Racism
simple:RacismRacism is a phenomenon in which people mistreat, discriminate against, dislike or even hate, have disdain for, or regard as inferior other people based on their real or perceived race. The term is almost always used pejoratively, with accusations of racism being very common but with few describing themselves as racist. The term racialism is sometimes favored as a less negative term by those who hold certain beliefs about other races which they believe to be scientifically justified.
The accusation of "racist" is often applied very liberally to those with opposing views on controversial subjects such as affirmative action, to the point where it has arguably lost much of its former meaning.
While it is difficult to speculate about the origins of racism, it likely originated as an extension of feelings of loyalty to family. Some may see a race as an extended family, and have loyalties to their own as they would to their own family, tribe, clan, or nation. This often translates to a distrust and dislike of "out-groups". Furthermore, out-groups often have foreign, even repugnant, customs and speak unfamiliar languages, which will also create distrust and contempt. In addition, there have been many historical ethnic conflicts between various groups, which cause members of each group to regard the other with resentment, disdain, and even hatred, often lasting centuries.
In more recent times there have been heavily disputed scientific studies of race which indicate that certain inherited traits, such as skin color, are correlated to other characteristics of the individuals bearing those traits, such as intellicence. Thus, one might hold that most (or all) members of a given race share undesirable mental or moral qualities, seeing an entire ethnic or racial group as being inferior to members of one's own group. This is a very controversial subject; see race and intelligence for a discussion of the IQ controversy. Also see race for a discussion of the concept of race, which itself is often brought into question.
It is not clear to what extent these scientific ideas about race, which are fairly recent (originating in the 19th century) and thus had no role in older instances of racism, influence racism today.
Racism may be expressed individually and consciously, through explicit thoughts, feelings, or acts, or socially and unconsciously, through institutions that promote inequalities among "races". Although some speakers attempt to express a semantic distinction by using the word racism rather than racialism (or vice versa), many treat the terms as synonymous (see below).
Racism could be divided in three major subcategories: individual racism, structural racism, and ideological racism. Some categories of racism are:
Reverse racism is a controversial concept; it refers to a form of racism against a dominant group. In the United States, many people, mostly conservatives, criticize policies such as affirmative action as an example of reverse racism. They say that these policies are race-based discrimination. Supporters of affirmative action argue that affirmative action policies counteract a systemic and cultural racism by providing a balancing force, and that affirmative action does not qualify as racist because the policies are enacted by politicians (who are mostly part of the white majority in the United States) and directed towards their own race.
Some Americans believe that reverse racism exists in the United States, but that it is cultural racism, and not primarily systemic. For example, some African-Americans discriminate against white people -- this too can be called reverse racism.
In addition, some white people believe that political correctness has led to a denigration of the white race, through perceived special attention paid to minority races. For example, they consider the existence of Black History Month (February) but not a White History Month, Hispanic History Month or Asian History Month to be de facto racism directed at the majority and non-black minorities.
Racism is and has been official policy in many countries. In the 1970s, Uganda expelled tens of thousands of ethnic Indians. Malaysia currently enforces discriminatory laws limiting access to university education for Chinese students who are citizens by birth of Malaysia. Russia launched anti-Semitic pogroms against Jews in 1905 and after. In some towns Israel has limited land ownership to Jews. Many Arab nations forbid Jews from emigration or becoming citizens; in these nations it is often forbidden to sell land to a Jewish person.
In the United States, racial profiling of minorities by law enforcement officials is a controversial subject. Some people consider this to be a form of racism.
Supporters of racial profiling believe it to be a necessary tool for law enforcement because members of certain minority groups are statistically much more likely to commit certain types of crimes. For example, most terrorists have been young Arab males, while female Christian Europeans have only participated in terrorist actions on extremely rare occasions. Thus it is both logical and useful to have security officers at airports take special note of young Arab male fliers, and not to examine all fliers equally. Critics of this policy hold that any form of special treatment is racist by definition, and thus immoral and illegal. Some claim that profiling young Arab male fliers at airports will only lead to increased recruitment of older, non-Arab, and female terrorists. (Terrorism experts generally disagree with claim.) Many critics of racial profiling claim that it is an unconstitutional practice because it amounts to questioning individuals on the basis of what crimes they might commit or could possibly commit, instead of what crimes they have actually committed. See the article on racial profiling for more information on this dispute.
