In modern day America, racism is still the most pressing issue which is against humanity and is causing people to hate each other. The ratio of this hatred will only increase if a final solution is not followed. Even after the rapid industrial and economic growth of the United States of America people still have racist believes and they find themselves superior or inferior to each other based on their physical appearances. When we see a man in the first impression we try to analyze him by his physical appearance and not his intellect. Doing so can lead a lot of misunderstandings among people in knowing and trusting each other. The multicultural people are not comfortable with each other because they don’t understand the reasons behind every cultural act and belief. In order to get rid of this racism every human being must respect the culture and values of others and interact them as a human rather than being white or black.
INTRODUCTION
The United States of America has always been a multicultural and multiracial country but still the minorities there are considered to be inferior than the white Americans. Racism is the belief that humans of different races and cultures are superior or inferior to one another based on their color, personality, intellect or morality. Besides the fact that United States have come a long way after the days of slavery came to end, and now the government officials are making every move to abolish the racial beliefs among people and providing equal rights. Still, racism is a very crucial issue of US which is causing violence and destroying the peace of the country. The modern age is becoming more liberal everyday but still the modern racism exists and there are some unfortunate reasons of it. For example, when a child is born he is unaware of any kind of race but then this society instill the beliefs inside him and he starts thinking himself superior or inferior according to those believes. In America, the black people are considered to be of lower class as compared to white people as it has been observed that the white people are preferred over others. We all have heard about the central park five: where 5 innocent boys were accused of rape and attempt of murder just because they were black and the policemen and jury had negative perspectives about black people. When such incidents happen and the actual truth reveals, it leads to change most people’s minds about race and colors that there’s no such thing and everyone is equal. Still, the increase in modern day racism and injustice in USA, people from other countries and races are boycotting migrating to America which is eventually increasing hate in the world and is harmful for the peaceful development of America.
LITERATURE REVIEW
In the past few decades, United States of America has come a long way by means of industry, exports, economy and development in every field. After coming out from the days of slavery, the government proposed the equal rights for everyone free of race, color or breed. But still, racism is present as the most pressing issue of America where some people consider them superior to others just because of a specific color or breed. DeAngelo (2018) discusses the dynamics of racism in modern day America as well as the factors that make it difficult for those who identify as white to openly discuss racism. The author also posits that white people carry with them the benefits of white privilege and that even without realizing it, they may be engaging in racist acts. The author suggests that in order to resolve this issue the ‘white people’ should focus on their actions and should ask for feedbacks whenever dealing with people of diverse culture and community. It will help them evaluating their behavior towards others. In most of the cases, it has been observed that the white people are always in the intention to prove themselves on the right side by throwing these race discriminants. When every citizen pays the equal percentage of taxes and have all the rights to live freely, then who gave this authority to a few people that they can humiliate or oppress some people from another color or breed.
In his era, Jim Crow enforced and implemented the law that was to oppress people on basis of race and to restrict them. Considering the modern age situation, Moore (2017) argues that the Jim Crow laws have not been eliminated: they have simply been redesigned. These laws have been rebuilt in such a way that people won’t be able to doubt the governmental strategy and still be involved in racial acts without knowing. The author states that the United States criminal justice system is racist in the way it targets black people in the war against drugs. By so doing, the system relegates millions of people of color to the second class status even though it tries to present itself as a system that does not judge based on color. Hundreds of racism based incidents occur every day in America but no one is considering this issue as alarming as global warming or animal rights. The makers of legislation in USA must be broad minded enough to speak against racism and then enforcing laws of equal rights by keeping it politics free.
Considering all the injustice going on for black people in a society where white people are prior to them, the black people who belong to a different breed are now trying to act like whites in order to be loved and to valued. Franz Fanon (2008) in his book “Black skins, White masks”, demonstrates that the black people have started thinking themselves oppressed in a white dominated society. They are learning to live like white people and are adopting their culture and customs with the intention of being valued like them, but they are not the ones who they’re pretending to be. Their desire to become white has caused them to forget about their own morals and values, they try to create healthy relationships with white people after observing the unfortunate fact that the white people have more opportunities. He suggests that because of all these racism injustice, black people have accepted the self-denial. This is really depressing that people have accepted to change them completely regardless of their hundreds of years old history. This society is stealing the real identity of people just because of some awful myths that have been inculcated in the whole world’s minds.
America claims that it is a multiracial nation and provides equal rights to the people of each race. James Baldwin in his book “The fire next time” says that the black man has functioned in the white man’s star, an immovable pillar: and as he moves out of his place, heaven and earth are shaken to the core. He argues for equity among the races while asking that everyone acknowledges that America has always been and will always be a multiracial nation. These facts were presented a long time ago but still, when we compare them to our modern era’s problems we find them exactly fitted. The author frames his words in a manner that he is neither holding anyone’s hands nor attacking a faction. He’s not only concerned about the black people; he’s talking about every person in United States who belongs to some other race. The racist law makers have to realize what they are making of this country and their rules must follow their ideologies. In order to actually make America a multiracial nation with justice, every countryman has to respect the values and morals of other people despite of any race, color or breed.
