Racism: The Mechanism of The World’s Diversity in Color

Introduction

Racial discrimination, a perennial incident that depicts excessive prejudice. it is seen, heard and experiences on the everyday cycle of a person’s routine. it is a case on which the general agrees on it being crucial and a major problem while turning a blind eye. the morals and conviction of the people seem to lack because the concerning is not simmering down. Several of the crimes done are conspired with racialism. acknowledging race as a trait that sums up a person, is an action recognized as racism; a belief that a person’s race, ethnicity or nationality determines an individual’s capacity and traits that produces a feeling of superiority over a particular or other races. It is said to be an immoral act and one is called a racist if done; a concerning label of which people with a mental capacity of a child cannot comprehend.

An occurrence in an individual’s workplace, school and community. Racial discrimination is a constant happening that one cannot easily abrogate. In a workplace a person with color or a nationality that seems inferior to ones perspective is often discriminated by ignoring their capabilities and by sticking to first impressions carried by their race. Skin color and race is also one of the factors in bullying. A common scenario on which a foreign person enters an environment that doesn’t give importance to versatility and abide to common standards that they forget to enhance other valuable mean like their acceptance of the differences the world possess. In a sense, a facility that ignores bullying signifies that they let their students be narrow and close-minded; and that they tolerates discrimination in their organization, an action that contradicts some schools core values. hypocrisy on ones educational system is easy to cover with words. Racism doesn’t only limit on schools and workplaces— Social media is a platform on which everyone has freedom to express their opinions, convictions and beliefs to an extent. Media platforms encourages nations to socializes and with that said, they are also free to expose their hateful thoughts. Media platform creators made a solution, to report the abusive behaviors caught online, however it is still in vain, for racism can still be seen.

Evidently, races or nationalities that receive the most criticism are the races that possess different accustomed actions. Arguably, the standard the world follows through is American. America’s culture is referred to as the normal or common lifestyle that can be differed by ones culture. Moreover, when travelling to an unfamiliar country, the term culture shock is commonly used; considering the environment language, faces and traits is diverse from where one was originated. The uncertainty and confusion created by the different scene often lead to thinking that the residents from another country, from another race is wrong. Another detail that is ignorantly suppressed is that, an individual’s fault is their own liability and their race nor nationality concern the matter. It is extremely bigoted to involve racialism to such courses. Patriotism is immensely different from racism; ridiculing another country is relatively ridiculing your own as well. The purpose of this research paper is to emphasize the pride and prejudice that is a flaw in how one operates their lives. Morever, this is also to expose the harmful and disdainful acts of racism.

Racism in the education system

A student typically spends 8 hours more or less in the school premises. school is one of the greatest factors in the life of an individual. Students from different social status, family backgrounds and most especially nationalities or ethnicities and even cultures. However there are schools which scarcely have foreign students. One example is Adventist Academy- Bacolod from Bacolod City, Negros Occidental, Philippines. AAB (Adventist Academy- Bacolod) is a private institution that consists of approximately 400 students. The school is located in a remote area, nonetheless, the facility is quite known within the Adventist community. AAB is not a large establishment but is not also very little, which causes the students to know and familiarize each other easily, hence the uncongenial reaction when a new foreign student with a slightly different complexion and a different accustomed language enrolls in the academy.

When one slight factor messes up the usual cycle of one’s life, it leads to unpleasant responses. It’s the same with a person with different skin color and language. The majority will feel superiority by numbers. The brain develops biochemical called adrenaline that heightens the feeling of superiority, that causes people to look down and discriminate other people. An individual’s mindset and morals are also factors discrimination. Bullying is also a constant in school referring to the different backgrounds and social status as well as races and nationalities. it is possible for young people to be matured and grasp the situation that discrimination is not one should do. Yet most young people these current times, chooses to think that they get to do whatever they like with the freedom that come with the youth. It causes them to think they are in full control of their lives which narrows their minds.

In the year 2017, 4590 cases of racial abuse among students are unarguably severe. It raised from 4085 cases on the year 2016. (Marsh, Mohdin. 2018) The worst possible punishment a school can give to the bully is expulsion from the school, however on deemed mild cases of bullying, suspension, detention or guidance counseling are some of the consequences. Some schools even tolerate bullying, reasoning that there are much more serious conflicts a school can have. Whereas the effect of bullying on the other party is much more grueling. Some repercussions bullying can leave to a victim are depression, social anxiety and death. Bullying an individual because of their skin color seems trivial unless experienced first hand. the school should be a place where students feel secure, considering that students spends approximately 40 hours a week inside the campus. Schools, these days are easily becoming one of the hated place of young people.

