essay conclusion about racism

• First Online: 24 June 2021

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• Amanuel Elias 4 ,
• Fethi Mansouri 5 &
• Yin Paradies 6  

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This chapter provides a reflective post-script as a conclusion that connects the various elements of contestation discussed throughout this book. Like many socially constructed beliefs, racism is a potent force with a far-reaching adverse impact on a culturally and racially diverse society. In Australia, the impact of racism goes back to the country’s colonial invasion, with race and racial discourse embedded in the colonist’s identity since the late eighteenth century. Although Australia today is very different from its historical racial past, and the majority of the population currently sees the nation as a successful multicultural state, racial justice and equality remains an enduring issue with racism still prevalent alongside institutional racism that limits the human rights of racial minorities. This book provides a unique contribution to the contemporary state of racism and its multifaceted impacts across diverse domains. Through the synthesis of the literature and analysis of current data, it analyses afresh the evidence on the prevalence as well as the socioeconomic and health burdens of racism on racial minorities in Australia. The book also reviews and examines dominant and emerging anti-racism strategies, drawing on national and international evidence and practice. Finally, the book concludes with a reflective discussion on the emerging frontiers in racism research, highlighting possible directions for future research.

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Elias, A., Mansouri, F., Paradies, Y. (2021). Conclusion. In: Racism in Australia Today. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-2137-6_11

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398 Racism Essay Titles & Writing Examples

• 🔖 Secrets of Powerful Racism Essay

🏆 Best Racism Topic Ideas & Essay Examples

🥇 most interesting racism topics to write about, 🎓 simple & easy racism essay titles, ⚡ shocking essay topics on racism, 👍 good essay topics on racism, 💡 interesting essay titles about racism, ❓ racism questions for essay.

Looking for powerful racism essay topics? You will find them here! This list contains a great variety of titles for racism-themed papers. We’ve also included useful tips and plenty of racism essay examples to help you write an outstanding paper.

🔖 Secrets of a Powerful Racism Essay

Writing an essay on racism may seem easy at first. However, because racism is such a popular subject in social sciences, politics, and history, your piece needs to be truly powerful to receive a high mark. Here are the best tips to help make your racism essay stand out:

• Consider the historical causes of racism. Papers on racism often focus on discrimination and equality in modern society. Digging a bit deeper and highlighting the origins of racism will make your essay more impressive. Check academic resources on the subject to see how racism was connected to the slave trade, politics, and social development in Europe. Explore these ideas in your paper to make it more compelling!
• Show critical thinking. Racism essay titles often focus on the effects of racism on the population. To make your essay more powerful, you will need to discuss the things that are often left out. Think about why racial discrimination is still prevalent in modern society and who benefits from racist policies. This will show your tutor that you understand the topic in great depth.
• Look for examples of racism in art. One of the reasons as to why racism spread so quickly is because artists and authors supported the narratives of race. If you explore paintings by European artists created in 17-18 centuries, you will find that they often highlighted the differences between black and white people to make the former seem less human. In various literary works, such as Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Shakespeare’s Othello, racism plays a vital role. In contrast, more recent works of art consider racism from a critical viewpoint. Examining how racism is reflected in the art will help you to earn an excellent mark for your analysis of the subject.
• Discuss the influences of racism. Of course, one of the key racism essay topics is the impact of racism on black populations in various countries. It is true that discrimination plays an essential role in the lives of black people, and reflecting this in your paper will help you to make it influential. You can discuss various themes here, from police brutality to healthcare access. Support your claims with high-quality data from official sources. If appropriate, you can also show how racism affected your life or the lives of your friends and loved ones.
• Show the correlation between racism and other social issues. Racism is connected to many different types of discrimination, including sexism and homophobia. This allows you to expand your paper by showing these links and explaining them. For instance, you could write an essay on racism and xenophobia, or find other topics that interest you.

Finally, structure your essay well. Write an outline first to determine the sequence of key points. You can check out a racism essay example on this website to see how other people structure their work.

Racism Thesis Statement, Main Body, & Conclusion

A typical essay should have an introduction, the main body, and a conclusion. Each paragraph of the main body should start with a topic sentence. Here’s what a topic sentence for racism-themed essay can look like:

Racism continues to be a pervasive issue in society, with deep-rooted prejudices and discrimination that impact individuals and communities across the globe.

Don’t forget to include a racism essay thesis statement at the end of your introduction to identify the focus of the paper! Check out these racism thesis statements for inspiration:

Racism is pervasive social problem that manifests in various forms, perpetuating systemic inequalities and marginalizing minority groups. Through an examination of racism’s history and its psychological impact on individuals, it becomes evident that this pressing issue demands collective action for meaningful change.

In your essay’s conclusion, you can simply paraphrase the thesis and add a couple of additional remarks.

These guidelines will help you to ensure that your work is truly outstanding and deserving of a great mark! Be sure to visit our website for more racism example essays, topics, and other useful materials.

These points will help you to ensure that your work on racism is truly influential and receives a great mark! Be sure to visit our website for example papers, essay titles, and other useful materials.

