About every day we have workshops that are run by us on whatever topic we choose from a given list. Today's session was about racism and it was really interesting. We talked about a mix of things I already knew and a few I had never thought about, but either way, it still left me thinking about a couple of ideas.
Racism along with ageism, sexism, religionism, and so on are forms of discrimination. Racism is based on racial stereotypes. So we established that racism is the discrimination directed towards someone of a different race originating from the stereotypes that race is said to hold.
We talked about personal experiences, whether your race brings you positive or negative treatment and more. Something that I've never really heard being mentioned when talking about this issue-until today- is the fact that everyone is always in competition with each other. Basically, what we talked about for this point was that everyone is trying to succeed, so, they will find aspects of their competitors they can criticise. Something the people around have that is different than you and can become a point of attack to put yourself in the lead. We also went on to talk about the misinterpretation in the media that leads to stereotypical associations and much more. We established that those who are racist lack the ability to empathise. Not that any one race deserves empathy, but that if they are treating another this way, they have the inability to understand what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this bigotry. If they did, they would stop being racist. We explained that what people see in the news might be the only thing they hear about a certain race, so it causes them to jump to the assumption that all people of that race are like that. The classic example, if the only thing someone hears about terrorists are that some were Arab or Muslim or, the other way around, that some Arab or Muslim was a terrorist then they will misunderstand. They will begin to assume, subconsciously or not, that all terrorists are Muslim and that all Muslims are terrorists. And, in the long run, that might cause them to act negatively on that conjecture, which is racism.
At one point during the workshop, the presenters asked if anyone wanted to share a personal story about racism. Several Global Potential participants raised their hands, but none of the locals did. That's when it occurred to me that they have no one here for them to be racist towards or to receive racism from. They are all the same race. As a result, most of them didn't even know what racism was. I had never really thought about it like that, which is what led me to my next point.
I came to wonder: does racism really occur because of someone's skin colour or is it just because they are outnumbered by other races? I explained that the people who receive racism are generally the minority in society (number wise, not race wise- there is no race that is superior or inferior to others... or at least there shouldn't be). The dominant race will be more used to seeing only their race, that if another one were to come along, it would seem foreign. They will think they have power over these others and thus act on it. They will believe they are invincible because it wouldn't really matter to them if the suppressed race were to fight back: there are too little of them to make an impact. So basically, if you have 10 white people and 2 black people then the latter are the minority. As a result, they will generally receive discrimination because they are different than the others. If it were 10 black people and 2 white people, then, again, the latter are the minority and the same thing would happen.
Who do you blame if somebody is racist? If you grew up in a one-race society, and then, when it came time for you to move to an integrated society, how do you react to these people that are unlike anything you've ever seen before? Do you feel threatened by them? Will that cause you to act on it? If you grew up in a family that always referred to one race as inferior as if it were common sense, will that closed-mindedness rub off on you? Do we blame childhood? Your family? Media? History? Society? It could be a number of different things; there is no one cause for acts of racism. But again, it all originates with those racial stereotypes, whether you understand that that's what they are or not.
We ended the session with the following question: if we lived in a world that had no colour- everyone was the same race-would racism still occur? How about discrimination? The answer we came up with tied in with a previous point we made. If everyone were the same colour, then how could there be racism? No, we said there wouldn't be racism anymore, but everyone would still be in competition with each other, so they would find some other aspect to attack each other with. We would still need to find a way to put ourselves ahead. It could be noseism, heightism, hairism or whatever else. But getting rid of race isn't going to bring an end to discrimination. It's in human nature to want to be better than the people around you and that's not just going to disappear. We will always find something we can criticise about others. Always.
LM
Racism along with ageism, sexism, religionism, and so on are forms of discrimination. Racism is based on racial stereotypes. So we established that racism is the discrimination directed towards someone of a different race originating from the stereotypes that race is said to hold.
We talked about personal experiences, whether your race brings you positive or negative treatment and more. Something that I've never really heard being mentioned when talking about this issue-until today- is the fact that everyone is always in competition with each other. Basically, what we talked about for this point was that everyone is trying to succeed, so, they will find aspects of their competitors they can criticise. Something the people around have that is different than you and can become a point of attack to put yourself in the lead. We also went on to talk about the misinterpretation in the media that leads to stereotypical associations and much more. We established that those who are racist lack the ability to empathise. Not that any one race deserves empathy, but that if they are treating another this way, they have the inability to understand what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this bigotry. If they did, they would stop being racist. We explained that what people see in the news might be the only thing they hear about a certain race, so it causes them to jump to the assumption that all people of that race are like that. The classic example, if the only thing someone hears about terrorists are that some were Arab or Muslim or, the other way around, that some Arab or Muslim was a terrorist then they will misunderstand. They will begin to assume, subconsciously or not, that all terrorists are Muslim and that all Muslims are terrorists. And, in the long run, that might cause them to act negatively on that conjecture, which is racism.
At one point during the workshop, the presenters asked if anyone wanted to share a personal story about racism. Several Global Potential participants raised their hands, but none of the locals did. That's when it occurred to me that they have no one here for them to be racist towards or to receive racism from. They are all the same race. As a result, most of them didn't even know what racism was. I had never really thought about it like that, which is what led me to my next point.
I came to wonder: does racism really occur because of someone's skin colour or is it just because they are outnumbered by other races? I explained that the people who receive racism are generally the minority in society (number wise, not race wise- there is no race that is superior or inferior to others... or at least there shouldn't be). The dominant race will be more used to seeing only their race, that if another one were to come along, it would seem foreign. They will think they have power over these others and thus act on it. They will believe they are invincible because it wouldn't really matter to them if the suppressed race were to fight back: there are too little of them to make an impact. So basically, if you have 10 white people and 2 black people then the latter are the minority. As a result, they will generally receive discrimination because they are different than the others. If it were 10 black people and 2 white people, then, again, the latter are the minority and the same thing would happen.
Who do you blame if somebody is racist? If you grew up in a one-race society, and then, when it came time for you to move to an integrated society, how do you react to these people that are unlike anything you've ever seen before? Do you feel threatened by them? Will that cause you to act on it? If you grew up in a family that always referred to one race as inferior as if it were common sense, will that closed-mindedness rub off on you? Do we blame childhood? Your family? Media? History? Society? It could be a number of different things; there is no one cause for acts of racism. But again, it all originates with those racial stereotypes, whether you understand that that's what they are or not.
We ended the session with the following question: if we lived in a world that had no colour- everyone was the same race-would racism still occur? How about discrimination? The answer we came up with tied in with a previous point we made. If everyone were the same colour, then how could there be racism? No, we said there wouldn't be racism anymore, but everyone would still be in competition with each other, so they would find some other aspect to attack each other with. We would still need to find a way to put ourselves ahead. It could be noseism, heightism, hairism or whatever else. But getting rid of race isn't going to bring an end to discrimination. It's in human nature to want to be better than the people around you and that's not just going to disappear. We will always find something we can criticise about others. Always.
LM
