but only a people bound by love and friendship. However, because these children grow in a society where they learn that anti-racists must go to the street to support ‘black lives matter’ and such anti-racial movements, they begin to construct ideas on racial segregation and discrimination.
In his book, Kendi describes how assimilation and segregation work to enhance racial culture. Kendi himself confirms that despite being raised by parents who were strongly advocating for justice, he notes that his family had embraced the racist ideas, and was himself a racist. However, Kendi defends himself by stating that he was assimilated into this culture. He writes, “Racist ideas piled up before me like trash at a landfill.” This means racism is an idea and discriminative policies cultured into our children’s minds and passed from one generation to another. Ending racism in American society and across the world would not just be a matter of creating affirmative action and punishing those who discriminate against race and sex. To end racism, American society and the world need o change its culture, which requires a radical action by individuals rather than the government.
Factors contributing to racism
Racism in the history of the United States has come in various forms and various areas. It has been used as a tool for politicians to ascend into power as they pledge to end racism. One factor that promotes racism that Kendi has extensively addressed is categories and factions, which organizes people into groups based on ethnicity, color, and origin and triggers competition between groups and loyal members. This has formed the basis of the campaign in the history of America. Both Republican and Democrat candidates, with the help of media, categorize voters as African American, Native American, and Latinos. These people are often categorized into minority and majority groups. The minority groups are often depicted as inferior economically, politically, and socially; thus, they need to be protected through various means such as affirmative action. Even though Kendi’s arguments would acknowledge affirmative action as an anti-racial strategy, examining affirmative action laws is a way of acknowledging African Americans’ inferiority. It is a belief that they are incapable so that even in terms of job employment, they need special consideration. Simply put, the US system categorizes people and segregates people based on the categories.
However, I would argue that the greatest factor and an obstacle to ending the war on racism is passivism. Passive racism is where we fail to acknowledge the existence of systems and structures that promote racial discrimination and segregation. This is because the system is guided by powerful people who formulate racist policies out of self-interest and develop ideas to defend their policies. People of similar interests consume these ideas out of ignorance. Of course, no one would understand the meaning of racism if he has never faced oppression at the hand of a racist or witnessed his family or friend being discriminated against. If the same powerful racist policymakers continue to develop policies that guide our society and nurture new leaders to take their position, racism will stay with us even if we try to rise above it because it will continue running deep into our system.
International law on racism
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is an international convention that was primarily formed to deal with all forms of racial discrimination. Through these conventions, member countries are expected to establish frameworks that would enable understanding across races. The convention demands member states should outlaw any form of hate speech targeting people of a particular race and criminalize any person who violates hate speech policies. The convention also provided a mechanism for individual complaints, making the provisions of the convention enforceable among signatories. Even with such international cooperation, managing racism still sums to be both individual and societal initiatives that entail radical reforms and culture change.
Conclusion
To sum it all, racism exists within our system and structures. Kendi argues that ending racism requires constant re-evaluation and self-examination of our thoughts. Racism is an idea that we construct and pass to others. As an idea, action, and policy, managing racism is not an easy task. We must acknowledge that racism is within us and, despite our efforts to rise above it, it will remain part of us unless we change our culture and system.
References
Kendi, I. X. (2019). How to be an anti-racist. One world.