• Racism in the “Dutchman” by Amiri Baraka Generally, one is to keep in mind that Baraka is recognized to be one of the most important representatives of the black community, and the theme of racism in The Dutchman has, therefore, some historical […]
• Racism in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain The character of Pap is used to advance the theme of racism in the book. In the closing chapters of the book, Huck and Tom come to the realization that Jim is not property but […]
• Racism in The Paper Menagerie Essay Also, it is a tragedy of the society the influence of which can be too devastating to heal.”The Paper Menagerie” teaches the audience how ungrateful and cruel a child can become under the pressure of […]
• The Problem of Racism in Brazilian Football Skidmore describes it as the relationships that could result into conflict and consciousness and determination of the people’s status in a community or a particular group. In football, racism damages pride of the players and […]
• Racism in “The Black Table Is Still There” by Graham The black table, as he calls it, is a table, that was and still is, present in his school’s cafeteria, that accommodated the black students only depicting no more than racism in schools.
• Racism in Music: “(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue” The extreme popularity of the song among the black population can be explained with references to the fact that Armstrong changed the original lyrics to accentuate the social meaning of the composition and elaborated the […]
• Racism and Motherhood Themes in Grimke’s “Rachel” In addition, her mother kept the cause of the deaths of Rachel’s father and brother secret. In essence, the play Rachel is educative and addresses some of the challenges people face in society.
• Racism in Play “Othello” by William Shakespeare Since Othello is dark-skinned, the society is against his marriage to the daughter of the senator of Venice. In summary, the play Othello is captivating and presents racism as it was.
• Racism and Discrimination as Social Constructs This is because the concept of race has a negative connotation in the society. For example in some societies, especially the western society; the concept of race implies un-fair treatment and discrimination of a particular […]
• The Challenges of Racism Influential for the Life of Frederick Douglass and Barack Obama However, Douglass became an influential anti-slavery and human rights activist because in the early childhood he learnt the power of education to fight inequality with the help of his literary and public speaking skills to […]
• Racism and Gender in Beyoncé’s Lemonade The album Lemonade by an American singer Beyonce is one of the brightest examples when an artist portrays the elements of her culture in her music. Along with music videos, the album features a number […]
• Social Construction of Race and Racism Although ‘race’ as a description of the physical condition probably dates back to the dawn of the human species, most scholars agree that it was primarily through European expansion in the 16th to the 19th […]
• Racial Discrimination at the Workplace The main change that is discussed in this essay is the introduction of legislation that will see the creation of a special authority that is aimed at guaranteeing the freedom of all workers at the […]
• Racial Discrimination Effects in Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody The vivid description of events from the beginning gives the reader a clear picture of a girl who was born in problems and in spite of her intelligence she always became a victim of circumstances.
• Racism in Film “Savages” by Oliver Stone It is necessary to mention that the Chicano community had to deal with numerous issues such as racism and discrimination over the years, and the way the people are portrayed in all types of media […]
• Is Troy Maxson (Wilson’s Fences) a Victim of Racism? As a black American, Troy’s childhood experiences have been passed on to his children, making him a victim of an oppressive culture. Therefore, this makes Troy a victim of racism and culture, contributing to his […]
• Systemic Racism and Discrimination Thus, exploring the concept of race from a sociological perspective emphasizes the initial aspect of inequality in the foundation of the concept and provides valuable insight into the reasons of racial discrimination in modern society.
• Colonialism and Racism in Foe by J. M. Coetzee and Small Island by Andrea Levy This paper will try to expound on the relevance of real-life politics, of colonialism and racism, with regards to two popular works of fiction that used as themes or backdrop colonialism and racism.
• Racism and Sexism as a Threat Women suffer from sexism, people of color are affected by racism, and women of color are victims of both phenomena. Prejudices spread in families, communities, and are difficult to break down as they become part […]
• Sexism, Racism, Ableism, Ageism, Classism The absurdity and blatant sexism of this issue made me angry at how the United States is unable to resolve and overcome the lack of gender equality.
• Racism in Ralph Ellison’s “Battle Royal” The main focus of the story is the problem of racism, particularly to African-American people in the United States. In terms of other issues that “Battle Royal” demonstrates and that are further developed in the […]
• Imperialism and Racism in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness He lauds “the book’s anti-imperialist theme…a stinging indictment of the callous and genocidal treatment of the Africans, and other nationals, at the hands of the British and the European imperial powers,” and also details the […]
• Racism and Intolerance: The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre The 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Crafting a Legacy by Messer elaborates on the legacy of the event and its repercussions and offers a profound analysis of the issue, which strengthened my focus of the research.
• Contrast Between Tituba and John Indian and Countering Racism The declaration suggests that Conde believed the story of Tituba’s maltreatment needed to be told to expose the truth she had been denied due to her skin color and gender.
• Racial Discrimination in “A Raisin in the Sun” Racial discrimination is the main theme of the book, strongly reflecting the situation that prevailed during the 1950s in the United States, a time when the story’s Younger family lived in Chicago’s South Side ghetto.
• The Problem of Racism and Injustice in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee In the novel, Harper Lee demonstrates her vision of the question of the social inequality with references to the problem of racism in the society based on prejudice and absence of actual principles of tolerance […]
• Racism: De Brahm’s Map and the Casta Paintings However, De Brahm’s map is one of the most striking pieces of evidence of the conquest of space and the entrenchment of the idea of land and people as titular property.
• Racism and Inequality in Society The idea of race as a social construct is examined in the first episode of the documentary series “The Power of an Illusion”.
• Anti-Racism: Marginalization and Exclusion in Healthcare This essay examines the course’s impact and the concepts of marginalization and exclusion in healthcare. Marginalization is a concept that has profoundly influenced the understanding of race and racism in healthcare.
• The Issue of Racism in the United States The entire history of the United States is permeated with the evolution of the ideas of racism. Turning to history, we can see that the U.S.moved from slavery to using the Black population to solve […]
• History of Racial Discrimination in Haiti and America The choice of topic, racial discrimination in Haiti and America, was influenced by beliefs, values, and assumptions emphasizing the importance of equality and justice for all races.
• Racism and History of Discrimination As a result, advocacy should be aimed at creating new models in criminal justice that will ensure the protection of all minority groups and due process.
• Racial Discrimination and Color Blindness Of the three ideologies, racial harmony is considered the most appropriate for coping with problems of racism and racial injustice due to various reasons.
• Race, Racism, and Dangers of Race Thinking While it is true that some forms of race thinking can be used to justify and perpetuate racism, it is not necessarily the case that all forms of race thinking are inherently racist. Race thinking […]
• Racial Discrimination in American Literature In this way, the author denies the difference between people of color and whites and, therefore, the concept of racism in general.
• Racism in the US: Settler Imperialism They prove that colonial imperialism is a structure, not a contextual phenomenon and that, as such, it propagates the marginalization of native people.
• Why Empathy in Racism Should Be Avoided Empathy is the capacity to comprehend and experience the emotions and ideas of others. Moreover, empathic emotions are essential to social and interpersonal life since they allow individuals to adapt their cognitive processes to their […]
• Racial Discrimination in High Education This peer-reviewed scholar article was found in the JSTOR database through entering key words “race affirmative action” and marking the publication period between 2017 and 2022.
• Social Sciences: Racism Through Different Lenses A thorough analysis of diversity adds value to social interactions by informing human behavior through a deeper understanding of racism and its impacts on society. Using the humanities lens leads to a better understanding of […]
• Racial Discrimination in Dormitory Discrimination is considered to be behavior that restricts the rights and freedoms of the individual. Therefore, it is essential to investigate discrimination in dormitories and propose solutions to this problem, such as disseminating knowledge about […]
• Racism and Its Impact on Populations and Society The ignorance of many individuals about other people’s cultures and ethnicities is one of the causes of racism. One can examine the various components of society and how they relate to the issue of racism […]
• Institutionalized Racism and Individualistic Racism Excellent examples of individualistic racism include the belief in white supremacy, racial jokes, employment discrimination, and personal prejudices against black people. Overall, institutionalized and individualistic racism is a perversive issue that affects racial relations in […]
• Community Engagement with Racism To enhance the population’s degree of involvement in racism, the study calls for collaboration; this can be seen as a community effort to foster a sense of teamwork.
• Racism Detection with Implicit Association Test Racial bias is deeply rooted in human society and propelled by norms and stereotypic ideologies that lead to implicit bias and the unfair treatment of minority groups.
• Identity and Belonging: Racism and Ethnicity In the documentary Afro Germany – Being Black and German, several individuals share their stories of feeling mistreated and excluded because of their skin color.
• Policies to Eliminate Racial Disparities and Discrimination The solution to exclusion is to build social inclusion in the classroom and within the school by encouraging peer acceptance, cross-group friendships, and built-in prevention.
• Causes, Facilitators, and Solutions to Racism These theories suggest that racism serves a particular function in society, occurs due to the interactions of individuals from dominant groups, and results from a human culture of prejudice and discrimination.
• Racial Discrimination and Justice in Education An example is the complaint of the parents of one of the black students that, during the passage of civilizations, the Greeks, Romans, and Incas were discussed in the lessons, but nothing was said about […]
• Empathy and Racism in Stockett’s The Help and Li’s To Kill a Mockingbird To start with, the first approach to racism and promoting empathy is to confront prevalent discrimination and racism, which was often shown in The Help. Another solution to racism and the possibility of promoting empathy […]
• Racism in the Healthcare Sector In 2020, the cases and instances of racism in healthcare rose by 16% from 2018; there were notable instances of racism in various spheres of health. 9% of blacks have been protected from discrimination and […]
• Racism in Healthcare and Education The mission should emphasize that it promotes diversity and equality of all students and seeks to eliminate racial bias. It is necessary to modify the mission to include the concept of inclusiveness and equality.
• Institutional Racism in the Workplace Despite countless efforts to offer African-Americans the same rights and opportunities as Whites, the situation cannot be resolved due to the emergence of new factors and challenges.
• Racism in Education in the United States Such racial disparities in the educational workforce confirm the problem of structural racism and barrier to implementing diversity in higher medical education. Structural racism has a long history and continues to affect the growth of […]
• Rhetoric in Obama’s 2008 Speech on Racism When the audience became excited, it was Obama’s responsibility to convey his message in a more accessible form. To conclude, Obama’s speech in 2008 facilitated his election as the first African American President in history.
• How to Talk to Children About Racism The text begins by referring to recent events that were related to race-based discrimination and hatred, such as the murder of George Floyd and the protests dedicated to the matter.
• Care for Real: Racism and Food Insecurity Care for Real relies on the generosity of residents, donation campaigns, and business owners to collect and deliver these supplies. The research article discusses some of the factors that contribute to the creation of racism […]
• Racism Towards Just and Holistic Health Therefore, the critical content of the event was to determine the steps covered so far in the fight for racial equality in the provision of care and what can be done to improve the status […]
• The Racism Problem and Its Relevance The images demonstrate how deeply racism is rooted in our society and the role the media plays in spreading and combating racism.
• Aspects of Socio-Economic Sides of Racism And the answer is given in Dorothy Brown’s article for CNN “Whites who escape the attention of the police benefit because of slavery’s long reach”.. This shows that the problem of racism is actual in […]
• Tackling Racism in the Workplace It means that reporting racism to HR does not have the expected positive effect on workplace relations, and employees may not feel secure to notify HR about the incidences of racism.
• Issue of Racism Around the World One of the instances of racism around the world is the manifestations of violence against indigenous women, which threatens the safety of this vulnerable group and should be mitigated.
• Environmental Racism: The Water Crisis in Flint, Michigan The situation is a manifestation of environmental racism and classism since most of the city’s population is people of color and poor. Thus, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is a manifestation of environmental racism […]
• The “Racism and Discrimination” Documentary The documentary “Racism and Discrimination” is about an anti-racist teacher Jane Elliot who attempts to show the white people the feeling of discrimination. The central argument of the documentary is diversity training to seize the […]
• Abortion-Related Racial Discrimination in the US In spite of being a numerical minority, Black women in the U.S.resort to abortion services rather often compared to the White population.
• Social Problems Surrounding Racism, Prejudice and Discrimination This kind of discrimination makes the students lose their self-esteem and the traumas experienced affects the mental health of these students in the long term.
• The Unethical Practice of Racism in a Doctor’s Case The involvement of Barrett in the protest is both unethical for the university’s image and immoral for the community. However, the school would likely face tougher court fines and a direct order to reinstate Barrett’s […]
• The Problem of Racism in America One explanation of racism by feminist thinkers is that racism is a manifestation of the agency and power of people of a particular racial identity over others.
• Racism: “The Sum of Us” Article by McGhee The economic analysis and sociological findings in America have drawn a detailed picture of the cost of racism in America and how to overcome it together.
• Contemporary Sociological Theories and American Racism The central intention of this theory paper is to apply modern theoretical concepts from the humanities discipline of sociology to the topic of racism in the United States.
• A Cause-and-Effect Analysis of Racism and Discrimination As a result, it is vital to conduct a cause-and-effect analysis to determine the key immediate and hidden causes of racism to be able to address them in a proper manner.
• Cause and Effect of Racial Discrimination Irrespective of massive efforts to emphasize the role of diversity and equality in society, it is still impossible to state that the United States is free from racial discrimination.
• Institutional Racism Through the Lenses of Housing Policy While not being allowed to buy property because of the racial covenants, the discriminated people had to house in other areas.
• Role of Racism in Contemporary US Public Opinion This source is useful because it defines racism, describes its forms, and presents the survey results about the prevalence of five types of racial bias.
• The Mutation of Racism into New Subtle Forms The trend reflects the ability of racism to respond to the rising sensitivity of the people and the widespread rejection of prejudice.
• Racism: Healthcare Crisis and the Nurses Role The diminished admittance to mind is because of the impacts of fundamental bigotry, going from doubt of the medical care framework to coordinate racial segregation by medical care suppliers.
• Origins of Racial Discrimination Despite such limitations as statistical data being left out, I will use this article to support the historical evaluation of racism in the United States and add ineffective policing to the origins of racism.
• Beverly Greene Life and View of Racism The plot of the biography, identified and formed by the Ackerman Institute for the Family in the life of the heroine, consists of dynamics, personality development and its patterns.
• Historical Racism in South Africa and the US One of the major differences between the US and South Africa is the fact that in the case of the former, an African American minority was brought to the continent to serve the White majority.
• Capitalism and Racism in Past and Present Racism includes social and economic inequalities due to racial identity and is represented through dispossession, colonialism, and slavery in the past and lynching, criminalization, and incarceration in the present.
• Minstrels’ Influence on the Spread of Racism The negative caricatures and disturbing artifacts developed to portray Black people within the museum were crucial in raising awareness on the existence of racism.
• How Parents of Color Transcend Nightmare of Racism Even after President Abraham Lincoln outlawed enslavement and won the American Civil War in 1965, prejudice toward black people remained engrained in both the northern and southern cultural structures of the United States.
• A Problem of Racial Discrimination in the Modern World This minor case suggests the greater problem that is unjustly treating people in the context of the criminal justice system. In the book, Stevenson writes about groups of people who are vulnerable to being victimized […]
• Beverly Tatum’s Monolog About Injustice of Racism Furthermore, the author’s point is to define the state of discrimination in the country and the world nowadays and explore what steps need to be taken to develop identity.
• Issue of Institutional Racism Systemic and structural racisms are a form of prejudice that is prevalent and deeply ingrained in structures, legislation, documented or unpublished guidelines, and entrenched customs and rituals.
• Racism in America Today: Problems of Today Even though racism and practices of racial discrimination had been banned in the 1960s after the mass protests and the changes to the laws that banned racial discrimination institutionally.
• Evidence of Existence of Modern Racism It would be wrong to claim that currently, the prevalence and extent of manifestations of racism are at the same level as in the middle of the last century.
• Culture Play in Prejudices, Stereotyping, and Racism However, cognitive and social aspects are significant dimensions that determine in-group members and the constituents of a threat in a global religious view hence the relationship between religion and prejudices.
• Latin-African Philosophical Wars on Racism in US Hooker juxtaposition Vasconcelos’ ‘Cosmic Race’ theory to Douglass’s account of ethnicity-based segregation in the U.S.as a way of showing the similarities between the racial versions of the two Americas.
• Confronting Stereotypes, Racism and Microaggression Stereotypes are established thought forms rooted in the minds of particular groups of people, in the social environment, and in the perception of other nations.
• Racial Discrimination in Dallas-Fort Worth Region Thus, there is a historical imbalance in the political representation of racial minorities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Nonetheless, the Black population is reported to thrive best in the suburban areas of DFW, where this […]
• Healthcare Call to Action: Racism in Medicine To start the fight, it is necessary to identify the main manifestations of discrimination in health care, the reasons for the emergence of the location of social superiority and discrimination, and the scale.
• White Counselors Broaching Race and Racism Study The essence of the verbal behavior of the consultants is the ways of their reaction in the process of interaction with the client – the basic skills of counseling, accessibly including race and racism topics.
• British Colonial Racism for Aboriginal Australians Precisely this colonial racism and genocide can be considered to be the cruelest in the history of the world and may have influenced the ideas and plans of Adolf Hitler, who got inspired by the […]
• The Black People: Sexuality and Racial Discrimination Interview Review Nevertheless, the author does not provide practical solutions to the issue of racism and discrimination of the LGBTQ community. The purpose of this interview is to demonstrate the author’s attitude to the sexuality of black […]
• Racial Discrimination Through the Cosmetics Industry The variety of preconceptions such as the hypersexuality of black women and the perception of their beauty as an unideal version of whites’ one also indicates racism.
• Racism Evolution: Experience of African Diaspora As a result, distinct foundations fostered the necessity of inequality to establish effectiveness of inferiority and superiority complexes. To determine the effect of slavery and racism to modern society.
• Racial Discrimination and Residential Segregation Despite the end of segregation policies and the passing of Fair Housing laws and numerous subsidy measures, people of color cannot access wealthy areas, facing unofficial exclusion into poorer parts of the city.
• Significance of Perceived Racism:Ethnic Group Disparities in Health Coates points out that a sign of the gulf between blacks and whites manifests in the context where there is expectation for him to enlighten his opinions while in mind the essential indication lies in […]
• Racism as Origin of Enslavement Some ideas are mentioned in the video, for example, the enslavement of Black people and their children. The most shocking fact mentioned by the speaker of the video is that children of enslaved people were […]
