Racism

Racism

Racism, discrimination and prejudice are extensive in America. Although, racism and discrimination are not accepted as it was in the 40's and the 60's, it still exists in our society today. Racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce superiority of a particular race.

There are two forms of racism, covert and overt. Overt racism is what most people are familiar with since it is easily detectable and takes the form of direct behavioral or verbal racially discriminatory acts. Covert racism is more subtle, yet occurs more often than overt racism and is more easily hidden and denied. From that there are three different kinds of racism. There is individual racism, which is one on one. An example would be a white male murders a Middle Eastern person out of hate. Next there is Institutional racism, which could be a club of some sort that has rules that preclude any non-White members. Finally there is cultural racism, which would be something like the enslavement of African Americans.

Racism is a lose lose scenario. The dominant group and the target group both face negative consequences. The minority group faces low self-esteem, depression, anxiety, physical illness, limited access to necessary and desired resources just to name a few. The majority group faces isolation from other races, which aids in the continued ignorance on the topic of race and limits individual and intellectual growth. Clearly the target group has it worse off but the point is that both groups experience negative effects.

When it comes to the topic of race people tend to fall into two categories: liberals and conservatives. Liberals see America as a racist society and believe that there should be aid for minorities in society when it comes to jobs and education. Conservatives feel differently. They believe that events that happened in the past should remain in the past. They believe that racism is wrong, but they believe that in order to move ahead as a society we cannot provide special treatment for anyone based on race. Both sides agree on the fundamental fact that racism is wrong, however they do not agree on much past that.

The oldest and probably the most popular civil rights group is the NAACP. According to their website, "The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination." The NAACP is concerned with civil rights and protesting and things of that nature. They participate in things such as the protest of flying the Confederate Battle Flag. This organization is an example of a liberal organization.

Conversely, there is an organization named NAAWP (National Association for the Advancement of White People), and, surprisingly their motto is very similar. They believe in "Equal rights for all and special privileges for none". Both of these groups seem to have very reasonable and similar beliefs, however they are in conflict. This organization is an example of a conservative organization.

One recent and on going topics that is causing a great deal of controversy is the topic of affirmative action. Affirmative action is defined as a comprehensive strategy whose aim is to establish the same percentage of minority group members at all levels of the workplaces and unions as there are in the general population.

Two opposing organizations are working hard on this issue. One is the (CEO) Center for Equal Opportunity and they oppose affirmative action. They believe in a thing called "colorblind public policies" which basically means policies should not be made specifically for one race. Vice President of the organization Roger Clegg says on the topic of affirmative action and college admissions: "Suppose a college thought it was admitting "too many" minorities and women and decided to revise their admissions and recruitment policies accordingly. That would clearly be discriminatory, wrong, and illegal. Universities should make sure that they recruit and admit the best students they can, but they should not be driven by a bottom line defined in any way by race, ethnicity, or sex." CEO spends a lot of time reviewing college admissions and checking for violations. When they find violations they either ask the university to change its policy or they take them to court.

The other organization is called NACME (the National Action Council for