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Affirmative action is quintessentially a question of racial equality and inclusiveness in

nations that have for long and deeply divided by color prejudice. The concept of racism refers to

exclusion, restriction or preferential treatment based on race or ethnicity for the purposes of

limiting or nullifying equal enjoyment of fundamental freedoms in the political, social and

cultural arenas. People are discriminated against differently-in its overt form racial-

discrimination is a result of stereotyping Prejudice and bias and subtly due to differential

treatment.

Racism is global. In an extremely multifaceted communities-it’s only natural that people

attach meaning to their cultural differences and associate them with superiority or inferiority

perceptions. This stereotypic is further exuberated by unequal development and resource

endowment leading to some societies and ethnicities being wealthier than others. Difference in

wealth or income creates a systematic way of thinking where members of the elite social class

undermine those in the lower class- often the minority ethnicities within the social strata. The

quintessential form of wealth motivated ethnicity stereotyping is systematic racism which refers

to how ideas of white superiority are captured in everyday thinking. Systemic racism assumes

white superiority individually, ideologically and institutionally.

The assumption of superiority pervades thinking consciously and unconsciously.

Individuals may not see themselves as racist but still benefit from systems that reward them for

being part of the dominant culture. The most outstanding racial discriminations in our modern

world are that of Blacks in America and Haitians in Dominica. To better understand the concept

of racism we will evaluate examples of racism in different communities.

Examples of racism against various races


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In general, developed nations receive themselves superior over developing countries.

First cases of racism were in Ancient Greek. Over time different people have experienced racist

discourse. No single nation has ever been established by a sole race or ethnicity. Interdependence

between races facilitates exchange of information, resources and labor which are the primary

drivers of economic developments-however, it is this interdependence that has led to

discriminations of individuals who inhabit foreign lands. Examples of such discriminations

include: Black-White struggles in United States of America, Jewish massacre by the Nazi,

attempts of Israel to Philistine and racist movements of Chinese to Uygur Turkish.

Black-White struggles in United States of America

Industrial revolution in the US increased the need for cheap labor. Portuguese and Spanish

sailors and merchants saw an opportunity in slave trade during the voyages to Africa where they

outsourced materials such as cotton, glassware, wood and Ivory. The market for slaves in the US

increased tremendously due to their cheap labor. According to Hobsbawm, overseas colonization

and focus on the underdeveloped countries; and the battle not to lose these to other countries

were the main factors of the industrial revolution (Hobsbawm, 1998:50).

Black slaves worked on the harshest of conditions and did the most strenuous tasks. Not

only were they expected to work hard but also to participate in American wars. They were

soldier in French-American and American-British wars. When slave trade was prohibited in

1808 there were 1.2million slaves. Nonetheless, an end to slave trade did lead to creation of a fair

and inclusive society. Instead, it increased the lift between white and blacks. Black people were

segregated into the lowly developed suburbs where they experienced all manner of social

injustices.
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Unfair distribution of economic resources and marginalization of black communities

created hostility and Animosity between the two communities. Between 1880 and 1915 the

country experienced the worst incidences of lynching- about 656 whites and 1190 black people

were lynched. Since then, America has made considerable progress to ensure it has an equitable

society. Since then, America have gone through a paradigm to adopt equality and end racial

discrimination.

Several civil rights have been enacted to guarantee equitable distribution of distribution

and equal access to social-economic opportunities. 2008 Election of Barack Obama- the first US

black president marked the beginning of post-racial era in the United States. Now, the number of

middle income black household has increased significantly. With more and more black families

becoming economically empowered- racism will lack roots.

Current racism in America

Despite the major trends on ending racism a significant number of minorities in the US still

perceive it to be present. Most Black and Hispanic communities are gloomy about the progress

towards racial equity-56% blacks and 51% Hispanics believed that their race limited their ability

to get ahead in life. However, this ideology cannot be substantiated considering the many equity

laws that guarantee against prejudices based on race. Nonetheless, the election of Donald Trump

has sparkled debates concerning the perception of the majority of whites concerning racism.

Trumps’ campaign was marred with racist utterances- for example, he related Muslims to

terrorism, Mexicans to narcotics and drug abuse and even perpetuated a lie that Obama was not

American- something viewed by many as racist. Trump was unapologetic to any of his

utterances and surprisingly he went ahead to get overwhelmingly many votes. Support for his
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presidential bid could be seen as support to his ideologies. Indeed, during his tenure as president

there has been widespread of hate and racist Content.

The recent

Police brutality

Police brutality against Black men in particular, instigated the currently witnessed black lives

matter protests, where lots of black people took to the streets to condemn black killing and

harassments by police. Often, police officers approach any situation connected to a Black man

with apprehension and fear. White police officers see threats where they do not exist; they are

too quick to draw and as quick to fire to kill. Police have become synonymous with incidences of

harassment and intimidation, assault and battery, torture and murder, and even complicity with

the KKK
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