Racism is something that has been fought for many decades in the past and many more to come. A couple hundred years ago many pilgrims made their way to the America to escape racism and start practicing their own ways without any consequences. Years later the same racism that these pilgrims faced back in Europe followed them to the America. Even when we believe that there is not much of a racism conflict in society. However due to terrorism, racism, and discrimination there still is a presence of racism. Therefore, racism still exists in the status quo. First we need to analyze what is racism, what effects it has on people, and finally how to solve racism.
Racism can be described in many different ways, although it is described as superiority over other races, which leads to discrimination and prejudice towards other race or ethnicities. Overall it displays superiority vs. inferiority scenarios. Many American children are affected by institutional racism, education is their best hope. As Asa Hillard III stated “In order for Americans to embrace diversity, the conscious and unconscious expressions of racism within our society must be identified and done away with. The first step is to develop an understanding of the history and nature of racism and its relationship to prejudice and discrimination.” We need to understand that racism is belief and discrimination is an action taken upon by certain individuals. Despite the grave importance of educational equity in our changing society, low-income minority groups have lost ground and are in imminent danger of losing a great deal more. Many minority individuals are losing a lot of rights in the United States due to the color of their skin or the way they look. Asa Hillard III also stated “The problem of racism demands the attention of all educators. As American society rapidly grows more diverse, we must give top priority to insuring that all students receive their birthright of educational equity. Unfortunately, although America is a multicultural society, “it is not yet a pluralistic society – a place where all racial and cultural groups share equal access to opportunities for quality lives and power over their own lives.” To achieve pluralism, racism must be abolished, and the mission of public education must be fully achieved. That mission is to provide all students with a high-quality education that will enable them to function successfully in an interdependent, multiethnic, multicultural, and rapidly changing world. The magnitude of the task is so great that it constitutes the most significant challenge to America’s system of education. VALUING DIVERSITY Octavio Paz reminds us that “life is plurality, death is uniformity. Every view that becomes extinct, every culture that disappears, diminishes a possibility of life.” When education takes place, every individual – teacher, student, or administrator – brings his or her cultural background to that process. Unless we educators learn to prize and value differences and to view them as resources for learning, neither whites nor minority groups will experience the teaching and learning situations best suited to prepare them to live effectively in a world whose population is characterized by diversity. Many American children are affected by institutional racism. Education is their best hope for breaking racism’s chains. Yet, although such issues as equal opportunity, desegregation, and inequities in educational achievement have received considerable attention in recent years, very few schools have developed deliberate and systematic programs to reduce prejudice. The prevailing attitude seems to be that society has done away with the problem of racism through legislative action and PHI DELTA KAPPAN, April 1990 special programs. But continuing instances of overt racism belie this notion, and institutionalized manifestations of racism – less blatant and thus more insidious – continue to stunt the aspirations and talents of minority children and distort the views and psyches of white children.” Asa Hillard III is a philosopher on the theory of racism. So far all his theories indicate that racism is only making the United States a more corrupted nation.
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Racism of all things affects people the most. As adults in the world we all know by now that actions will hurt a person but words can lead to genocides, suicides, wars, etc. An example we can look towards is the Muslims as Asa Hillard states “The Mayor is right to oppose Islamophobia. Muslims should be defended against prejudice and scapegoating. Terrorist outrages, such as 9/11 in New York and 7/7 in London, are no justification for the backlash we often witness against innocent, entirely blameless, Muslims. It is undeniable that Muslims people are some of the most disadvantaged in Britain, with disproportionate numbers living in poor housing and without jobs. Globally, many Muslims suffer grave injustices – including the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the US and UK occupation of Iraq. In countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, millions of Muslims lack safe, clean drinking water and face every day hunger. These injustices do not, however, justify the Mayor of London’s collusion with authoritarian, homophobic and sexist Islamists like Qaradawi. In the past few weeks, both Russia and the United States have escalated their military campaigns against the Islamic State. As the brutal jihadist group continues to wreak havoc in Syria and Iraq, Foreign Policy’s Peace Channel, a partnership with the United States Institute of Peace, asked United States Institute of Peace acting Vice President Manal Omar, one of the foremost voices on peace and Islam, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, to debate what is behind this newest breed of extremism, and how can it be defeated. In the age of al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and Boko Haram, is there a link between the violence these groups perpetrate and the faith they profess?” The Muslims in this case are entirely blameless but due to the actions of a few it leads to a lot of prejudice towards the Muslims.
Finally the question comes down to “what can we do?” We all know that racism is never going to be solved or stopped just by telling people stop. Many people wonder “so what’s the point of talking about it?” On an average an American child spends approximately 12 years of their lives in school excluding college starting at the age of 5. Since a young age these children spend more of their time at school than awake at home, and due to all the excess amount of time spent at home they eventually come in face with racism. We are trying to make the future better for our grandchildren to come and the only way to do that is to teach them on how to not take actions towards racism. If a required class for students were to be cultural education and students understand each other there no longer will be a misunderstanding of each other rather a place of peace and harmony. As Frank B. Wilderson III says “Burn down society and start all over again only then racism won’t be prominent.” Obviously for him to be saying that the only feasible solution was to burn down society implies that racism has reached its brink. As Calvin L. Warren stated “Racism only further classifies us as a dull state.” Soon enough this racism will lead to all of us feeling worthless and no need to be here a sense of being unwanted.
Ultimately, we know that there is no specific solvency for racism but if we educate our future then there should be not as much conflict in the status quo. Eventually we will have a society where our biggest problem hasn’t been fought for many decades. Many philosophers have different viewpoints on how they portray racism but at the end of the day it is always a belittlement of the way a person looks or their race/ethnicity. We have analyzed what racism is, what effects it has, and finally how to solve it. Overall racism is just something that needs to be worked out by the citizens in the status quo and the only way to do that is to communicate.
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