Racism Is Not Only Physical, but Its Also a State of Mind - Essay Example

Racism is not only physical, it’s also of mind Feeling superior based on race is considered racism. There are many definitions of racism. “…racism is a complex and over-determined set of phenomena that elude easy, or intuitive, conceptualization.” (Hook 209). In simple terms racism means to feel repulsion for another race simply based on race and no other traits such as behavior or track record. This disease has plagued the human race since the very beginning. It is a shame that even the 21st-century hasnt educated mankind enough to get rid of this curse. Today there might not be the usual form of racism where people were whipped and starved, but the ideas and notions of racism are still prevalent in the minds. The concept of ‘other’ creates the boundaries between people. Racism is prevalent everywhere one goes. Asians go to the European countries and do menial jobs for minimum wages. It is hard for them to score jobs they dream of doing. Even the economic analysts consider the Asian community as the labor community; washing dishes, working at gas stations or flipping burgers. “…fear of racial or religious attacks and employment discrimination partially explain the poorer health profile of some ethnic minorities in the United Kingdom” (Becares et al. 509) The situation is not only prevalent in European countries, Silicon Valley United States is considered a dream place to get a job. However such a statement is highly overrated because the situation on ground is based on segregation. “With regard to social exploitation, the oppression of workers – mostly immigrants, people of color … is a hallmark of this region.” (Park and Pellow 406) Hence it is true that racism is not only physical but it is a mental state. And in Silicon Valley it is termed as environmental racism. The immigrants are the ‘others’. The definition of other is that there is always ‘us’ and there is ‘other’ which is different from ‘us’. The other looks, different, talks, walks and eats different. These differences create imaginary walls between the two (i-e us and them). On the same psychological basis people divide other people in nations, ethnicities and races. This segregation goes on to include religions, cultures and any other classifications. There are two aspects of racism. One is when a white person feels superior because of the skin color. The other is when a black person feels inferior because of his color. The standards of beauty are defined by the modern media (especially Hollywood productions) that project white beauty and white lifestyle as the symbol of success and prosperity. “…racist beliefs are typically rationalizations for racist attitudes, actions, and institutions…” (Shelby 414) Screenwriters, storytellers, movie directors and producers are biased in portraying a story or a life event. Hollywood movies do not explicitly show racist culture in their movies. But the majority of the movies in Hollywood show white lead role. The black guy is in his accomplice. The black guy is usually funny (or dumb) who cracks jokes and makes people laugh. The Lethal Weapon and the Hitman movie series are examples of this type of prejudice. This kind of social stereotyping only validates and reinforces peoples perception about other races. It also depicts that racism manifests itself in more than one ways. It was a state of mind when people were tortured and murdered based of their races. And today racial stereotyping in movies is also the result of racist state of mind. The darkest era in the United States was the time of slavery. When a great number of African-Americans were brought to serve the white folks. They worked as slaves and their position was based on racist hatred. It is a shame that white folks justified their heinous and brutal actions through Bible. They would quote biblical verses to justify their torturous actions against them. The prejudice is a form of perceptive bias, wishful thinking! So from this description it can be considered that racism is a form of bias or prejudice. To understand racism in its entirety one needs to understand the concept of prejudice. In the words of Allport “an antipathy based on faulty and inflexible generalization” (Bruening 3). Racism is a term often used as a stronger form of prejudice, which is not wrong at all. Hence, making it a state of mind. For racism to ensue, preconceived notions of stereotyping must be there as a precondition. A simple experiment can establish this idea. One white and one black baby are left on an island (under experimental conditions). It is highly unlikely to believe that they will feel repulsed by each other based on the difference in their skin color. It is a scientific experiment that explains that racism is not in the DNA but it is a state of mind. Since the babies have no parents and uncles to tell them to keep away from the ‘other’ they don’t feel any repulsion by each other. When the ‘other’ comes to ones place he is an alien. It is the nature of human to feel hostile towards aliens. And from this point on other mythological and false perceptions are concocted such as the ‘other’ is cursed, possesses black magic, brings bad luck or is full of disease. Therefore, he should not be allowed to eat with the rest of the folks. Religious racism considers this exaggeration by belittling the other as a lower race created for servitude alone. As the era of slavery in the United Sates records this. Many Hollywood fantasy movies discuss the fantasy of vampires and werewolves. This narrative is very helpful in understanding the human nature and their racist fears. For instance, the legend has it that vampires are created as superior beings. As a werewolves represent beastly nature, vampires are more civil. Werewolves are savages, therefore, the vampires are considered the dominant beings, the superior race compared to the werewolves. They try to enslave the ‘beasts’ so they could serve the vampires. There is such a stark similarity between this fantasy and how it ensues in the real-life. The black man was considered a beast. The famous play Othello hints at this perception. The vampire fiction goes on that vampires were scared of intermingling of the species. They never let the ‘other’ marry or have intercourse with a vampire because they were scared of demolishing the racist walls that they had created with such an effort. They creating a lot of mythology to make the ordinary vampires hate the ‘others’. Fantasy stories stem from realistic dynamics. Similar mythological perceptions were attached to the black people and they were hated based on their race. It was considered a social sin to have an interracial marriage. Wherever an interracial couple was seen the onlookers would give disgusting looks at the couple because they did not approve of the intermingling of the races either. In todays world the racist attitude has expanded beyond the whips and slavery. The mental state manifests itself in different forms. Sometimes it revealed itself in job segregation. And other times it is shown in the media. The matter of racist attitude is not only against black folks, Hispanics, Latinos, Asians, Arabs etc., all are victims of this disease. And who can forget the religious racism that haunted mankind since the beginning of time. The Jews have been the victims of religious racism throughout history. The Holocaust is a scary example of religious racism that wiped out millions of Jews from the face of the earth. The times might have moved on. The world might have become more educated. People have bullet trains and records of moon landing. There are amazing discoveries in medical science. The world has turned a global village but the mental state that stemmed from racism is still persistent. It is not necessary for racism to manifest itself in physical form, the mental state is where its soul lives. References Becares, L., M. Stafford, and J. Nazroo. "Fear of Racism, Employment and Expected Organizational Racism: Their Association with Health." The European Journal of Public Health 19.5 (2009): 504-10. Print. Bruening, William, H. “Racism: a philosophical analysis of the concept.” Journal of Black Studies 5.1 (1974) 3-17. Print. Hook, Derek. "‘Pre-discursive’ Racism." Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology 16.3 (2006): 207-32. Print. Park, L. S.-H. and David, L. Pellow "Racial Formation, Environmental Racism, and the Emergence of Silicon Valley." Ethnicities 4.3 (2004): 403-24. Print. Shelby, Tommie. "Is Racism in the "Heart"?" Journal of Social Philosophy 33.3 (2002): 411-20. Print. Read More