Racism and Xenophobia

After graduating college or university, a young adult is typically known to find work to sustain his/her needs. An individual’s workplace should be convenient to work in because a working adult regularly works 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week with 15 minute break in the morning plus 15 minute in the afternoon. What would happen if you are at a disadvantage because of your nationality? It was reported that, Ron Law, a worker at the Austal USA shipyard witnessed discrimination at work everyday. Threats to specific employees scribbled inside stalls, on mirrors and on walls. Law also claimed that he heard a white supervisor call black employees as “Monkeys” over his walkie talkie. Austal denied in court filings that there were any illegal treatment.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and it’s local partner agencies investigates over 100,000 cases. However workers need to be compensated with some conditions like money or perks in work for about 18% of the time. There are a lot of alleged claims of discrimination from age, gender, disability and some others, moreover race claims are among the most commonly filed and reported with just 15% taking some form of relief compensation. 

John Hendrickson, an attorney from EEOC who spent 36 years before retiring said “In some offices it was really amazing how little discrimination they found.. Many of the cases weren’t professionally investigated.” The case of workplace discrimination— the racial slurs or physical threats are only the tip of an iceberg. The complaint data shows that it is expressed in more subtle ways such as the tasks the workers are given, the salary and the benefits offered and the way their performance is criticized. It also happens in the hiring process before one even begins a job.

A study published in 2003 found that some employers were more likely to hire white candidates with criminal records than black candidates with none (Jameel and Yerardi, 2019). The prejudice is evident in these kind of situations. There are a lot more happening behind the reports and cases filed. The filed cases are most probably the result of a person who took so much discrimination, bullying, insulting and prejudice. It is extremely bigoted and narrow-minded for a person to ruin a person’s career and livelihood for the fear of accepting their capabilities and possibly outsmart an authority if given the chance. It is very xenophobic, especially nowadays where xenophobia is striking everywhere.

Xenophobia, an irrational fear and hatred of strangers and foreigners. The outbreak of Corona Virus also known as COVID- 19 made xenophobia more prominent. The virus dispersed in the beginning of the year 2020. Many attacked and blamed Chinese people for the reason that the outbreak started in Wuhan, China. Tanny Jiraprapasuke, a 44 year- old woman in Los Angeles, California shared a video she took on social media. It was seen on the video that a man was ranting to her about the virus, blaming China for starting the COVID-19 and making hate claims about Chinese people on a metro. “I’m not even Chinese…He’s really attacking me because I look like a certain way, so for me it was just ‘Oh my god, my community is under attack’ “ Jiraprapasuke is a thai-american and is the only Asian in that part of the metro. Jiraprapasuke shared the video in hopes to raise awareness. She didn’t report the incident to the police. In Canada, Ingrid Chang, a 22 year old female shared a video that was taken by her sister in the British-Columbia area. It shows a man saying “ You dropped your corona virus” directed to a young woman and her mother. Chang’s sister later confronted the man on which he responded that he made the same comment to 10 other people and laughed it off as a joke. “It’s hard for me to know if he’s racist or if his intentions were racist. But the only thing I know is that it made me and my family uncomfortable.” Chang, who is a Taiwanese-Canadian stated A sign outside Hotel Relais Fontana di Trevi posted a sign on the entrance, stating that they’re excluding Chinese people in the hotel. The same with a restaurant in Phuket, Thailand. (Gostanian, Ciechalski, & Abdelkader, 2020).

There are a lot of people unaware of the malicious acts they do; xenophobia spreads everywhere including social media.

Racism and Bandwagon-hate

Social media is an excellent platform to express an individual’s opinion. Teenagers spend an average of seven hours and 22 minutes on their phone screens a day (Jacobo, 2019). People are given the chance to be the person they don’t have confidence in when presented in real life. However, not everybody has a welcoming and comforting reaction. The initial thought for a person in social media is “I’m free to express my opinion.” Even so, there is a distinct difference between freedom of speech and your right to remain silent. Hate is too common nowadays to be considered an issue, which is an issue itself. Anywhere you go on social media, you can see negativity—Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and so forth. Delving deeper through the millions and billions of tweets and posts, the views, opinions and beliefs of a free individual citizen can prominently seen. The conversations in social media are massive, with people who contradicts and agrees. It is normal for people to blend in with the popular opinion, it is called Bandwagon. Society in general is telling us what to do; the musts and must nots, the should and should nots. Teenagers spend time to find out what the world is thinking, turning their mindset into the same one as the world. Joining the bandwagon is the usual these days because it is basic unit instinct to fit in, to belong. That is the reason why bandwagon- hate exists. It is, truthfully speaking, one of the most powerful force in social media.

Bandwagon-hate starts from the majority which makes the minority waver and join to fit in. However there are some who refuses to force themselves to be someone they’re not just to fit in. Those individuals would be pushed around further away from the community.

