our unfavourable feeling toward a person without actual facts and the
verbal abuse that we get almost every day of our lives (if not us, then
there is someone in the world being hurt right this very minute.). The
most effective way which I believe this issue can start to be stopped is by
talking it out rationally without involving racism at that point in time
and bringing everybody together as equal as the next.
Africans were brought to the colonies and forced to work a lifetime
for no wages. The master took all the profits to save the small amount he
used to provide food, clothing and shelter for his slaves. Without being
able to read or write, the first Africans in America had no defence against
the refusal of their people. The dehumanization of the African-American
slave stands out as one of the most brutal and savage torture in history.
Not being able to defend yourself against the hurt that people can
put a person through, can scar you for life. We need to see what the
world is doing to each other and instead of turning to violence or some
other kind of defence to get even. It would be easier if we just come
together as one and help the people who are discriminated against in
understanding that they are not what person's say they are.
From birth to about age twelve, children collect information
about their world. They learn from many ways including their school,
family, neighbours, friends, and the community. They also get information
from books, movies, television, and other media. From this information
they gain beliefs, attitudes, and opinions. (An opinion is a belief
that is stronger than impression and less strong than positive
knowledge.)
Attitudes are feelings and emotions held toward a person, idea,
or things. Attitude, opinions and the way we treat people are based on
our beliefs. If beliefs are prejudiced, then our attitude and behaviour
will be the same. Racism is a belief based on faulty reasoning,
misconceptions, and generalizations. Stereotyping is an exaggerated belief
associated with a group. It is produced by name calling, racial slurs, and
jokes.
Victims of prejudice often develop a faulty belief in the same way
children learn to be prejudiced. They learn to protect themselves by
creating self defences essential to their survival. A slur directed at a
particular ethnic group is likely to get these results in a confrontation:
pain, anger, shame, hostility, guilt and embarrassment. Students admitted
that they had used racial slurs when angered. I have noticed in our own
school, that the students tell racial jokes and used ethnic names but they
say that they don't mean what they say it's just for humour's sake.
Race hatred often leads to violence. People whom form groups to
defend America from a minority takeover fall into the category of
extremists. There are gangs in America today who walk the streets
measuring out a perverse form of justice to a whole race by choosing an
innocent person of such race to beat or kill. Such gangs are usually
powerless as people, so they seek strength in numbers. People with shared
hatred gain a pseudo power within the organizational structures of such
groups as the neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan.
Race hatred, permitted to gain unlimited power, will be disastrous.
The state - sponsored genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany is an example of
what happens when people who hate gain power. Hitler's extermination took
the lives of six million human beings for no other reason than they were
Jewish. It started in little ways, an ethnic joke, stereotyping that was
never challenged, then restrictions, loss of jobs, loss of civil rights,
loss of voting rights, and the loss of life.
Racists have very specific beliefs about their own groups and
others. Columnist Ellen Futterman of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says, We
are guilty of race prejudice. We might go out of our way to avoid certain
words and phrases in our everyday speech only to find ourselves laughing at
a racial or ethnic joke later. Even though we may say that we could never
be racist or prejudice against a certain type of person, (I'm not saying we
are), it is interesting how someone can just say something hurtful and not
even realize what has been said.
What can be done to stop racism? A famous document from the Johnson
era, called the Kerner Report, stated that there must be strategies for
action that can produce progress and make good the promises of American
democracy to all citizens urban and rural, white and black, Spanish surname,
American Indians and every minority. We can't expect only the people of
colour to take a stand in the elimination of racism. This issue includes
each and every one of us whether it is black, white, orange, yellow,
Australian, Russian, Ukrainian, or Irish.
If you have been called names that are directed to your colour,
race, the way you talk, act, or walk, you have experienced racism. (Based
on the lives of human rights leaders, there is no single way to take a
stand. Each person has to decide whether to take a leadership role or to
follow a leader, whose beliefs or goals he or she shares. Taking a
stand against racism and discrimination is not casual involvement. It is
a total commitment).
Racism is an emotionally charged subject. If you have ever been
discriminated against, you know it is difficult to think or act calmly.
The first reaction is to attack. But it is only fair when taking a stand
against racism or discrimination that you state your case directly,
fairly, and accurately, using facts, and evidence to support your claims.
Before you can take a stand against racism and race discrimination, you
need to know what it is, how it develops, and how to recognize it in you
and others. According to Alfred Fleishman, St. Louis newspaper columnist,
Racial prejudice is one of the scourges of our society. And when it grows
and lurks, especially where it is not even noticed, the danger is even
greater.
Up to the point of life which we are in now, we don't even realize
what we say, the jokes we tell or the music we listen to. Some think of
some major issues as a joke but really there is always someone being hurt
whether they show it or not.
Today we stand for equality, justice and freedom. Where Canada and
America stand on racism and discrimination today and tomorrow is where we
stand because we are what is needed to stop the hate.