• Colorblind Racism and Its Minimization Colorblind racism is a practice that people use to defend themselves against accusations of racism and deny the significance of the problem.
• The Bill H.R.666 Anti-Racism in Public Health Act of 2021 That is why the given paper will identify a current and health-related bill and comment on it. This information demonstrates that it is not reasonable to oppose passing the bill under consideration.
• Summary of the Issue About Racism In schools in the United States, with the advent of the new president, a critical racial theory began to be taught.
• How the Prison Industrial Complex Perpetuate Racism In the United States, the system is a normalization of various dynamics, such as historical, cultural, and interpersonal, that routinely benefit the whites while causing negative impacts for the people of color.
• Battling Racism in the Modern World Racism and racial discrimination undermine the foundations of the dignity of an individual, as they aim to divide the human family, to which all peoples and people belong, into different categories, marking some of them […]
• Indian Youth Against Racism: Photo Analysis The main cause of racism within American societies is the high superiority complex possessed by the white individuals living with the Asian American in the society.
• Racism: Do We Need More Stringent Laws? The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice is worried that national origin discrimination in the U.S.may go undetected because victims of prejudice are unaware of their legal rights or are hesitant to complain […]
• Problem of Racism in Schools Overview Racism should be discouraged by all means and the government should do its best to educate citizens on the importance of unity and the disadvantages of racism.
• US Immigration Policy and Its Correlation to Structural Racism That may create breaches in the immigration policy and cause social instability that could endanger the status of immigrants and even negatively affect the lives of the nationals.
• America: Racism, Terrorism, and Ethno-Culturalism The myth of the frontier is one of the strongest and long-lived myths of America that animates the imagination of the Americans even to this day.
• Issue of Racism in Healthcare The theory would question whether racism in healthcare is ethical and whether it facilitates the provision of care in a manner that is centered on values such as compassion, fairness, and integrity.
• Solving Racial Discrimination in the US: The Best Strategies The Hollywood representation of a black woman is often a magical hero who “is a virtuous black character who serves to better the lives of white people…and asks nothing for herself”.
• Popular Music at the Times of Racism and Segregation The following work will compare and contrast the compositions of Louis Armstrong and Scott Joplin and examine the impact of racism on popular music.
• Temporary Aid Program: Racism in Child Welfare The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program in the context of child welfare disparities.
• Western Scientific Approach as a Cause of Racism This paper will highlight the main methods of refuting the works of racist anthropologists and how they influenced the emergence of stereotypes about people of color.
• How Does Racism Affect Health? Many people of color experience internalized racism, which can lead to anxiety and depression that can be the cause of physical issues.
• Citizen: An American Lyric and Systemic Racism In essence, the primary objective of the author is to trigger the readers’ thoughts towards the devastating racism situation in America and the world in general.
• The Reflection of Twain’s Views on Racism in Huck Finn One of the most problematic aspects in the novel that potentially can make readers think that Twain’s attitude toward slavery and racism is not laudable is the excessive usage of the n-word by all sorts […]
• Black as a Label: Racial Discrimination People are so used to identifying African Americans as black that they refuse to accept the possibility of the artificiality of labeling.
• The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Racial Discrimination The author argues that despite increasing the overall prosperity of the local communities, the policies and projects of the Tennessee Valley Authority did not address the well-being of the white population and Afro-American citizens equally.
• Flint Water Crisis: Environmental Racism and Racial Capitalism The Flint crisis is a result of the neoliberal approach of the local state as opposed to the typical factors of environmental injustice; a polluter or a reckless emitter cutting costs. The two main factors […]
• Cancer Alley and Environmental Racism One of the sources under study is valuable, as it examines the current situation of the coronavirus and the impact of pollution on human health.
• Cancer Alley and Environmental Racism in the US Bentlyewski and Juhn argue that the environmental racism in the country has been the result of aligning the public environmental policy and industrial activity to benefit the white majority and, at the same time, shifting […]
• American Healthcare in the Context of Racism According to the researchers, the fundamental issue of racism in health care is the practitioners and public health representatives’ lack of desire to recognize the health specifics of racial and ethnic minorities, which results in […]
• Origins of Modern Racism and Ancient Slavery The diversity of African kingdoms and the empires were engaged in the slave trade for hundreds of years prior to the beginnings of the Atlantic slave trade. The working and living condition of slaves were […]
• Root Causes and Solutions to Racism Media is meant to eradicate racism and maintain unity among people but the case is different in some situations. Also, it is vital to make children understand nothing is amusing in the use of stereotypes […]
• Contribution of Racism to Economic Recession Due to COVID-19 The historical injustice accounts for unequal employment opportunities and the economic profile of the minority groups. Therefore, economic recovery for the older Latinos and Blacks is limited due to the lack of flexible occupational benefits.
• What Stories Can Teach Us About Racism On top of this before the establishment of the school there was no public education for the Negro children and this made it more difficult for the children to access education just like the other […]
• Racism in Canadian Medical System The difference in the treatment of indigenous and non-indigenous individuals in Canada is a result of racism in the medical facility.
• Profit and Racism in the Prisons of the United States As an argument for the work of prisoners, the prison of Angola makes the argument that work is a way of rehabilitation for the prisoner.
• Rio Tinto: Case Study About Racism and Discrimination The repercussions of this situation for the preservation of cultural heritage may be considerable, as the expert community was denied an opportunity to research the artifacts.
• Racism: US v. The Amistad and Dred Scott v. Sandford In legal terms, the key difference between the two was that the Africans from Amistad were freeborn and enslaved in violation of the international agreements, while Dred Scott, despite his sojourn in Illinois, was born […]
• Critical Social Problems Research: Racism and Racial Domination According to his opinion, which is proven today by many examples including the attitude of the authorities, people of color are treated as if they are worthless and not destined to achieve success.
• Criminal Justice: Racial Prejudice and Racial Discrimination Souryal takes the reader through the racial prejudice and racial discrimination issues ranging from the temperament of racism, the fundamental premise of unfairness, the racial biasness and the causes of racial unfairness to ethical practices […]
• Gonzalez v. Abercrombie & Fitch Discrimination Racism Lawsuit: An Analysis The case was filed in June 2003, and the claim was that this company has grossly violated the rights of the citizens as provided for in the constitution of the country.
• The History of Racial Discrimination and Its Effects on the American Races The saddest part of it all is that our Indian American brothers are discussed in public and used as examples in a manner that makes it seem like they exist only as a mere caricature […]
• Racial Discrimination in the US Criminal Justice System This report argues that when one studies the proportion of blacks in the Cincinnati community and the number of times that they have been stopped for traffic violations, one finds that there is a large […]
• Policing in America: The Issue of Violence and Racism While the former proposition has various negative aspects to be considered, the latter appears to be the appropriate reaction to the challenges posed for the United States’ society in 2020.
• Institutional and Interpersonal Racism, White Privilege One should be aware of the fact that issues such as institutional and interpersonal racism, privilege, power, and bias are complex problems, which need a thorough analysis and consideration of all the facts.
• Anti-Racism in Shakespeare’s Othello For Shakespeare, Brabantio’s views are representative of the racial prejudice of the society in general, rather than of his personal feelings towards the protagonist. On the other hand, Othello’s story is cohesive and believable; he […]
• The Development of a Measure to Assess Symbolic Racism The originators of the concept applied it only to the African-American race, while other scientists engaged in researching and applying the construct of symbolic racism to other races and cultures.
• Racism and Tokenism in Bon Appetit: Leadership and Ethical Perspective Leadership is defined as a set of actions and beliefs of a manager who directs and controls the followers to achieve a common goal.
• From “Scientific” Racism to Local Histories of Lynching Both chapters serve as a premise to the following arguments in the book, arguing that White power is still dominant in the contemporary world, and give context to the broader scale of oppression worldwide.
• Subjective Assumptions and Medicine: Racism The given supposition demonstrates that Allen believed in the superiority of white southerners over Black Americans because the latter ones were made responsible for the deteriorated health of the former.
• Racism Experiences in the Workplace in the UK This research paper provides the background of racism in the UK, particularly in the area of employment. The UK struggles against racial discrimination and paves the way to equity and inclusion in the area of […]
• The History of Immigration to the United States and the Nature of Racism The development of the idea of race and ethnicity along with the idea of racial antagonism has two main stages in the history of the United States.
• Race and Racism in the USA: The Origins and the Future In conclusion, the author suggests that the possible solution to the problem of racial conflicts is the amalgamation of different races and ethnics.
• Racially Insensitive Name-Calling in Classroom Probably, the teacher had to initiate the lesson devoted to the topic of racial discrimination and to think over all the stages of the discussion, to organize it in a polite and friendly manner.
• Environmental Racism in the United States: Concept, Solution to the Problem With regards to this definition, a row of issues connected to social justice and the equality in the rights of people which is firmly established in the Constitution of the United States are to be […]
• Protecting George Wallace’s Organized Racism Instead of claiming that segregation was a necessary evil or that it benefited the minorities, he claimed that it is the only way to protect the freedom of the white people.
• How Can the World Unite to Fight Racism? One of the highly discussed topics in the modern world is the question of racism. It all leads to the idea that racism could be fought due to the improved educational system, where the teachers […]
• Racism in America and Its Literature In the first part of this stanza, Hughes articulates his view that when an African American is finally sitting at the table, others will recognize the beauty of African Americans.
• Race, Class and Gender. Racism on Practice The separation and the segregation on an individual or group is what is based on the grounds of racism, and this has been well illustrated in the book the Ethics of Living Jim Crow where […]
• Racism: Term Definition and History of Display of Racism Remarks It is no wonder that this form of discrimination is known to have caused the worst wars in the world and led to nations being formed together with all forms of legal codes.
• Institutional Discrimination, Prejudice and Racism Racism that is in the society today is not evident like that of the early 19th and 20th century which was characterized by among other things separation based on color of the skin, religious differences […]
• Racism in Contemporary North America The reality of the matter is that the different cultures and races share the political atmosphere, however, when it comes to religious, moral, and social practices, the diversified humanity of Canada does not share the […]
• Racial and Gender Discrimination in the Workplace and Housing Job discrimination is that discrimination which arises at the places of work Factors that include the presence of a high population of the unemployed create room for the vice.
• “Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison: Themes of Racism and Unequal Opportunity But the mismatch of the real-life and the world of the primer becomes obvious to the reader from the first pages of the novel.
• Racism Without Racists in Patriarchal Society First of all, it should be mentioned that color-blind racism is not a new ideology that is only developing in the contemporary American society; it has been strengthening its positions over several decades gradually becoming […]
• The Problem of Racism in Canada The main focus of the article “Racism in the Justice System” can be understood due to the title of the article.
• Exploring and Comparing Racism and Ethnocentrism In their works, Martin Luther King and Gloria Anzaldua describe experience of racial minorities and segregation caused by their color of skin and cultural beliefs.
• Racism Cannot Be Unlearned Through Education
• Racism in Movies: Stereotypes and Prejudices
• Facing Racism: A Short Story
• White Supremacy as an Extreme Racism Group
• American Racism: So Why Isn’t Obama White?
• Rasism in “No Telephone to Heaven” by Michelle Cliff
• Racism Issues: Looking and Stereotype
• Anti-Racism Policy Statement in Australian Schools
• Racism, Minorities and Majorities Analysis
• Racism and Ethnicity in Latin America
• Racial Discrimination in Song ‘Strange Fruit’
• Racism Effects on the Premier League Players
• Social Psychology: Racism in Jury Behaviour
• Racism in the United States of the 21st Century
• “A Genealogy of Modern Racism” by C. West
• Appiah’s Ideas of Racism, Equality, and Justice
• Racism in Media: Positive and Negative Impact
• Racism: Once Overt, but Now Covert
• Racism: “Get Out” Film and “Screams on Screens” Article
• How Racism Makes Us Sick: Public Talk That Matters
• Environmental Racism and Indigenous Knowledge
• Scientific Racism: the Eugenics of Social Darwinism
• Racism in the “Do the Right Thing” Movie
• Islam and Racism: Malcolm X’s Letter From Mecca
• Racism vs. “Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself”
• Racism in Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transgenders
• Racism in Australian Football League Sporting Clubs
• Thomas Jefferson on Civil Rights, Slavery, Racism
• Racial Discrimination Forms Against Afro-Americas
• Racism in Shakespeare’s “Othello” and Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
• White Privilege and Racism in American Society
• Racism, Privilege and Stereotyping Concepts
• Racism in Rankine’s “Citizen” and Whitehead’s “The Underground Railroad”
• Kansas State University Community’s Racism Issues
• Racism in the United States: Before and After World War II
• Baldwin’s and Coates’ Anti-Racism Communication
• The Problem of Racism and Injustice
• Racism as the Epitome of Moral Bankruptcy
• Racism and Prejudice: “Gone With the Wind“ and “The Help”
• Racism in “The Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison
• Racism in Trump’s and Clinton’s Campaigns
• Colin Powell and the Fight Against Structural Racism
• Racism in “Passing” and “Uncle Tom’s Children” Novels
• Racism in “To Kill Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee
• Racism Elimination and Sociological Strategies
• Racism History in No Name on the Street by Baldwin
• “Nigger” as a Racially Directed Slur
• Social and Cultural Diversity and Racism
• Racism and Discrimination in Religion Context
• Racism: Theoretical Perspectives and Research Methods
• Racism in the Setting the Rising Sun Postcard
• Darwin’s and Galton’s Scientific Racism
• Does Racism and Discrimination Still Exist Today?
• The Voting Rights Act and Racial Discrimination
• English Literature Impact on Racism Among Africans
• Jerrell Shofner’s Views on the Racial Discrimination
• Asian American Communities and Racism in the USA
• Racial Discrimination and Its Effects on Employees
• Racial Discrimination in Social Institutions
• King’s and Obama’s Views on Racism in America
• Racism in USA: Virginia Laws on Slavery
• Racism as a Reality of Modern American Society
• Rodney King’s Case of Racial Discrimination
• Racism Issue and Solutions
• Intersectionality and Gendered Racism
• Racism and Education in the United States
• Racism in Michigan University
• Conflict and Racial Hostility
• Racism as a Case of Ignorance and Prejudice
• Racism and Segregation in American History
• Humanism, Racism, and Speciesism
• Racism in American Schools
• Racist America: Current Realities and Future Prospects
• Racism: Impact on Minorities in American Society
• Racism Against Native Americans
• Obama’s First Election and Racism
• Adolf Hitler: From Patriotism to Racism
• “Globalization and the Unleashing of New Racism: an Introduction” by Macedo and Gounari
• Problems of Environmental Racism
• How Obama’s First Election Has Been Affected by Racism?
• How Different Young Australians Experience Racism?
• Racial Discrimination in Organizations
• Understanding Race and Racism
• In Australia, Are Cultural Rights a Form of Racism?
• Racism, Stigma, and Eexism – Sociology
• Racism and Ethnicity in United States
• ‘Animal Rights’ Activists and Racism
• The Racial Discrimination Among Employers
• Psychological Impact: Stereotyping, Prejudice and Racism
• Multicultural Psychology: Cultural Identity and Racism
• How Fake News Use Satire as a Medium to Address Issues on Racism?
• Young Australians and Racism
• Relationship Between Institutionalized Racism and Marxism
• Democratic Racism in Canada
• Social Construction of “Race” and “Racism” and Its Relationship to Democratic Racism in Canada
• Ethnicity: Oppression and Racism
• Black or White Racism
• Racism in Family Therapy by Laszloffy and Hardy
• The Roma Problems and the Causes of Racism
• Racial Discrimination in the US
• The ‘Peopling’ Process of Australia Since 1788 With Influence of Racism
• Is Racism and Anti-Semitism Still a Problem in the United States?
• Globalization and Racism
• Society Moral Standards: Racism and Its Harmful Effects
• Racism in Native Son
• The Issue of Racial Segregation in the United States
• Racism and Male Dominance in Education
• Comparison of Racism in the United States and South Africa
• English Racism During World Cup
• The Historical Roots of Racism in Australia
• Maya Angelou: Racism and Segregation in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
• Racism Is Not All About Individual Attitude
• Discrimination, Prejudice and Racism in the United States
• Racial or Ethnical Discrimination
• The Role of Racism in American Art During the 1930s and 1940s
• Promotion of Racism in US Through Sports
• Racism in U.S. Criminal Justice System
• Racism, Colonialism and the Emergence of Third World
• Slavery and Racism: Black Brazilians v. Black Americans
• Why the Philosophy of King is More Effective in Fighting Racism than Malcolm’s?
• Racism and Discrimination: White Privilege
• Racism and Segregation in the United States
• The Root Cause of Racism and Ethnic Stratification in the US
• Racism and Anti-Semitism in the United States: The Issues Which Are Yet to Be Solved
• Racism in the USA
• Evidence of Racism in the American Schools
• Analysis on Religion, Racism and Family Conflicts
• Racism in American Schools: A Critical Look at the Modern School Mini-Society
• The Concept of Racism
• The Theme of Liberation From Racism in Two Plays by August Wilson
• The Policy Status Quo to Prevent Racism in American Schools
• Racial Profiling: Discrimination the People of Color
• Racism as a Central Factor in Representing Asian American History
• Reducing Racism in the University of Alberta and University of York
• Achebe’s Views on Racism
• Racial Stereotypes in Movie Industry
• Racism in the American Nation
• The Civil Rights Movement: Ending Racial Discrimination and Segregation in America
• Institutionalized Racism and Sexism
• The Anatomy of Scientific Racism: Racialist Responses to Black Athletic Achievement
• The Problem of Global Racism in Modern World
• Comparison of Ethnicity and Racism in “Country Lovers” and “The Welcome Table”
• Racial Discrimination at the World Bank
• Australian Identities: Indigenous and Multicultural
• Racial Discrimination in America
• Institutionalized Racism From John Brown Raid to Jim Crow Laws
• Racism in America After the Civil War up to 1900
• Have You Experienced Racism in Korea?
• Racism in the “Crash”
• Contemporary Racism in Australia: the Experience of Aborigines
• Racism By Thomas Jackson
• Addressing the Racism in Society
• Racism in the Penitentiary
• Different Challenges of Racial Discrimination
• Slavery, Racism, and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
• American Indians: Racial Segregation and Discrimination
• Why it is Safe to Say that Northrop’s Book Exposes the Roots of Racism in America
• Psychological Development: Racism, Affirmative Action and Health Care
• How Has Racism Changed Throughout History, Starting From the Emancipation Proclamation to Today?
• Do Racism and Discrimination Still Exist Today?
• How Did Ideas of Black Stereotypes and Racism Become Embedded in American Culture?
• How Does Racism Affect the Way of a Caste Like System?
• What Connection Is Between Globalization and Racism?
• Why Do Exist Discrimination and Racism?
• How Do Educational Institutions Perpetuate Racism, Sexism, and Patriarchy?
• How Do Racism and Exclusion Shape the Social Geography of Race and Ethnicity?
• What Ways Does Cultural Racism Manifest Itself?
• How the Media Maintains Racism?
• Why Slavery and Racism Issues Still Affect America Today?
• How Racism and Ethnicity Affect the Sector of Education?
• How Has Racism Impacted Immigrant Families and Children?
• When Did Racism Begin?
• Racism: Why It’s Bad for Society and the Greater Health Issues It Creates?
• How Have Evolutionary Ideas Shaped Racism?
• Why Is Racism Bad for Society?
• What Effect Does Color-Blind Racism Have On Minorities in Society Today?
• How Does Sports Helped Diminish Racism?
• How Does Both Individual and Institutional Racism Impact Service Provision and the Experiences of People Receiving Services?
• Did Slavery Cause Racism?
• When You Think About Racism, What Do You Think About?
• What Does Racism Mean?
• Does Affirmative Action Solve Racism?
• Did Racism Precede Slavery?
• How Does Racism Affect Society?
• Does Racism Still Occur Today and Why People Can’t a Change?
• Between Compassion and Racism: How the Biopolitics of Neoliberal Welfare Turns Citizens Into Affective ‘Idiots’?
• Does Racism Play a Role in Health Inequities?
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How Racist Is America?

