A Glimpse of Racism In The 21st Century 

If one were to hear an African American speak properly, they would be told that they speak white or if a Caucasian person were to speak improperly, they would be tagged as trying to be black or white trash. People say these things because they’d imagine that an African American wouldn’t sound so proper or vice versa. These stereotypes they’ve created end up affecting people all around them and you can’t seem to get away from it. Racism will always and will be a topic of conversation. When you are criticizing someone by the way their supposed to speak or how they are dressed based on their skin color is being racist. Even a small comment that you think is just a comment can be a racist one. An issue with our democracy is that we accept the inequality that exists. We have friends who are racist, but at some points we don’t even bother acknowledging it because we get the impression that it’s not worth it to tell them that, that was a racist thing to say.  ​

 

Throughout our lifetime we will always come across someone who may make a snarky comment about your race, even when they don’t realize it. Perhaps, you may be the one doing to someone else. The reality is, is that we are all racist in our own ways. We like to think we aren’t, but truth be told we all do it at some point in our lives. When you sit and talk to your friends about someone they don’t like, somehow they’re race becomes the center of the conversation. Why is that our race automatically defines who we are as people? How is that people can be condescending, indifferent, hateful, or discriminatory against an entire race of people? It’s like saying that all African American people are lazy, ghetto and on welfare or saying that all Mexicans are illegal and are stealing our jobs and using our government resources. These racist comments get people to think that this is true about all African Americans and Mexicans and this ends up flowing through people’s mouth day by day. It happens on a daily basis, everywhere. 

 

People are so quick to judge someone based on their race than the person within them, which isn’t fair at all. In a quote by Frank H. Wu, he says that, “People nowadays concur that racism is wrong. Almost all of us swear that we do not practice it. We have fooled ourselves into believing that if we vow we aren’t doing it then it cannot persist. Instead of pleading with people that racial thinking is wrong, we have to struggle to show ourselves that it occurs.” Racial thinking is wrong, but we do it all the time. Sometimes it even comes out of our mouths and we don’t realize it until someone says, “That’s so racist” and it’s too late to take it back. As a society, we need to realize that saying these things aren’t right. America is a multiracial country and by now we should have been outgrown the phase of racism.  

 

Race becomes an essential factor to everyone’s lives at one point. When we apply to a job, the person interviewing you might think like “Oh she’s Muslim, let’s not hire her .” The way we think distances ourselves from meeting new people. It’s like we choose who we want to talk to based on what color skin a person may be. We constantly think that a race is more superior than another and continue to think racially about one another. We need to let go of this sociological barrier that’s holding us back from changing the way we do things especially changing the way our democracy is. 

 

Racism just doesn’t affect the people physically and financially, but it also affects everyone politically. If you’ve noticed, we have a very low percentage of colored people running our country. Just because we finally had an African American president does not mean that everyone is moving on from being racist. To make a change in this world there needs to be more change especially in our government. It feels as though Caucasian’s are more superior than any other race and that needs to change as a whole. We need to change the way we think. People need to stop judging people based on their race and we need more people of different races helping to make our country a better one.