Racism

Article I

After reading the first article, and seeing all the main points on whether or not racism is a universal idea or a western idea, I have come to the conclusion that it became a larger controversy shortly before and during the periods or African slaves in America. Before in ancient cultures, all people of all colors could be slaves and there was no racism involved in the determining factor who was, or who became a slave. Slaves were used for trading, bargaining, and also sometimes used as a currency. The term racism evolved from the fact that Great Britain used slaves as a trading tool to America, and only the black people were slaves and no other races were. In my personal opinion I believe that racism is a western idea because it started with the African people being used as slaves. Based on their skin tone, which could be due to the evolution of cultures and people as a whole. As it stated in the article, the term “slave” is branched off of Slav which is a group of lighter skin toned people. Over the years random groups would be selected for slavery, and specifically in the most recent years the African people. People that think racism has always been in this world are semi-right, but it has been on small scale levels, there have always been races of people that are inferior to other races. There are certain traits of individuals and people in general that make it difficult to avoid being judgmental towards groups of people.

Article II

This article states that all people are racist, and even though we do not like to think we are, we all have a voice in the back of our head that judges people that look different from us. As much as I would like to deny this, I cannot. I feel terrible about it but there are stories that you hear about people getting beat to death in inner city ghettos, and I bet the first thing that come to you is a group of black gangsters. And when I would tell you there are illegal immigrants all over the place in the southern states of the America, at least 90% of people would think Mexicans right away, but there could be people of races trying to cross the border, it is just all of the prejudices that we create in our heads. And there are also positive prejudices in the United States too, or generalizations like white people can’t jump, or all Asian people are geniuses. Racism can also be contributed to isolation of different races. Like in larger cities there are black neighborhoods, China town, and suburbs which usually consist of white people. With the separation of people throughout the world and all the different division of people, racism will be around until all of the world become a melting pot and all people look the same because they have children together to make a one race society and you cannot tell the difference because everyone has the same skin tone.

Article III

Racism still exists in the United States, and our country is still suffering from the fallout of slavery and the Jim Crow laws. The separation of races in our larger cities is more than noticeable. Our society has created racism and racial problems. One of the worst things for fueling racial problems has become the mass media. With the growth of the media, it is easier for people to hear heinous acts of terrorism due to racial difference. Like a white cop shooting a black teenager, even if the teenager was a major threat to the police officer. The major stories like this make it all the easier for people to become racist and form opinions on a race as a whole. The article states that all people should be judged on what kind of people they are and if it comes to a job setting, what kind of work they perform. That is the ideal way of thinking, but no matter what, there will always be racism. It is a part of vocabulary now, and as long as the media stays at the strength it is at its present state, racism will be around. It is so simple for people to turn on a television, or open up a computer and see a racially motivated story. Our society started out with racism since the beginning, and overtime the strength of it has grown and became a major downfall for our society.

Conclusion

I believe that racism is a Western concept because in times before there was slavery but it did not matter what your skin tone was or what you did, if you were a slave you were a slave and you would be sold and traded among people. Racism is a byproduct of the media. The media can blow up a racial story all over the country with the push of a button and all of the sudden it will start racial controversy all over the United States. Racism was started in Great Britain when they used African people to trade with and gain goods for their own benefit instead of selling slaves of their own people like it was done in ancient times, if it was not for the British racism may not have become as popular as it is today. I believe that because the mass media became such a major part of our society, it grew in every part of the world. Due to this reality, yes racism is everywhere because it makes top stories for news and it allows networks to receive the best rating and they could care less about the fallout that it could cause in towns like Ferguson where they twisted the story for dramatic effect and all of the people of the community were outraged and started to destroy the community because of the bad choices and actions of a couple individuals in on moment on one day.