By David Brooks

Opinion Columnist

One question lingers amid all the debates about critical race theory: How racist is this land? Anybody with eyes to see and ears to hear knows about the oppression of the Native Americans, about slavery and Jim Crow. But does that mean that America is even now a white supremacist nation, that whiteness is a cancer that leads to oppression for other groups? Or is racism mostly a part of America’s past, something we’ve largely overcome?

There are many ways to answer these questions. The most important is by having honest conversations with the people directly affected. But another is by asking: How high are the barriers to opportunity for different groups? Do different groups have a fair shot at the American dream? This approach isn’t perfect, but at least it points us to empirical data rather than just theory and supposition.

When we apply this lens to the African American experience we see that barriers to opportunity are still very high. The income gap separating white and Black families was basically as big in 2016 as it was in 1968 . The wealth gap separating white and Black households grew even bigger between those years. Black adults are over 16 times more likely to be in families with three generations of poverty than white adults.

Research shows the role racism plays in perpetuating these disparities. When, in 2004, researchers sent equally qualified white and Black applicants to job interviews in New York City, dressed them similarly and gave them similar things to say, Black applicants got half as many callbacks or job offers as whites.

When you look at the data about African Americans, the legacies of slavery and segregation and the effects of racism are everywhere. The phrase “systemic racism” aptly fits the reality you see — a set of structures, like redlining, that have a devastating effect on Black wealth and opportunities. Racism is not something we are gently moving past; it’s pervasive. It seems obvious that this reality should be taught in every school.

Does this mean that America is white supremacist, a shameful nation, that the American dream is just white privilege? Well, let’s take a look at the data for different immigrant groups. When you turn your gaze here, the barriers don’t seem as high. For example, as Bloomberg’s Noah Smith pointed out recently on his Substack page, Hispanic American incomes rose faster in recent years than those of any other major group in America. Forty-five percent of Hispanics who grew up in poverty made it to the middle class or higher , comparable to the mobility rate for whites.

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Conclusion: Race, racism and social work today: some concluding thoughts

• Published: December 2013
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The aim of the book has been to re-open debates about issues of ‘race’ and racism in modern Britain, and the relevance for those of us involved in social work education, training and practice. Racism is a deeply entrenched social problem, built into the structure of modern capitalist societies, but this does not mean that it is static and unchanging. At different moments in time the rhetoric of racism targets specific minority ethnic groups in particular ways: black and Asian communities, (white) East European migrants, members of the Roma community, Asylum seekers or members of the Muslim community, for example. Over the last 10–15 years the most visible form of racism has been the rise of Islamophobia, with increasing levels of racism directed against the Muslim community in Britain and across Europe. To say this, is not to deny or denigrate the racism felt by other minority communities, but it is to recognise the particular forms of institutional racism and violence that manifests itself in the form of physical and verbal attacks on Muslims and in the nature of political and media debates that are increasingly framed in terms of a perceived ‘problematic Muslim presence’ in Britain and Europe that demands some form of political action. What that action should be remains open to contestation.

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Essay #8. Anti-Racism May Be An Answer

There’s one thing about writing about racism today. There will never be a shortage of material. It seems there will always be someone, somewhere, who will eventually say something racist. Everyday people say racist things. Famous people say racist things. The difference is, the famous have more to lose than the rest of us–or do they? Because their racist rants oftentimes find their way into mainstream and social media, we find out about it sooner or later. The rest of us can say our racist comments in the privacy of our homes and among our friends. Remember when Hulk Hogan became the newest celebrity to add his name to the racist rant hall of fame? I liked the character Hulk Hogan. So, it saddened me to learn about his racist rant. If you remember, Hulk Hogan apparently got upset with his daughter after finding out she was dating a Black man. He then went on an “N” word rant, which was taped. The taping was 8 years prior but brought back to life and made public. From the news account, I remember listening to it and from a reporter who grew up loving Hulk Hogan, it was bad. The WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) cut all ties with Hulk Hogan. I mean the WWE excommunicated him to the land of nonexistence. To his credit Hulk Hogan apologized profusely. But what else was he going to do?

Is the WWE’s punishment going to undo, un-hurt or fix any problems in the Black community? Is the WWE’s punishment going to help teach society not to say or do such racist things? The answer is no. Like I’ve said to you several times before, racism is an on-purpose act that must be undone, on-purpose. I think the WWE should have given Hulk Hogan a chance to undo his racist rant, by sending him to (in this case) a Black school or youth center and let him tell the kids and their parents why he’s sorry for what he said. I think WWE and Hulk Hogan should have gone into their pockets and fix a problem in a poor Black school district. I think the WWE and Hulk Hogan should have started an after-school tutoring program to help Black kids do better in their school. This would have been an anti-racist act. This would have started the process of un-doing racism. If Hulk Hogan had made racist comments about Mexican people, Asian people, Native Indian people, or women, then what I’m talking about would apply to those communities. The same goes for any other race or group of people that have been offended by racist and hateful acts or comments perpetrated by wealthy people or organizations.

My point is, apologies aren’t enough. With all the racist rants and acts that are going on in this country, nothing is being done to undo racism. Firing people who make racist, sexist or any other hateful comments, doesn’t do anything for those communities or people hurt by the comments. An anti-racism approach needs to be taken. These communities need to demand more than apologies. Firing people who make racist comments does not educate or re-educate anyone. If society stays uneducated, racism will continue; Headline: “Racist person fired! End of Racism!”–probably not.

From Racist to Non-Racist to Anti-Racist: Becoming a Part of the Solution Copyright © 2001, 2020 by Keith L. Anderson, PhD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Hear Something, Say Something: Navigating The World Of Racial Awkwardness

Listen to this week's episode.

We've all been there — having fun relaxing with friends and family, when someone says something a little racially off. Sometimes it's subtle, like the friend who calls Thai food "exotic." Other times it's more overt, like that in-law who's always going on about "the illegals."

In any case, it can be hard to know how to respond. Even the most level-headed among us have faltered trying to navigate the fraught world of racial awkwardness.

So what exactly do you do? We delve into the issue on this week's episode of the Code Switch podcast, featuring writer Nicole Chung and Code Switch's Shereen Marisol Meraji, Gene Demby and Karen Grigsby Bates.

