Why Race Is Such a Big Problem in Society, Essay Example

Introduction

The term race refers to groups of people with differences and similarities as well in their biological traits which are deemed by the society as socially significant, which is an indication people will treat each other differently because of them such as skin color. There are many races in the world such as Asian/ Mongoloid, Black/Negroid, White, and Australoid. However, due to human integration, mixed races have been established.  How people treat each other due to racial segregation, is what poses as a challenge to many societies globally. In the United States, for example, racism has been mostly defined by discrimination of all people of color by the White people to the extent of enslaving them. It is such treatment that stirs issues among many societies. In ancient times, racism was defined by an individual’s skin color, but this has shifted throughout the history of the United States. The country is at such a state where a Black person has become president hence currently a race is constructed socially, culturally, politically as well as economically. Race, therefore, has been redefined it is no longer being defined by the small physical differences among people but also the mental, emotional, and intellectual differences as well. Racism in the United States has been characterized by power, whiteness, and violence. However, time changes and whiteness is also constantly shifting boundary separating individuals who are entitled to have specified privileges from those whose exploitation as well as vulnerability to violence has been justified by their not being white( Kivel 1996). The race has been misused by people as a means to access privilege in the country and also all over the world hence the reason, the race will always be a problem in society.

Problems associated with Race

The race is for sure a huge problem in society since it is the major cause of most of the conflicts in the world today. Human beings without the constraints of race and other segregations are referred to as dynamic and as such, they will always seek to better themselves. It is such an attitude together with globalization that immigration was established. Immigration has led to a mixture of races in the entire world with the United States being heavily affected since it is referred to as the world of opportunities (m a n a n d s h a r p e, 2014). As such races had to co-exists and live together. However, in an attempt to find a common ground to co-exist, racisms were established and races discriminate against each other among themselves with Whites discriminating against all of them.

In the United States, the majority of white millennials believe that anti-white discrimination has become a huge problem just like discrimination against minority groups. After immigration, one has blended into the current community (m a n a n d s h a r p e, 2014). In the United States, for example, people have to undergo assimilation whereby they have to adjust to the situation by simply deciding how much they want to give up and how much they are willing to take in in terms of culture (Hannah-Jones, 2016). Mostly, the assimilation process entails surface and deep culture such as clothing, language, food, habits of rearing children, dating and marriage practices as well as how people elders in the communities.

Concession and Refutation

Other people, however, argue otherwise. On a blog posted on July 9, a debate on Fox new was to justify the non-existence of racism. To begin with, racisms dates back to slavery time. However, they argued that it was a practice whose time had come in the history of humanity and it was never about race (Hake 2019). The fallout between the whites and the people of color after the Civil War was also not about racial discrimination nor segregation. At times when people are angry and blind, they tend to point fingers on others. Currently, the United States is among the leading countries with the highest number of immigrants, those people reap the benefits and still call them racist. In a conversation on Fox TV, ALL people discriminate and everyone is free to do, but the major problem was the need for people of color to integrate with white people which made them shut their schools down and joined with the people of color. It is not possible to force someone to love you (Hake 2019). Currently, the injustice in the United States is against white people since people of color pretend to want an honest discussion about racism but they call white people racist. The hatred between Hispanics and Black people is not referred to as racisms but when it is between people of color especially black people and whites it is racism. Jesse says that racisms are not the issue, but hate, blame, and victimhood.

Immigration   

Currently, immigration has become a hot topic in the United States since it is being associated with extremism, drug dealing, and other criminal elements. Extremism which is one of the heinous crimes is all driven by hate established on racial grounds. In Bush, the 43rd President of the United States, his greatest war was with extremists such as Osama Bin Laden who was the leader of the pan-Islamic militant organization called al-Qaeda. Such a group had one agenda to wage war against the United States and Britain (Marcelo, Suárez-Orozco and Suárez-Orozco 2012). This rejuvenated racism between two races, Americans and Muslims.

Immigration can be voluntary or involuntary where people are forced out of their country by violence or economic issues. For one to become an American, one had to let go of the greater part of their former heritage such as color to help them blend in with the U.S. citizens of European heritage (Marcelo, Suárez-Orozco and Suárez-Orozco 2012). Therefore, the more they assimilated, the more their skin color allowed them to assimilate the more they were entitled to equal privileges as the Europeans who were here before them. Citizenship to the races of color was not allowed citizenship till way later. Due to this, and also due to the nature of racial separation in the country, the assimilation process was available unequally to people of color and whites which was dependent on the time of their arrival to the United States.

It is such conflicts that have led to the term illegal immigrant people who cross borders to other countries without any documentation. The United States has tightened its fights against immigration hence shuttering the dreams of many immigrants who left their homes behind to find better pasture in the country (Marcelo, Suárez-Orozco and Suárez-Orozco 2012). Due to such strictness by the government, most immigrants are poor since they come from disaster-stricken parts of the world such as Syria. If their offer is turned down, they are left hopeless and helpless and hence they turn to cayotes to help them cross the border without documentation. Most of the immigrants leave their families behind in their countries promising of better future. Due to their race, they are denied documentation just because they look like someone who is or was an extremist.

Internalized racisms and internalized white supremacy exists

The race is truly a problem in the societies, In the United States, for example, internalized racisms and internalized white supremacy exist. Internalized racisms is a situation where people of color in the country have taken negative messages of covert and overt racisms, inferiority and superiority and applied such messages to themselves in ways which are self-destructing (m a n a n d s h a r p e, 2014). Internalized white supremacy, on the other hand, is the assumption of white superiority in intelligence, achievement as well as centrality in the United States. Such terms will always stir problems among whites and people of color in the country.

Conclusion

Are racisms real? This is a question that is in most minds of people in the United States. If so, why did Obama become the president? Many questions surround the topic and it is a hot debate especially due to the existing racial history in the country. The United States is, however, a cultural and racial diversified nation and every one regardless of their color, culture, origin and any segregation, are Americans.  Just like Jesse said on Fox TV, maybe if we do way with hatred, blame and victimization just maybe we can stop being blind and work towards the richness of the American heritage as well as any other nation facing the racial problem.