Racism today

Freedom Equality Justice Fairness

Firstly, I would like to point out the difference between racism and xenophobia as many people treat these as synonyms when in fact they are very different. 

Xenophobia refers to those who have a fear or dislike for something or someone that is different to them or unknown.

Racism refers to the disrespect one person has towards another of a different race. 

What is a race? The word technically only has a social meaning, although many relate to it a biological one. 

In a social sense, a race is a group of people who are bound together by their morphology or ancestry with common inherited features that distinguish them from other groups. There are four major race divisions:

• Caucasians - white

• Mongolian - Asian

• Negroid - black

• Australoid - Australian aborigines 

It amazes me how many people are racist in their own way, it may not be verbally but it is expressed in other ways, I encourage you all that read this to notice the next time you get on a bus or a train, or just observe someone sat on a bench in a park, check out how someone reacts to when a different raced person comes near them, invading their space. I obviously am not talking about everyone, I won't even say the majority, just some...they will move a seat further away, they will shuffle their legs in the different directions, they will probably look them over from head to toe...What makes them feel so much better than the others? What is it that makes them feel they even have the right to look over them?

The concept of racism dates way back to the 1860's, though the term itself didn't start being used until 1936 with Hitler and his Nazi party. It was then when racism no longer meant disrespect but also superiority amongst different races. The fact that some people say they are proud to be white, black or Asian, technically can be considered racism. 

I would like to clarify that from here on I am referring to the racism feud between the white and black race mainly.

Technicalities aside, there has been an ongoing debate on why it is different for a person of Caucasian race to be racist to a negroid and vice versa, this dates back to the days where blacks where used as slaves to the white race. This is where the reality of racism lies, we don't live in a society where every racial group has equal power, status, and opportunity.

This is why I ask myself, slavery finished with (over 150 years ago, it is said),  in a world where we have learnt that history repeats itself if actions are not carried out, why does racism still exist? I thought we were supposed to be more rational and intellectual than we were 100 years ago...

I guess the answers lies somewhere in politics, as most things, and that means there is power to be had by having the discussion, and everyone knows power beats anything else. The fact of the matter is that even though the problem with racism has improved over the last fifty something years, it is still a worrying issue and it always will be as long as there are reduced groups of uneducated, unethical and completely ignorant people, piteous ignorance, widespread stupidity, persistent prejudice and abysmal thoughtlessness are the constante weaknesses of us humans, and well, we are what we are taught. 

What I am trying to say is that people will generally try to use their intellect and rationalisation in the unethical sear for power, for standing out, for making themselves feel just that little bit more important or better, when in fact it just makes them small and worthless.