We also asked some folks to write about what runs through their minds during these tense moments, and how they've responded (or not). Their reactions ran the gamut from righteous indignation to total passivity, but in the wake of these uncomfortable comments, everyone seemed to walk away wishing they'd done something else.

Aaron E. Sanchez

It was the first time my dad visited me at college, and he had just dropped me off at my dorm. My suitemate walked in and sneered.

"Was that your dad?" he asked. "He looks sooo Mexican."

Aaron E. Sanchez is a Texas-based writer who focuses on issues of race, politics and popular culture from a Latino perspective. Courtesy of Aaron Sanchez hide caption

He kept laughing about it as he left my room.

I was caught off-guard. Instantly, I grew self-conscious, not because I was ashamed of my father, but because my respectability politics ran deep. My appearance was supposed to be impeccable and my manners unimpeachable to protect against stereotypes and slights. I felt exposed.

To be sure, when my dad walked into restaurants and stores, people almost always spoke to him in Spanish. He didn't mind. The fluidity of his bilingualism rarely failed him. He was unassuming. He wore his working-class past on his frame and in his actions. He enjoyed hard work and appreciated it in others. Yet others mistook him for something altogether different.

People regularly confused his humility for servility. He was mistaken for a landscape worker, a janitor, and once he sat next to a gentleman on a plane who kept referring to him as a "wetback." He was a poor Mexican-American kid who grew up in the Segundo Barrio of El Paso, Texas, for certain. But he was also an Air Force veteran who had served for 20 years. He was an electrical engineer, a proud father, an admirable storyteller, and a pretty decent fisherman.

I didn't respond to my suitemate. To him, my father was a funny caricature, a curio he could pick up, purchase and discard. And as much as it was hidden beneath my elite, liberal arts education, I was a novelty to him too, an even rarer one at that. Instead of a serape, I came wrapped in the trappings of middle-classness, a costume I was trying desperately to wear convincingly.

That night, I realized that no clothing or ill-fitting costume could cover us. Our bodies were incongruous to our surroundings. No matter how comfortable we were in our skins, our presence would make others uncomfortable.

Karen Good Marable

When the Q train pulled into the Cortelyou Road station, it was dark and I was tired. Another nine hours in New York City, working in the madness that is Midtown as a fact-checker at a fashion magazine. All day long, I researched and confirmed information relating to beauty, fashion and celebrity, and, at least once a day, suffered an editor who was openly annoyed that I'd discovered an error. Then, the crush of the rush-hour subway, and a dinner obligation I had to fulfill before heading home to my cat.

Karen Good Marable is a writer living in New York City. Her work has been featured in publications like The Undefeated and The New Yorker. Courtesy of Karen Good Marable hide caption

The train doors opened and I turned the corner to walk up the stairs. Coming down were two girls — free, white and in their 20s . They were dancing as they descended, complete with necks rolling, mouths pursed — a poor affectation of black girls — and rapping as they passed me:

Now I ain't sayin she a golddigger/But she ain't messin' with no broke niggas!

That last part — broke niggas — was actually less rap, more squeals that dissolved into giggles. These white girls were thrilled to say the word publicly — joyously, even — with the permission of Kanye West.

I stopped, turned around and stared at them. I envisioned kicking them both squarely in their backs. God didn't give me telekinetic powers for just this reason. I willed them to turn around and face me, but they did not dare. They bopped on down the stairs and onto the platform, not evening knowing the rest of the rhyme.

Listen: I'm a black woman from the South. I was born in the '70s and raised by parents — both educators — who marched for their civil rights. I never could get used to nigga being bandied about — not by the black kids and certainly not by white folks. I blamed the girls' parents for not taking over where common sense had clearly failed. Hell, even radio didn't play the nigga part.

I especially blamed Kanye West for not only making the damn song, but for having the nerve to make nigga a part of the damn hook.

Life in NYC is full of moments like this, where something happens and you wonder if you should speak up or stay silent (which can also feel like complicity). I am the type who will speak up . Boys (or men) cussing incessantly in my presence? Girls on the train cussing around my 70-year-old mama? C'mon, y'all. Do you see me? Do you hear yourselves? Please. Stop.

But on this day, I just didn't feel like running down the stairs to tap those girls on the shoulder and school them on what they damn well already knew. On this day, I just sighed a great sigh, walked up the stairs, past the turnstiles and into the night.

Robyn Henderson-Espinoza

When I was 5 or 6, my mother asked me a question: "Does anyone ever make fun of you for the color of your skin?"

This surprised me. I was born to a Mexican woman who had married an Anglo man, and I was fairly light-skinned compared to the earth-brown hue of my mother. When she asked me that question, I began to understand that I was different.

Robyn Henderson-Espinoza is a visiting assistant professor of ethics at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, Calif. Courtesy of Robyn Henderson-Espinoza hide caption

Following my parents' divorce in the early 1980s, I spent a considerable amount of time with my father and my paternal grandparents. One day in May of 1989, I was sitting at my grandparents' dinner table in West Texas. I was 12. The adults were talking about the need for more laborers on my grandfather's farm, and my dad said this:

"Mexicans are lazy."

He called the undocumented workers he employed on his 40 acres "wetbacks." Again and again, I heard from him that Mexicans always had to be told what to do. He and friends would say this when I was within earshot. I felt uncomfortable. Why would my father say these things about people like me?

But I remained silent.

It haunts me that I didn't speak up. Not then. Not ever. I still hear his words, 10 years since he passed away, and wonder whether he thought I was a lazy Mexican, too. I wish I could have found the courage to tell him that Mexicans are some of the hardest-working people I know; that those brown bodies who worked on his property made his lifestyle possible.

As I grew in experience and understanding, I was able to find language that described what he was doing: stereotyping, undermining, demonizing. I found my voice in the academy and in the movement for black and brown lives.

Still, the silence haunts me.

Channing Kennedy

My 20s were defined in no small part by a friendship with a guy I never met. For years, over email and chat, we shared everything with each other, and we made great jokes. Those jokes — made for each other only — were a foundational part of our relationship and our identities. No matter what happened, we could make each other laugh.

Channing Kennedy is an Oakland-based writer, performer, media producer and racial equity trainer. Courtesy of Channing Kennedy hide caption

It helped, also, that we were slackers with spare time, but eventually we both found callings. I started working in the social justice sector, and he gained recognition in the field of indie comics. I was proud of my new job and approached it seriously, if not gracefully. Before I took the job, I was the type of white dude who'd make casually racist comments in front of people I considered friends. Now, I had laid a new foundation for myself and was ready to undo the harm I'd done pre-wokeness.

And I was proud of him, too, if cautious. The indie comics scene is full of bravely offensive work: the power fantasies of straight white men with grievances against their nonexistent censors, put on defiant display. But he was my friend, and he wouldn't fall for that.

One day he emailed me a rough script to get my feedback. At my desk, on a break from deleting racist, threatening Facebook comments directed at my co-workers, I opened it up for a change of pace.

I got none. His script was a top-tier, irredeemable power fantasy — sex trafficking, disability jokes, gendered violence, every scene's background packed with commentary-devoid, racist caricatures. It also had a pop culture gag on top, to guarantee clicks.

I asked him why he'd written it. He said it felt "important." I suggested he shelve it. He suggested that that would be a form of censorship. And I realized this: My dear friend had created a racist power fantasy about dismembering women, and he considered it bravely offensive.

I could have said that there was nothing brave about catering to the established tastes of other straight white comics dudes. I could have dropped any number of half-understood factoids about structural racism, the finishing move of the recently woke. I could have just said the jokes were weak.

Instead, I became cruel to him, with a dedication I'd previously reserved for myself.

Over months, I redirected every bit of our old creativity. I goaded him into arguments I knew would leave him shaken and unable to work. I positioned myself as a surrogate parent (so I could tell myself I was still a concerned ally) then laughed at him. I got him to escalate. And, privately, I told myself it was me who was under attack, the one with the grievance, and I cried about how my friend was betraying me.

I wanted to erase him (I realized years later) not because his script offended me, but because it made me laugh. It was full of the sense of humor we'd spent years on — not the jokes verbatim, but the pacing, structure, reveals, go-to gags. It had my DNA and it was funny. I thought I had become a monster-slayer, but this comic was a monster with my hands and mouth.

After years as the best of friends and as the bitterest of exes, we finally had a chance to meet in person. We were little more than acquaintances with sunk costs at that point, but we met anyway. Maybe we both wanted forgiveness, or an apology, or to see if we still had some jokes. Instead, I lectured him about electoral politics and race in a bar and never smiled.

• code switch

14 influential essays from Black writers on America's problems with race

• Business leaders are calling for people to reflect on civil rights this Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
• Black literary experts shared their top nonfiction essay and article picks on race. 
• The list includes "A Report from Occupied Territory" by James Baldwin.

For many, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a time of reflection on the life of one of the nation's most prominent civil rights leaders. It's also an important time for people who support racial justice to educate themselves on the experiences of Black people in America. 

Business leaders like TIAA CEO Thasunda Duckett Brown and others are encouraging people to reflect on King's life's work, and one way to do that is to read his essays and the work of others dedicated to the same mission he had: racial equity. 

Insider asked Black literary and historical experts to share their favorite works of journalism on race by Black authors. Here are the top pieces they recommended everyone read to better understand the quest for Black liberation in America:

An earlier version of this article was published on June 14, 2020.

"Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases" and "The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States" by Ida B. Wells

In 1892, investigative journalist, activist, and NAACP founding member Ida B. Wells began to publish her research on lynching in a pamphlet titled "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases." Three years later, she followed up with more research and detail in "The Red Record." 

Shirley Moody-Turner, associate Professor of English and African American Studies at Penn State University recommended everyone read these two texts, saying they hold "many parallels to our own moment."  

"In these two pamphlets, Wells exposes the pervasive use of lynching and white mob violence against African American men and women. She discredits the myths used by white mobs to justify the killing of African Americans and exposes Northern and international audiences to the growing racial violence and terror perpetrated against Black people in the South in the years following the Civil War," Moody-Turner told Business Insider. 

Read  "Southern Horrors" here and "The Red Record" here >>

"On Juneteenth" by Annette Gordon-Reed

In this collection of essays, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annette Gordon-Reed combines memoir and history to help readers understand the complexities out of which Juneteenth was born. She also argues how racial and ethnic hierarchies remain in society today, said Moody-Turner. 

"Gordon-Reed invites readers to see Juneteenth as a time to grapple with the complexities of race and enslavement in the US, to re-think our origin stories about race and slavery's central role in the formation of both Texas and the US, and to consider how, as Gordon-Reed so eloquently puts it, 'echoes of the past remain, leaving their traces in the people and events of the present and future.'"

Purchase "On Juneteenth" here>>

"The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates, best-selling author and national correspondent for The Atlantic, made waves when he published his 2014 article "The Case for Reparations," in which he called for "collective introspection" on reparations for Black Americans subjected to centuries of racism and violence. 

"In his now famed essay for The Atlantic, journalist, author, and essayist, Ta-Nehisi Coates traces how slavery, segregation, and discriminatory racial policies underpin ongoing and systemic economic and racial disparities," Moody-Turner said. 

"Coates provides deep historical context punctuated by individual and collective stories that compel us to reconsider the case for reparations," she added.  

Read it here>>

"The Idea of America" by Nikole Hannah-Jones and the "1619 Project" by The New York Times

In "The Idea of America," Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones traces America's history from 1619 onward, the year slavery began in the US. She explores how the history of slavery is inseparable from the rise of America's democracy in her essay that's part of The New York Times' larger "1619 Project," which is the outlet's ongoing project created in 2019 to re-examine the impact of slavery in the US. 

"In her unflinching look at the legacy of slavery and the underside of American democracy and capitalism, Hannah-Jones asks, 'what if America understood, finally, in this 400th year, that we [Black Americans] have never been the problem but the solution,'" said Moody-Turner, who recommended readers read the whole "1619 Project" as well. 

Read "The Idea of America" here and the rest of the "1619 Project here>>

"Many Thousands Gone" by James Baldwin

In "Many Thousands Gone," James Arthur Baldwin, American novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist lays out how white America is not ready to fully recognize Black people as people. It's a must read, according to Jimmy Worthy II, assistant professor of English at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

"Baldwin's essay reminds us that in America, the very idea of Black persons conjures an amalgamation of specters, fears, threats, anxieties, guilts, and memories that must be extinguished as part of the labor to forget histories deemed too uncomfortable to remember," Worthy said.