Moreover there are people who naturally seems different from the herd of the same-faced community; people with color— they are discriminated and pushed around. There are several incidents that shows obvious racial discrimination: One example was on a soccer event that happened on August 03, 2019, where the fans of Zenit St Petersburg brought and raised a banner that shows black players aren’t welcome to the club, especially when Malcom with a dark skin has recently been transferred from Barcelona, the fans defended by saying “We are not racist and for us, the absence of black players is just an important tradition.” Another one from the soccer event incidents was when Tammy Abraham of Chelsea’s missed a penalty against Liverpool, he was later targeted online with racial slurs like “Black c***” and “fu**ing ni**a” which left Tammy’s mother in tears (Lane,2020). There was also a violent racist attack in London on February 24,2020 aound 9:15 PM near Oxford street, Jonathan Mok, a 23 year-old Singaporean male student, encountered a man with three or four men and one woman, talking about corona virus before attacking him, one of them said “I don’t want tour corona virus in my country” before hitting him in the nose causing it to bleed. They ran off before the cops arrived (Sullivan,2020)

Racism and bandwagon-hate is really active on social media. It is often likened to as a pandemic disease. A lot of celebrities are American and white, a lot also are not. Recognition for American artists are given naturally, however recognition for people with color seems so hard to gain. An example for this xenophobic behavior is the mainstream, Kpop. A lot of people grimace when hearing the word Kpop. Bandwagon-hate at its finest. People are stuck with the stereotypes that they hate the person or group of people without knowing them. According to the former South Korean President, Park Geun Hye “In the 21st century, culture is power.” Stereotyping and accustomed perceptions of the people, causes them to be xenophobic and racist. Bangtan Sonyeondan also known as BTS, a south Korean group, although really successful now, breaking records left and right, they still experience hate which is inevitable especially for a foreign artist. BTS experiences racism for dominating the mainstream. It was also an issue that while white Canadian musicians are nominated for main awards in award shows, popular black music and successful Asian acts falls under “Urban” and “Kpop”. Society are so afraid of the change that they choose to ignore.

There is a quotation “Music Transcends any language.” But because of one minor and trivial difference, people choose to harden and hate. Truthfully, all the deserving acts only wanted to be recognized and accepted. Acceptance, or feeling that you are accepted is a part of human nature , it includes respect, that is according to psychology. Acceptance however has rejection as a dark contrast. Rejection affects mental health as well as esteem which is one of the hierarchy in basic human needs.

Conclusion

Racial discrimination, a perennial incident that depicts excessive prejudice. A harmful act which some people experiences in their everyday lives, specifically on schools and workplaces with several articles cited in this conducted research. It continues to spread even on public transportation and streets. It was also proven and seen how xenophobia spreads even on social media and music industries. In conclusion the severity of the cases of racism has not died down yet and that the cases of racism are not taken lightly due to bigoted opinions. The world goes on, even with the severity of racism however people’s lives like Jiraprapasuke, Chang’s sister and Mok, or the soccer player, Malcom of the Zenit St Petersburg are at inconvenience, the reason is that they are not born a certain race, color or nationality. There are also music groups who work without rest, not eating healthy diet for them to fit in, to belong in an industry, only for them to be shunned out because they speak a different language. The mechanism of the world’s diversity in color is too flawed to be a peaceful habitat.

This research was conducted to show and exposed the flaws of the system. As long as the world continues to be ignorant on the world’s differences. Racial discrimination will continue to be a perennial incident and it will continue to depict prejudice and harm people. It is stated in the hierarchy of the needs of human beings, that humans need to feed like they belong. What racism does is it excludes groups of people just because of their color. Human’s started racism, they should also be the one to end racism. Until then, Racial discrimination is a perennial incident that depicts excessive prejudice.

References

1. Gostanian, A., Ciechalski, S., & Abdelkader, R. (2020, February 12). Asians worldwide share examples of coronavirus-related xenophobia on social media. Retrieved from nbcnews: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/asians-worldwide-share-examples-coronavirus-related-xenophobia-social-media-n1132036
2. Jameel, M., & Yerardi, J. (2019, February 28). Workplace discrimination is illegal. But our data shows it’s still a huge problem. Retrieved from Vox: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/2/28/18241973/workplace-discrimination-cpi-investigation-eeoc
3. Lane, B. (2019, December 31). 15 racist incidents from across the world of soccer that made 2019 one of the sport's most shameful years ever. Retrieved from businessinsider: https://www.businessinsider.com/the-shameful-list-of-soccer-racist-incidents-in-2019-2019-12
4. Marsh, S., & Mohdin, A. (2018, November 30). Record number of UK children excluded for racist bullying. Retrieved from The Guardian Weekly: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/nov/30/record-number-of-uk-children-excluded-for-racist-bullying
5. Sullivan, R. (2020, March 3). ‘I don’t want your coronavirus in my country’: Young Singaporean man beaten up in racist attack in London. Retrieved from independent.co.uk: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/racist-attack-coronavirus-news-london-facebook-a9371326.html