In 19th century Europe and American, many people legitimized racist beliefs and practices through psuedo-scientific theories about biological differences among races. Today, all scientists have rejected pseudo-scientific theories of race that existed then. The ideas, claims and positions have been shown to be based on biased research, gross generalizations, and poorly controlled or totally uncontrolled studies.
Today scientists who study the concept of race have a very different understanding of what a "race" is; all human races are held to have vastly more in common, and very little that is different between them. The differences between races do exist on many levels (skin color, facial cartilage distribution, genetic diseases, predisposition to certain traits) but the difference between races is now understood to be vastly smaller than was imagined in the 19th century. Compared to 19th century definitions of the term, one might even say that different human races (as then defined) do not exist.
In colonial America, what few African slaves there were served alongside poor whites in indentured servitude; a term of service meant freedom and a land grant afterward. A number of black Africans became landowners this way, before colonial slavery became based on racial lines. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a revolt against the Governor and the system of exploitation he represented: exploitation of poorer colonists by the increasingly wealthy landowners. However, Bacon died, probably of dysentery, and the revolt lost steam.
The central cause of concern to landowners was the unity of Bacon's populist movement. It raised the question to the landownders of how to divide the population politically in ways that would keep the poorer colonists divided enough to rule. To the Governor, the most threatening, and unexpected, aspect of Bacon's rebellion was its multi-racial aspect. So from that time on, the wealthy landowners determined that only Africans would be used as slaves - and white colonists were promised whatever benefits would have gone to Africans had they continued to be indentured servants. This change began the infamously long period of the American slave society, in which slaves were primarily used for agricultural labor, notably in the production of cotton and tobacco. The social rift along color lines soon became engrained in every aspect of colonial American culture.
In the 19th and 20th century many Germans, Austrians and Poles came to accept a form of racism towards Jewish people, racial anti-Semitism. Many people in these countries believe erroneously that the Jewish people were a distinct race, and further, that this race was inherently morally inferior to the putative "Aryan races". (Scientists today reject the existence of any Aryan race as fictitious, and as a recent ideological construct.) Jews were commonly referred to as inherently greedly, selfish, and "parasitical". They were often referred to as viruses or parasites. Over time these ideas lead many people in these nations to accept the Nazi teachings that the Jewish "parasites" must be exterminated in a literal sense; this led to the Holocaust.
There were race riots across the United Kingdom in 1919: South Shields, Glasgow, London's East End, Liverpool, Cardiff, Barry, and Newport.
Many Arabs accuse Israelis of harboring racist beliefs towards them. One fringe Jewish extremist group, Kach, does preach racism towards Arabs. Many Jews accuse Palestinian Arabs of harboring anti-Semitic beliefs towards them. Many schools and mosques run by the Palestinian Authority quote from anti-Semitic sources such as the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Adolph Hitler's Mein Kampf; in many madrassas and Palestinian mosques Jews are described as descedants of monkeys and pigs.
Origin of racism
Expressions
Racism is usually directed against a minority population, but may also be directed against a majority population. Examples of the former include the enslavement of black Africans and repression of their descendants in the United States. The existence of the latter is often controversial, but agreed upon examples include racial apartheid in South Africa, wherein whites (a minority) discriminated against blacks (a majority); this form of racism also occurred during the former colonial rule of such countries as Vietnam (by France) and India ( by the United Kingdom).History of racism in the modern world
United States of America
Germany, Austria and Poland
South Africa
United Kingdom
Israel
Some examples of specific types of alleged racism
Some examples of allegedly racist organisations
See also: affirmative action, Afrocentrism, anti-Semitism, apartheid, ascribed characteristics, The Bell Curve, black supremacy, chauvinism, Civil rights movement, collectivism, Criminal Blackman Myth, discrimination, essentialism, ethnic stereotype, ethnocentrism, Eurocentrism, genocide, hate crime, homophobia, Islamophobia, Jim Crow laws, Ku Klux Klan, master race, Miscegenation, Naziism, nigger, race, race riot, racial segregation, racialism, Racism/racial and ethnic slurs, sexism, skinhead, social stereotype, White Australia policy, white supremacy, white trash, wog