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Martin Luther King Jr.

On April 13 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. and other Civil Rights activists were arrested after peaceful protest in Birmingham, Alabama. In jail, King penned an open letter about how people have a moral obligation to break unjust laws rather than waiting patiently for legal change. In his essay, he expresses criticism and disappointment in white moderates and white churches, something that's not often focused on in history textbooks, Worthy said.

"King revises the perception of white racists devoted to a vehement status quo to include white moderates whose theories of inevitable racial equality and silence pertaining to racial injustice prolong discriminatory practices," Worthy said. 

"The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action" by Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde, African American writer, feminist, womanist, librarian, and civil rights activist asks readers to not be silent on important issues. This short, rousing read is crucial for everyone according to Thomonique Moore, a 2016 graduate of Howard University, founder of Books&Shit book club, and an incoming Masters' candidate at Columbia University's Teacher's College. 

"In this essay, Lorde explains to readers the importance of overcoming our fears and speaking out about the injustices that are plaguing us and the people around us. She challenges us to not live our lives in silence, or we risk never changing the things around us," Moore said.  Read it here>>

"The First White President" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

This essay from the award-winning journalist's book " We Were Eight Years in Power ," details how Trump, during his presidency, employed the notion of whiteness and white supremacy to pick apart the legacy of the nation's first Black president, Barack Obama.

Moore said it was crucial reading to understand the current political environment we're in. 

"Just Walk on By" by Brent Staples

In this essay, Brent Staples, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer for The New York Times, hones in on the experience of racism against Black people in public spaces, especially on the role of white women in contributing to the view that Black men are threatening figures.  

For Crystal M. Fleming, associate professor of sociology and Africana Studies at SUNY Stony Brook, his essay is especially relevant right now. 

"We see the relevance of his critique in the recent incident in New York City, wherein a white woman named Amy Cooper infamously called the police and lied, claiming that a Black man — Christian Cooper — threatened her life in Central Park. Although the experience that Staples describes took place decades ago, the social dynamics have largely remained the same," Fleming told Insider. 

"I Was Pregnant and in Crisis. All the Doctors and Nurses Saw Was an Incompetent Black Woman" by Tressie McMillan Cottom

Tressie McMillan Cottom is an author, associate professor of sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. In this essay, Cottom shares her gut-wrenching experience of racism within the healthcare system. 

Fleming called this piece an "excellent primer on intersectionality" between racism and sexism, calling Cottom one of the most influential sociologists and writers in the US today.  Read it here>>

"A Report from Occupied Territory" by James Baldwin

Baldwin's "A Report from Occupied Territory" was originally published in The Nation in 1966. It takes a hard look at violence against Black people in the US, specifically police brutality. 

"Baldwin's work remains essential to understanding the depth and breadth of anti-black racism in our society. This essay — which touches on issues of racialized violence, policing and the role of the law in reproducing inequality — is an absolute must-read for anyone who wants to understand just how much has not changed with regard to police violence and anti-Black racism in our country," Fleming told Insider.  Read it here>>

"I'm From Philly. 30 Years Later, I'm Still Trying To Make Sense Of The MOVE Bombing" by Gene Demby

On May 13, 1985, a police helicopter dropped a bomb on the MOVE compound in Philadelphia, which housed members of the MOVE, a black liberation group founded in 1972 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Eleven people, including five children, died in the airstrike. In this essay, Gene Demby, co-host and correspondent for NPR's Code Switch team, tries to wrap his head around the shocking instance of police violence against Black people. 

"I would argue that the fact that police were authorized to literally bomb Black citizens in their own homes, in their own country, is directly relevant to current conversations about militarized police and the growing movement to defund and abolish policing," Fleming said.  Read it here>>

When you buy through our links, Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more .

• Main content

• Essays On Race
• Non-Fiction
• Anti-Asian Racism
• Faculty Resources on Anti-Racism This link opens in a new window
• Streaming Videos
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  The Heart of the Uprising in Minneapolis , by Luke Mogelson.  New Yorker , June 15, 2020.

A look at how the response to the murder of George Floyd is connected to the history and future of the black community in Minneapolis.

1619 Project , New York Times 2019. 

A series of essays that examine the ongoing legacy of slavery from economics to health care to politics.

Making Black Lives Matter in the Mall of America , by Erik Forman.  New Inquiry , June 3, 2016.

A look at how race and labor intersect with modern commerce.

The Case for Reparations , by Ta-Nehesi Coates.  The Atlantic , June 2014.

How the historic debts from slavery, Jim Crow laws, housing discrimination and unequal pay must be redressed. 

How to Cool It , by James Baldwin.  Esquire , July 1968. 

A classic essay that, sadly, could have been written about current circumstances – racism, police brutality, and unequal opportunities for Black America. 

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• Last Updated: Jul 16, 2024 3:20 PM
• URL: https://guides.csbsju.edu/racism2023

Measuring Racial Discrimination (2004)

Chapter: executive summary, executive summary.

M any racial and ethnic groups intheUnited States, including blacks, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, and others, have historically faced severe discrimination—pervasive and open denial of civil, social, political, educational, and economic opportunities. Today, large differences in outcomes among racial and ethnic groups continue to exist in employment, income and wealth, housing, education, criminal justice, health, and other areas. Although many factors may contribute to such differences, their size and extent suggest that various forms of discriminatory treatment persist in U.S. society and serve to undercut the achievement of equal opportunity.

In these circumstances, it is critically important to identify where racial discrimination occurs and to measure the extent to which discrimination may contribute to racial and ethnic disparities. The Committee on National Statistics convened a panel of scholars to consider the definition of racial discrimination, assess current methodologies for measuring it, identify new approaches, and make recommendations about the best broad methodological approaches. Specifically, this panel was asked to carry out the following tasks:

Give the policy and scholarly communities new tools for assessing the extent to which discrimination continues to undermine the achievement of equal opportunity by suggesting additional means for measuring discrimination that can be applied not only to the racial question but in other important social arenas as well.

Conduct a thorough evaluation of current methodologies for measuring discrimination in a wide range of circumstances where it may occur.

Consider how analyses of data from other sources could contribute to findings from research experimentation, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development paired tests.

Recommend further research as well as the development of data to complement research studies.

DEFINING RACE

There is no single concept of race. Rather, race is a complex concept, best viewed for social science purposes as a subjective social construct based on observed or ascribed characteristics that have acquired socially significant meaning. In the United States, ways in which different populations think about their own and others’ racial status have changed over time in response to changing patterns of immigration, changing social and economic situations, and changing societal norms and government policies. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, for example, some European Americans, such as Italians and Eastern European Jews, were regarded as distinct racial groups. Although these distinctions are no longer sanctioned by the U.S. government, some segments of the population may still act in ways that are consistent with such distinctions. For certain populations and in some situations, race may be difficult to define consistently; for example, many Hispanics consider themselves to be part of a distinct racial group, but many others hold no such perception. Because concepts of race and ethnicity are not clearly defined for many Hispanics and because of the discrimination they have faced, we include Hispanics, along with specific racial groups, in our discussion of racial discrimination.

The ambiguity involved in defining race has implications for how data on race are collected. The official federal government standards for data on race and ethnicity currently identify five major racial groups (black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and white) and one ethnic group (Hispanic) that may be of any race. These categories are used by federal program and statistical agencies to collect data through self-reports (preferably) or by assigning individuals to one or more categories. The federal racial categories have changed over time, in part reflecting the changing conception of race in the United States. The government standards are not always consistent with scholarly concepts of race or with concepts held by individuals and groups; as a result, it may be difficult to obtain data on race and ethnicity that are comparable over time or across different surveys and administrative records. Comparability may also be affected by differences in the data collection

methods used. Yet given the salience of race in so many aspects of social, political, and economic life, it is important to continue collecting these data.

Conclusion: For the purpose of understanding and measuring racial discrimination, race should be viewed as a social construct that evolves over time. Despite measurement problems, data on race and ethnicity are necessary for monitoring and understanding evolving differences and trends in outcomes among groups in the U.S. population. (from Chapters 2 and 10 )

Recommendation: The federal government and, as appropriate, state and local governments should continue to collect data on race and ethnicity. Federal standards for racial categories should be responsive to changing concepts of race among groups in the U.S. population. Any resulting modifications to the standards should be implemented in ways that facilitate comparisons over time to the extent possible. (Recommendation 10.1) 1

Recommendation: Data collectors, researchers, and others should be cognizant of the effects of measurement methods on reporting of race and ethnicity, which may affect the comparability of data for analysis:

To facilitate understanding of reporting effects and to develop good measurement practices for data on race, federal agencies should seek ways to test the effects of such factors as data collection mode (e.g., telephone, personal interview), location (e.g., home, workplace), respondent (e.g., self, parent, employer, teacher), and question wording and ordering. Agencies should also collect and analyze longitudinal data to measure how reported perceptions of racial identification change over time for different groups (e.g., Hispanics and those of mixed race).

Because measurement of race can vary with the method used, reports on race should to the extent practical use multiple measurement methods and assess the variation in results across the methods. (Recommendation 10.2)

DEFINING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

This report adopts a social science definition of racial discrimination that has two components:

differential treatment on the basis of race that disadvantages a racial group and

treatment on the basis of inadequately justified factors other than race that disadvantages a racial group (differential effect).

In this report, we focus on discrimination against disadvantaged racial minorities. The two components of our definition—differential treatment and differential effect discrimination—are related to but broader than the standards embodied in case law in the U.S. legal system, which are disparate treatment and disparate impact discrimination . An example of potentially unlawful disparate treatment discrimination would be when an individual is not hired for a job because of his or her race. An example of potentially unlawful disparate impact discrimination would be when an employer uses a test in selecting job applicants that is not a good predictor of performance on the job and results in proportionately fewer job offers being extended to members of disadvantaged racial groups compared with whites. 2

Because our intention in this report is to provide guidance to social science researchers interested in measuring discrimination, both components of our definition include a range of behaviors and processes that are not explicitly unlawful or easily measured. For example, many governmental actions that might fall within the legal definition of disparate impact discrimination would not be unlawful because the Supreme Court has interpreted the constitutional prohibition on denials of equal protection by government agencies to bar only cases of intentional discrimination—that is, disparate treatment discrimination. As a second example, discrimination would occur under our definition when interviewers of job applicants more frequently adopt behaviors (e.g., interrupting, asking fewer questions, using a hectoring tone) that result in poorer communication with and performance by disadvantaged minority applicants compared with other applicants. Even if such behaviors became the subject of a legal challenge, the difficulties in measurement and proof would likely mean that such behav-

iors would not be effectively constrained by law. Measuring them is important, however, to understand ways in which subtle forms of discrimination may affect important social and economic outcomes.

MEASURING RACIAL DISCRIMINATION

That racial disparities exist in a wide range of social and economic outcomes is not in question: They can be seen in higher rates of poverty, unemployment, and residential segregation and in lower levels of education and wealth accumulation for some racial groups compared with others. Large and persistent outcome differences, however, do not themselves provide direct evidence of the presence or magnitude of racial discrimination in any particular domain. Differential outcomes may indicate that discrimination is occurring, that the historical effects of racial exclusion and discrimination (cumulative disadvantage) continue to influence current outcomes, that other factors are at work, or that some combination of current and past discrimination and other factors is operating.

The panel evaluated four major methods used across different social and behavioral science disciplines to measure racial discrimination: laboratory experiments, field experiments, analysis of observational data and natural experiments, and analysis of survey and administrative record reports. Each method has strengths and weaknesses, particularly for drawing a causal inference that an adverse outcome is the result of race-based discriminatory behavior.

Because discriminatory behavior is rarely observed directly, researchers must infer its presence by trying to determine whether an observed adverse outcome for an individual would have been different had the individual been of a different race. In other words, researchers attempt to answer the following counterfactual question: What would have happened to a nonwhite individual if he or she had been white? Understanding the extent to which any study succeeds in answering that question requires rigorously assessing the logic and assumptions underlying the causal inferences drawn by the researchers. As was true in determining that smoking causes lung cancer, using a variety of methods implemented in a variety of settings is likely to be most helpful in measuring discrimination.

