Race and Racism

Introduction

Prejudice is an inbuilt and innate emotion that is found in every human being. It is the requirement of the time to curb it or remove it from our approaches. We can lessen its intensity but cannot abolish it from our subconscious. Everyone wants to be able to have power and in order to have power you must defeat or overpower others. This is why there is racism. Racism is the systematic, institutionalized mistreatment of one group of people by another based on racial heritage.

Analysis

Many of us, in today's society, are familiar with the meaning of this phrase. It is more common to see the same race being prejudice toward each other than toward people of different ethnic backgrounds. Racism has been around for many decades, and continues to uphold in our society today. Colorism, or “racism within a race,” has become a bigger problem in recent years then in the past. There are many different motives that can relate to colorism. Jealously, background, and envy seem to be the main causes for this problem (Feagin, pp 101-116).

Systemic racism is recurring and unequal relationships between groups and individuals perpetuated by a broad social reproduction process. Racial oppression spawned from the European worldview and continues to exist through systemic racism which is nurtured by this country (Mazer & Percival, pp 147-8).

Racial oppression is the oppression of a group of people by another group of people based on the race in which society categorizes each of us as. This oppression makes the Black burden an ongoing reality in American/European society (Montagu, pp 5-41). I have experienced racial oppression due to the fact that I am a Black male in America. Black males are automatically placed in a stereotypical population in which the racially oppressive system is setup to hold ...