Whilst Racism Has Been Present In Different Historical Eras, Its Form And Substance Is Radically Different

Introduction

Racism is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as ‘the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races’ (2013). There are different forms of racism namely individual, institutional and cultural racism. Individual racism applies to an individual person or a group of people based on their skin colour. Institutional racism occurs when policies and practices of an institution oppress people of colour and favour other majority groups. Cultural racism is found where people of a certain cultural heritage impose the superiority of their culture to other groups of people (Constantine 2006). Racism can also be classified as being covertly or overtly. Overt racism is displayed openly to people of colour, where the superior group does not hide its attitudes and beliefs. Explicit actions are used to display superiority of the dominant race. Covert racism is rather unintentional takes place subconsciously through actions (Constantine 2006). Byrd (2011) explains that there are three related concepts that should not be conflated. These are racial prejudice, racial discrimination and racism. The three have their adverse consequences in any country.

Racism Then and Now

Taking a closer look at society today, institutional racism has been known to replace discrimination that used to take place in the 1960s after the success of the civil rights movement. Racism and social inequality has three different forms; gender, class and ethnicity. The Civil Rights Movement led to a decrease in racial superiority and a deduction in discrimination and segregation (Doane 2006). After the movement, there was a change in attitudes and ideologies. Despite these efforts, there are still occurrences of white racism happening in government and educational institutions, as well as the mass media.

Hill (2008) acknowledges that racism remained an active force in the American Culture in the nineteenth century. Presently, white racism is not only an object of the past but it lives to haunt the Americans citizens even now. Hill (2008) states that today, white racism is prevalent in areas where there are white dominant learning institutions and health care facilities. Racism has been known to lead to hate crimes and subtle cases of discrimination occur every now and then owing to individual perceptions and expressions in the present era.

Before the Second World War, racism in Western Europe was present and widespread. This was in collaboration with colonial racism, whereby superior ‘races’ colonised the groups that they considered inferior to them. The superior groups had already established themselves between 1960-1970 in agriculture and industrial capabilities. There is a new angle to racism, where workers who do not have access to social benefits such as jobs, health and education may feel left out of the society. These people end up blaming their respective governments and politicians and develop ethnic minorities’ racism (Martiniello & Rath 2010).

In the US, the Native Americans had beliefs and practices that were integrated at the national and political levels, thereby promoting racism and justify slavery. They described Africans as non humans and therefore, denying them of all human rights and exposing them to slavery. The Africans were denied access to resources and power. They had also no access to the legal and political system (Hofrichter & Bhatia 2010). Racism in the U.S has been expressed in different forms; enslavement, land grabbing, racial violence, segregation and white dominance (Wise 2009). However, it is worth noting that over time, racism has changed to refer to a system of inequity where policies and practices result to inequity in the society (Wise 2009).

The present form of structural racism is portrayed today through the public education system, where there are cases of Black and Latino students’ segregation. The schools they attend do not have enough resources and have fewer academic opportunities than those attended by the White students. When it comes to the labour market, people of colour are known to be exploited and marginalised by the White employers (Hofrichter & Bhatia 2010).

Littlefield (2008) states that the mass media has been used to perpetuate racism over a long period of time. There are other concerns too that the media portrays the African American women as sexually promiscuous as part of their nature and identity. This has been considered as demeaning and destructive to their image throughout their lives (Littlefield 2008). The media has been used by the dominant races in any group to air their views on race and ethnicity. The content that is generated determines the beliefs and attitudes of the public and consequently changing their behaviour and beliefs towards the minority group. The internet has been used as a tool to propagate racism in the 21st century. A good example of this is the presence of websites with racist content and terrorism (Akdeniz 2009). The use of the World Wide Web is an effective tool for racists because it is ubiquitous. Racist materials are published on newsgroups, websites and blogs, thus making them accessible globally. Technology has facilitated the presentation of this content not only in text form, but also in video, audio, cartoons and music. Social networking sites such as Facebook have been used to propagate violence in 2008, therefore it was accused by European politicians of being used a platform for racism (Akdeniz 2009).

Lentin(2008) describes the ‘clash of the civilizations’, through policies that are racist and divide the world into either good or evil states or even countries. The war on terror in the United States of America is entirely racial, with the image of ‘Muslim terrorists’ are used to depict violence, leading to racial beliefs and attitudes among the citizens.

The effects of racism can be identified as criminalisation, unemployment, homelessness, rising racist and police violence and regular attacks on immigrants. Marshall (2013) notes that increase in racism is as a result of capitalism, with those who practise it, being the sole beneficiaries of the results of racism. According to Marshall (2013), capitalism is used to divide people leading to economic and social crisis in a country. Further, Marshall’s work suggests that segregation leads to lack of work and poor living conditions. This therefore, lowers the quality of life for the oppressed group.

The subject of capitalism is not only affecting racism in the United States, but also in South Africa. This country may have eliminated apartheid, but recently, there have been cases of attacking immigrants from other African countries. This is because they blame the immigrants for the economic and social problems in their country, ranging from unemployment to increasing crime rate. However, the concerns of the immigrants may not be resolved by the country’s legal system which is exploited by the natives to their benefit( Anarchist Library 2008).

Grollman(2013) writes that in the modern era, racism operates daily in the lives of the minorities. The example illustrated here is that of throwing peels at Black Players in the European Soccer league. Other subtle actions and microagressions too fall under the concept of ‘everyday racism’. Grollman adds that the effects of these subtle actions of racism have far worse than those of open discrimination. They are a source of emotional stress and disappointment to the minorities. Racism as described by Achinger (2012) is a threat to modernity and recommends that a study of literature can contribute to the sociological research on racism caused by capitalist societies.

References

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