Conclusion: No single approach to measuring racial discrimination allows researchers to address all the important measurement issues or to answer all the questions of interest. Consistent patterns of results across studies and different approaches tend to provide the strongest argument. Public and private agencies—including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and private founda -

tions—and the research community should embrace a multidisciplinary, multimethod approach to the measurement of racial discrimination and seek improvements in all major methods employed. (from Chapter 5 )

Laboratory Experiments

Classically, laboratory experimentation in which a stimulus can be administered to research participants in a controlled environment and in which participants can be randomly assigned to an experimental condition or another (e.g., control) condition provides the best approach for inferring causation between a stimulus and a response. Such experiments come closest to addressing the above counterfactual question.

Laboratory experiments have uncovered many subtle yet powerful psychological mechanisms through which racial bias exists. Yet regardless of how well designed and executed they are, laboratory experiments cannot by themselves directly address how much race-based discrimination against disadvantaged groups contributes to adverse outcomes for those groups in society at large.

The major contributions of laboratory experiments are to identify those situations in which discriminatory attitudes and behaviors are more or less likely to occur, as well as the characteristics of people who are more or less likely to exhibit discriminatory attitudes and behaviors, and to provide models of people’s mental processes that may lead to racial discrimination. Such experiments can usefully suggest hypotheses to be tested with other methodologies and real-world data.

Recommendation: To enhance the contribution of laboratory experiments to measuring racial discrimination, public and private funding agencies and researchers should give priority to the following:

Laboratory experiments that examine not only racially discriminatory attitudes but also discriminatory behavior. The results of such experiments could provide the theoretical basis for more accurate and complete statistical models of racial discrimination fit to observational data.

Studies designed to test whether the results of laboratory experiments can be replicated in real-word settings with real-world data. Such studies can help establish the general applicability of laboratory findings. (Recommendation 6.1)

Field Experiments

Large-scale experiments in the field rely on random assignment of subjects to one or more experimental treatments or to no treatment, so that researchers can determine whether an experimental treatment (the stimulus) causes an observed response. Such experiments take longer and are more complex to manage and more costly to conduct than laboratory experiments, and their results are more easily confounded by factors in the environment that the researchers cannot control. However, their results are more readily generalizable to the population at large.

The most significant use of field studies to study discrimination to date has been in the area of housing, specifically seeking new apartments or houses. The results of audit or paired-testing studies—in which otherwise comparable pairs of, say, a black person and a white person are sent separately to realty offices to seek an apartment or house—have been used to measure discrimination in specific housing markets. Audit studies have also been conducted on job seeking. It is likely that audit studies of racial discrimination in other domains (e.g., schooling and health care) could produce useful results as well, even though their use will undoubtedly present methodological challenges specific to each domain.

Recommendation: Nationwide field audit studies of racially based housing discrimination, such as those implemented by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1977, 1989, and 2000, provide valuable data and should be continued. (Recommendation 6.2)

Recommendation: Because properly designed and executed field audit studies can provide an important and useful means of measuring discrimination in various domains, public and private funding agencies should explore appropriately designed experiments for this purpose. (Recommendation 6.3)

Statistical Analysis of Observational Data and Natural Experiments

Observational studies are currently the primary tool through which researchers explore issues of racial disparity and discrimination in the real world. The standard way to explore the difference in an outcome between racial groups is to develop a regression model that includes a variable for race and variables for other relevant observed characteristics. The effect of the former variable on the outcome difference is identified as discrimination.

To support a causal inference from observational data, however, substantial prior knowledge about the mechanisms that generated the data must be available to justify the necessary assumptions. There are two particularly common problems involved in using standard multiple regression models to analyze observational data on outcome differences between race groups: Omitted variables bias occurs whenever a data set contains only a limited number of the characteristics that may reasonably factor into the process under study; sample selection bias occurs when the research systematically excludes subjects from the sample whose characteristics vary from those of the individuals represented in the data. Should either bias be present, it is difficult to draw causal inferences from the coefficient on race (or any other variable) in a regression model, as the race coefficient may overestimate or underestimate the effect labeled as discrimination.

Nationally representative data sets containing rich measures of the variables that are the most important determinants of such outcomes as education, labor market success, and health status can help in estimating and understanding the sources of racial differences in outcomes. Panel data, which include observations over time, are particularly valuable in this regard. There is also an important role for focused studies that target particular settings (e.g., a firm or a school), whereby it is possible to learn a great deal about how decisions are made and to collect most of the information on which decisions are based.

Evaluations of natural experiments are another way to exploit observational data in the measurement of racial discrimination. Such evaluations analyze data before and after enactment of a new law or some other change that forces a reduction in or the complete elimination of discrimination for some groups. Despite limitations, natural experiments provide useful data for measuring the extent of discrimination prior to a policy change and for groups not affected by the change.

Conclusion: The statistical decomposition of racial gaps in social outcomes using multivariate regression and related techniques is a valuable tool for understanding the sources of racial differences. However, such decompositions using data sets with limited numbers of explanatory variables, such as the Current Population Survey or the decennial census, do not accurately measure the portion of those differences that is due to current discrimination. Matching and related techniques provide a useful alternative to race gap decompositions based on multivariate regression in some circumstances. (from Chapter 7 )

Conclusion: The use of statistical models, such as multiple regressions, to draw valid inferences about discriminatory behavior requires appropriate data and methods, coupled with a sufficient understanding

of the process being studied to justify the necessary assumptions. (from Chapter 7 )

Recommendation: Public and private funding agencies should support focused studies of decision processes, such as the behavior of firms in hiring, training, and promoting employees. The results of such studies can guide the development of improved models and data for statistical analysis of differential outcomes for racial and ethnic groups in employment and other areas. (Recommendation 7.1)

Recommendation: Public agencies should assist in the evaluation of natural experiments by collecting data that can be used to evaluate the effect of antidiscrimination policy changes on groups covered by the changes as well as groups not covered. (Recommendation 7.2)

Indicators of Discrimination from Surveys and Administrative Records

Both self-reports of racial attitudes and perceived experiences of discrimination in surveys and reports of discriminatory events in administrative records can contribute to understanding the extent of racial discrimination. Survey data typically cannot directly measure the prevalence of actual discrimination as opposed to reports of perceived discrimination, but they can provide useful supporting evidence. Perceived discrimination may overreport or underreport discrimination assessed by other methods. As expressions of prejudice and discriminatory behavior change over time and become more subtle, new or revised survey questions on racial attitudes and perceived experiences of discrimination may be necessary. Longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional data, including continuous and new measures, are important to illuminate trends and changes in patterns of racially discriminatory attitudes and behaviors among and toward various groups. Such data are also vital for studies of cumulative disadvantage. Administrative reports of discrimination (e.g., equal employment opportunity complaints) may also be useful for research, although the lack of completeness and reliability of such reports can limit their usefulness.

Recommendation: To understand changes in racial attitudes and reported perceptions of discrimination over time, public and private funding agencies should continue to support the collection of rich survey data:

The General Social Survey, which since 1972 has been the leading source of repeated cross-sectional data on trends in racial attitudes and perceptions of racial discrimination, merits continued support

for measurement of important dimensions of discrimination over time and among population groups.

Major longitudinal surveys, such as the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, and others, merit support as data sources for studies of cumulative disadvantage across time, domains, generations, and population groups. To further enhance their usefulness, questions on perceived experiences of racial discrimination and racial attitudes should be added to these surveys.

Data collection sponsors should support research on question wording and survey design that can lead to improvements in survey-based measures relating to perceived experiences of racial discrimination. (Recommendation 8.1)

Recommendation: Agencies that collect administrative record reports of racial discrimination should seek ways to allow researchers to use these data for analyzing discrimination where appropriate. They should also identify ways to improve the completeness, reliability, and usefulness of reports of particular types of discriminatory events for both administrative and research purposes. (Recommendation 8.2)

Racial Profiling as an Illustrative Example

To provide a specific example of an area for which research on discriminatory treatment is needed but difficult to carry out, we discuss methodological issues in profiling. Racial or ethnic profiling is a screening process in which some individuals in a population (e.g., automobile drivers or people boarding an airplane) are selected on the basis of their race or ethnicity (and, typically, other observable characteristics) and investigated to determine whether they have committed or intend to commit a criminal act (e.g., smuggle drugs or blow up an airplane) or other act of interest. This definition excludes cases of identified individuals for whom race or ethnicity is part of their individual description. Many recent public statements (e.g., those made by police officials and legislative bodies since 2001) have recognized the unacceptability of racial profiling in police work. Even when such profiling is not explicitly racial, to the extent that it relies on characteristics that are distributed differently for different racial groups, the result may be a racially disparate impact.

Inferring the presence of discriminatory racial profiling from data on disparate outcomes is difficult for the same reasons that it is difficult to infer causation from any statistical model with observational data. We ex-

plore specific methodological concerns for improving the estimation of outcome rates (e.g., traffic stops for whites and minorities) and developing good statistical models for determining the contribution of discriminatory profiling as compared with other factors to differences in rates. Because of renewed interest in the United States in the use of profiling to identify and apprehend potential terrorists before they commit violent acts, we also examine briefly the challenges of identifying screening factors that could potentially select would-be terrorists with a significantly higher probability than purely random selection, as well as issues that must factor into the public debate if race or ethnicity (or factors that correlate highly with race or ethnicity) are considered as potential screening factors.

CUMULATIVE DISCRIMINATION

Much of the discussion about the presence of racial discrimination and the effects of antidiscrimination policies assumes discrimination to be a phenomenon that occurs at one point in time in a particular process or stage of a particular domain (e.g., initial hires by employers). This episodic view of discrimination is likely inadequate. Discrimination may well have cumulative effects, and it is therefore better viewed as a dynamic process that functions throughout the stages within a domain, across domains, across individual lifetimes, and even across generations. For example, discrimination involving teachers’ expectations during schooling may affect students’ later educational experiences or job opportunities; likewise, discrimination against prior generations may diminish opportunities for present generations even in the absence of current discriminatory practices.

Several theories of the processes by which discrimination may have cumulative effects have been developed, including (1) life-course theory of cumulative disadvantage in criminal justice research, which posits that such behavior as juvenile delinquency can affect certain social outcomes, such as failure in school or poor job stability, and thereby facilitate criminal behavior as an adult; (2) ecosocial theory in public health research (similar to the life-course concept), in which health status at a given age for a given birth cohort reflects not only current conditions but also prior living circumstances from conception onward; and (3) feedback models in labor market research. In such a model, for example, people who anticipate lower future returns to skills—possibly as a result of racial discrimination—might invest less in acquiring those skills. In turn, lower investment could perpetuate prejudice, limit opportunities, and sustain racial disparities in the labor market.

Only very limited research has been conducted, however, to test empirically the various theories of cumulative disadvantage and to measure the importance of cumulative effects over time and across domains. Longitudi-

nal data are a necessity for such research, as are methods for credibly identifying initial and subsequent incidents of discrimination.

Conclusion: Measures of discrimination from one point in time and in one domain may be insufficient to identify the overall impact of discrimination on individuals. Further research is needed to model and analyze longitudinal and other data and to study how effects of discrimination may accumulate across domains and over time in ways that perpetuate racial inequality. (from Chapter 11 )

Recommendation: Major longitudinal surveys, such as the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, and others, merit support as data sources for studies of cumulative disadvantage across time, domains, generations, and population groups. Furthermore, consideration should be given to incorporating into these surveys additional variables or special topical modules that might enhance the utility of the data for studying the long-term effects of discrimination. Consideration should also be given to including questions in new longitudinal surveys that would help researchers identify experiences of discrimination and their effects. (Recommendation 11.1)

Our report emphasizes the challenges of measuring racial discrimination in various social and economic domains. Establishing that discriminatory treatment or impact has occurred and measuring its effects on outcomes requires very careful analysis to rule out alternative explanatory factors. In some research to date, the data and analytical methods used are not sufficient to justify the assumptions of the underlying theoretical model. Moreover, many analyses never articulate an explicit model, which makes it difficult to judge the adequacy of the data and analysis to support the study findings.

Just because it is challenging to measure discrimination does not mean that sound, adequate research in this area is not possible. To the contrary, existing methods and data have produced useful results on particular types of discrimination in particular aspects of a domain or process. To make further progress, we believe it will be necessary for funding and program agencies to support research that cuts across disciplinary boundaries, makes use of multiple methods and types of data, and studies racial discrimination as a dynamic process. To be cost-effective, such research should be focused and designed to maximize the analytical value of existing bodies of knowledge and ongoing surveys and administrative records data collections.