The modern day racism is taking over the peace of not only America but of the whole world. People are becoming less tolerant towards others which is becoming the cause of increasing violence. A human being is born without any kind of concern about races and breeds, he should be kept that way as it is the society who feeds different perspectives in it. He starts looking the society with a narrow point of view in such way the possibilities of development and peace goes down. Hence, in order to make this world a better place to live people have to look at each other with an eye of respect and love.
CAUSE OF MODERN DAY RACISM
It is very depressing to observe that even after all the liberal development in modern age, some things are still provoking racism in the society. It is quite simple to understand that racism is inculcated in a person by this society that teaches him about the discriminations. The truth is that unless parents actively teach kids not to be racists, they will be,” said Jennifer Richeson, a Yale University social psychologist. Respect is taught at home, if your child is disrespectful to others it’s your fault. Not the society, nor his friends and neither the movies. It is in your control how you raise your child and how he treats the world because his actions will reflect his mind hi thoughts and his raising.
“Intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character, that is the goal of true education.” (Martin Luther King Jr.) When a child is fed with the theories of good and bad, black and white, wise and dull, he actually starts judging every human being he sees by his appearance. Not only the parents but media and the society is also responsible for the increasing ratio of racism.
ROLE OF MEDIA
In the modern age, media has a very vital role in influencing. People adopt the fashion the trend and the positive negative aspects from media. Advertisers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their use of online and peer-to-peer advertising. Raising a family to target young children, while the amount of sexual content in mainstream media and advertising has increased in recent decades (Williams 2007, Buckingham et al 2010). Although everyone tries to act like they don’t care about the races or breeds but still after seeing a specific type of content on media they develop a perspective about the different breeds. Like black people are considered to be a mark of slavery when they’re not, Muslims are considered to be violent people while they’re not, Chinese are considered to be selfish while they’re not and many more examples can be elaborated here. All these perspectives are because we have seen such kind of stuff on media and that’s how media is feeding people’s minds with the believes of racism. While promoting a new film last week, Hollywood actor Liam Neeson, the star of the 'Taken' franchise, admitted that 40 years ago, he armed himself with a gun and to avenge the sexual assault of a friend. “I roamed the streets in search of a black man.” He insisted in a later interview that he is not racist. “There is an extensive body of psychology-oriented research which has studied whether exposure to violence in the media leads to an increase in violent behavior.” (Andison, 1977; Hewitt, 1992).
ELIMINATING MODERN DAY RACISM
The question arises that how can we overcome the racism believes of people and equal right laws can be implemented in America. First of all, with the responsibility of parents it is also the duty of schools and colleges to provide an equal system for everyone despite of their color. Many schools are successfully providing the education of creating awareness about equal rights but still some schools in modern America are provoking it. Then the laws should be same for every citizen no matter where they come from as long as they’re fulfilling the requirements of living in this country. “Our police force was not created to serve black Americans; it was created to police black Americans and serve white Americans.” (Ijeoma Oluo)
Derrick Clifton writes for Everyday Feminism: “For too long, whites have only heard about racism in the context of what not to do, but rarely, if ever, do white people hear about how they can be proactive about the issue. By taking the leadership of people of color in the broader conversation about eradicating racism, whites can take steady, even simple steps towards becoming allies in the fight against racial inequality, not merely bystanders — or worse, perpetrators.” So first the parents the schools and the laws are capable of eliminating racism and then the people who suffer it, if they’ll raise a voice against it at least a few will listen to them and will quote them forward.
CONCLUSION
After all the discussion it has been concluded that racism can lead to destroy the peace of America in the coming few years if it’s not abolished. It is causing severe harm to the society and is obviously against the laws of humanity and ethics. If it is not controlled yet, it can simply raise the hatred among the world, we need to increase our tolerance level for multicultural people instead of narrowing our point of view. For this purpose, every citizen of America no matter of what race or breed, they should consider it as a responsibility of creating awareness among the people about equal rights and take some action against racism. If a person can only engage one person about this issue he should not stay silent, later one everyone will be discussing to find a solution in their circle. Also the black people need to speak for their rights, they need a leader like Nelson Mandela who can represent them united. No one is superior to other, no one is inferior to other, we all are human beings and that is the biggest identity one can have.
REFERENCES
Andison, Hewitt (1997) Role of media in racist violence.
Williams Z (2007) The Commercialisation of Childhood, London: Compass. http://www.compassonline.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ thecommercialisationofchildhood.pdf
Derrick Clifton (2018) Communications Manager, ProPublica Illinois https://twitter.com/derrickclifton?lang=en