Agencies with programmatic responsibilities (e.g., to monitor discrimination, investigate complaints, and operate programs that may be affected by the presence of discrimination and by antidiscrimination laws and regulations) will need to single out priority areas of concern and develop detailed research plans for them. This may require studies of key decision-making processes, combined with theoretical models of the ways in which discrimination might occur. For this purpose, the existing literature of laboratory experiments about the kinds of situations in which discriminatory attitudes are most likely to lead to race-based discriminatory treatment should be reviewed and additional experiments commissioned, if the laboratory results are not sufficiently revealing about the decision processes of interest (e.g., employer decisions about job training and promotion, to take a labor market example). In turn, experimental results can help guide focused case studies of decision processes that may be needed to provide the requisite depth of understanding to permit subsequent statistical analysis with appropriate data and methods. To facilitate data availability and use, program agencies can not only support the addition of relevant questions to ongoing cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys but also work to improve the research potential of agency administrative records data.

Research agencies, both public and private, can best leverage their resources by addressing important areas of research on racial discrimination that are less apt to be considered by program agencies. In particular, they are better positioned to support innovative, cross-disciplinary, multimethod research on cumulative disadvantage. They can also usefully consider ways to augment ongoing and new panel surveys to provide relevant data for basic research on racial discrimination, particularly over long periods of time. The kinds of multifaceted studies that have been conducted in recent years of changes in the well-being of low-income populations following major changes in welfare policies may offer useful guidance for discrimination research, which could similarly make use of multiple data sources and perspectives from economics, psychology, ethnography, survey research, and other relevant disciplines. Such complex research will be difficult to conceptualize and carry out, but it offers the promise to expand knowledge about the role that current and past discrimination may play in shaping American society today.

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Many racial and ethnic groups in the United States, including blacks, Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, and others, have historically faced severe discrimination—pervasive and open denial of civil, social, political, educational, and economic opportunities. Today, large differences among racial and ethnic groups continue to exist in employment, income and wealth, housing, education, criminal justice, health, and other areas. While many factors may contribute to such differences, their size and extent suggest that various forms of discriminatory treatment persist in U.S. society and serve to undercut the achievement of equal opportunity.

Measuring Racial Discrimination considers the definition of race and racial discrimination, reviews the existing techniques used to measure racial discrimination, and identifies new tools and areas for future research. The book conducts a thorough evaluation of current methodologies for a wide range of circumstances in which racial discrimination may occur, and makes recommendations on how to better assess the presence and effects of discrimination.

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An Essay for Teachers Who Understand Racism Is Real

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This essay is not to enumerate the recent murders of Black people by police, justify why protest and uprising are important for social change, or remind us why NFL player Colin Kaepernick took a knee. If you have missed those points, blamed victims, or proclaimed “All Lives Matter,” this article is not for you, and you may want to ask yourself whether you should be teaching any children, especially Black children.

This article is for teachers who understand that racism is real, anti-Blackness is real, and state-sanctioned violence, which allows police to kill Black people with impunity, is real. It is for teachers who know change is necessary and want to understand exactly what kind of change we need as a country.

Politicians who know the words “justice” and “equity” only when they want peace in the streets are going to try to persuade us that they are capable of reforming centuries of oppression by changing policies, adding more accountability measures, and removing the “bad apples” from among police.

More From This Author:

“Teachers, We Cannot Go Back to the Way Things Were” “White Teachers Need Anti-Racist Therapy” “How Schools Are ‘Spirit Murdering’ Black and Brown Students” “Dear White Teachers: You Can’t Love Your Black Students If You Don’t Know Them” “‘Grit Is in Our DNA': Why Teaching Grit Is Inherently Anti-Black”

These actions will sound comprehensive and, with time, a solution to injustice. These reforms may even reduce police killings or school suspensions of Black students, but as civil rights activist Ella Baker said, a “reduction of injustice is not the same as freedom.” Reformists want incremental change, but Black lives are being lost with every day we wait. And to be Black is to live in a constant state of exhaustion.

Centuries of Black resistance and protest have had a profound impact on the nation. As Nikole Hannah-Jones, the creator of “The 1619 Project,” points out, “We have helped the country to live up to its founding ideals. ... Without the idealistic, strenuous, and patriotic efforts of Black Americans, our democracy today would most likely look very different—it might not be a democracy at all.” Those civil rights achievements were critical, including the reformist ones.

But reform is no longer enough. Too often, reform is rooted in Whiteness because it appeases White liberals who need to see change but want to maintain their status, power, and supremacy.

Abolition of oppression is needed because reform still did not stop a police officer from putting his knee on George Floyd’s neck in broad daylight for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; it did not stop police from killing Breonna Taylor in her own home. Also that: Largely non-White school districts get $23 billion less in state and local funding than predominantly White ones; Black people make up 13 percent of the U.S. population but account for 26 percent of the deaths from COVID-19; and with only 5 percent of the world’s population, the United States has nearly 25 percent of the world’s prison population. We need to be honest: We cannot reform something this monstrous; we have to abolish it.

Abolitionist Resources From Bettina L. Love

Organizations

• Free Minds, Free People
• Critical Resistance
• Black Youth Project 100
• Quetzal Education Consulting
• Assata’s Daughters
• Black Organizing Project
• Teachers 4 Social Justice
• “Reading Towards Abolition: A Reading List on Policing, Rebellion, and the Criminalization of Blackness”

Abolitionists want to eliminate what is oppressive, not reform it, not reimagine it, but remove oppression by its roots. Abolitionists want to understand the conditions that normalize oppression and uproot those conditions, too. Abolitionists, in the words of scholar and activist Bill Ayers, “demand the impossible” and work to build a world rooted in the possibilities of justice. Abolitionists are not anarchists because, as we eliminate these systems, we want to build conditions that create institutions that are just, loving, equitable, and center Black lives.

Abolitionism is not a social-justice trend. It is a way of life defined by commitment to working toward a humanity where no one is disposable, prisons no longer exist, being Black is not a crime, teachers have high expectations for Black and Brown children, and joy is seen as a foundation of learning.

Abolitionists strive for that reality by fighting for a divestment of law enforcement to redistribute funds to education, housing, jobs, and health care; elimination of high-stakes testing; replacement of watered-down and Eurocentric materials from educational publishers like Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt with community-created standards and curriculum; the end of police presence in schools; employment of Black teachers en masse; hiring of therapists and counselors who believe Black lives matter in schools; destruction of inner-city schools that resemble prisons; and elimination of suspension in favor of restorative justice.

Abolitionist work is hard and demands an indomitable spirit of resistance. As a nation, we saw this spirit in Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. We also see it in 21st-century abolitionists like Angela Davis, Charlene Carruthers, Erica Meiners, Derecka Purnell, David Stovall, and Farima Pour-Khorshid.

For non-Black people, abolitionism requires giving up the idea of being an “ally” to become a “co-conspirator.” Many social-justice groups have shifted the language to “co-conspirator” because allies work toward something that is mutually beneficial and supportive to all parties. Co-conspirators, in contrast, understand how Whiteness and privilege work in our society and leverage their power, privilege, and resources in solidarity with justice movements to dismantle White supremacy. Co-conspirators function as verbs, not as nouns.

The journey for abolitionists and our co-conspirators is arduous, but we fight for a future that will never need to be reformed again because it was built as just from the beginning.

Related Video

In 2016, Bettina L. Love, the author of this essay, spoke to Education Week about African-American girls and discipline. Here’s what she had to say:

A version of this article appeared in the June 17, 2020 edition of Education Week as For Teachers Who Understand Racism Is Real

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Racism Essay | Essay on Racism for Students and Children in English

February 14, 2024 by Prasanna

Racism Essay: Racism can be defined as the belief that individual races of people have distinctive cultural features that are determined by the hereditary factors and hence make some races inherently superior to the others. The idea that one race has natural superiority than the others created abusive behaviour towards the members of other races. Racism, like discrimination towards women, is a form of discrimination and prejudice.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more.

Long and Short Essays on Racism for Students and Kids in English

We are providing children and students with essay samples on an extended essay of 500 words and a short piece of 150 words on the topic “Racism” for reference.

Long Essay on Racism 500 Words in English

Long Essay on Racism is usually given to classes 7, 8, 9, and 10.

Racism is the illogical belief that a particular race has distinctive cultural traits endowed due to the genetic factors that make individual races inherently superior to the others and give them the right to exploit the inferior races. When we openly state the meaning of racism, we can see how inexplicable and unimaginable, such a thought is. But, racism is so deep-seated in our consciousness and subconsciousness that we have long bowed down to such infuriating ideals.

Such instances of subtle racism within a society are rampant and lead to inexcusable behaviour of people towards others. Such unjustifiable behaviour and actions are things like mental stress, social harassment, and even physical assaults. Since we have let racist comments and activities unnoticed, it is left untreated and leads to more division and anger between the two different people of different backgrounds. It is a never-ending, vicious cycle and a massive crisis in today’s world.

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We should never judge others for the way they look for the way they speak. All people are born equal, and nothing can change that. Narrow-minded thoughts like racism should have extinguished with the increase in educated people and the intermixing of various races. Still, sadly, such behaviour is the blatant reality and shows no signs of toning down.

Racism makes people feel sorry for being born a certain way, of having a particular skin colour. Racism has no scientific explanation, and the racist people are entirely ignorant about the feelings of other human beings.

No one can choose to be black, white, dark, fair, or anything in particular. God has made us, and there is nothing that should make us feel guilty for that. It is ridiculous and inhumane to make fun of people due to their cultural background or colour of skin.

We keep talking about how modern society embraces diverse cultures and diverse people. We try to accomplish gigantic things like World Peace, eradicate hunger and poverty, but we are not ready to unite to make such changes happen.

Racism is a barrier between the social advancement of our society. It is impossible to achieve something great with such narrow-minded and exclusive ideals. It is a delicate topic and requires people to have an open mind and embrace the changes.

It is possible to eradicate racism in our society if we are more open about such sensitive topics and give simple matters like this a thought. Most of us are way too self-centred to think about such obstacles. It is so commonplace a behaviour that we forget its adverse effects. It is high time we made a change.

Since racism is such a deep-seated belief, we will need some time to change. But, we can achieve anything if we put our mind to it. We do not need racism to divide us. People should acknowledge the fact that to achieve anything significant. We need to let go of narrow-minded beliefs. Only then can we advance as a society of the world.

Short Essay on Racism 150 Words in English

Short Essay on Racism is usually given to classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

Racism is the prejudiced belief of people that a particular race is superior to others. The idea has resulted from years of neglection and oppression on some races for their traits and skin colour. Racism is a critical social barrier, which prevents our society from advancing.

Racism is a type of discrimination which makes the recipient feel bad about where they were born and how they look. It is an unscientific method of judging people.

Racism is so deep-seated in our culture that we think it to be the norm. The need to eradicate racism has come to highlight after a series of violent activities against people for their race.

We, as a society, need to let go of this narrow-minded thought that some people are inferior to others only because of what their skin colour is. Racism can only be removed by spreading awareness and correcting people when they make a racist comment. Together, we can fight against racism. Let us unite and eradicate racism once and for all.

10 Lines on Racism Essay in English

1. Racism is the wrong belief that some people are better and superior to others due to their genetic trait corresponding to their skin colour and race. 2. It refers to the thought that inherent physical appearance has a link with personality and intelligence. 3. Many corrupt people use racism as an excuse to justify horrific behaviour towards others. 4. The beginning of racism is somewhat unclear but might have originated when migration began. 5. People think that passing casual comments that link people’s work with their ethnicity is a joke. 6. Racism comes in several forms like symbolic, ideological, structural, interactional, etc. 7. Ideas and assumptions about racial categories dictate the behaviour of some people towards others. 8. Racism is a baseless and unscientific method of judging people. 9. Racism is a discriminatory process of thinking which is unacceptable. 10. We must correct people and not let casual racist comments pass when we hear them.

FAQ’s on Racism Essay

Question 1. What is racism?

Answer: Racism is hate towards people simply because of their differences. It is the enemy of freedom and should be washed away from society. Racism continues to grow alongside the technological advancements and education.

Question 2. Why do people pass racist comments?

Answer: Many people are unaware of their discriminatory behaviour towards their neighbours or peers due to apparent differences in their race. We have become so used to facing racism that we deem it as normal behaviour and let go of it.

Question 3. Why should we try to wipe out racism?

Answer: Racism is the barrier between the modernization of our society. There is no place for such unjustifiable behaviour in our community.

Question 4. What are the types of racism?

Answer: There are seven forms of racism. Some of them are symbolic, ideological, discursive, interactional, institutional, structural, and systemic racism.

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