Is racism of the human nature, or just an institution that people have created?
Maxim Podolny
Ms. Salem, Ms. Brodsky, Ms. Reyes
English 9D
11 january, 2017
Maxim Podolny
Ms. Salem, Ms. Brodsky, Ms. Reyes
English 9D
11 January, 2017
My Story
A few years ago I used to live in Russia. It was a nice peaceful life for most of it. Everything seemed to be good in life until I went to my first school. That was the period of time that had changed my life.
On the first day of school I wasn’t let into the first homeroom of the year. It did seem weird to me by I decided to obey, back than I didn’t know how it should be working so I didn’t pay any attention. After waiting in the hallway for ten minutes I was finally let inside. I was met with staring, which was very awkward. People treated me weirdly, both teachers and other students. Sometimes I was bullied or teachers decided to punish me for no reason and that went on for two years.
In third grade one of my peers asked me to give him something that belonged to me, and I knew he didn’t intend to just borrow it. So answered him “No!”. Than suddenly the other kid suddenly yells “You greedy Jew!”. I didn’t know what that meant but I assumed it was offensive, so I decided to tell my parents. They told me that they never want me to talk to that kid again, and so I did.
As the year went on other kids started bullying me and calling me names. I started understanding what they were talking about, I was persecuted because of my religion. There were only a few people who didn’t treat me that way, my best and only true friend and my science teacher. They didn’t call me names and sometimes even protected me from other kids.
For a long time I couldn’t understand why I was treated this way, until soon I looked something up on the internet. I learnt how Jews were treated in the USSR and realized that many students had parents who lived during the USSR and most of the teachers too, which led me to understand it wasn’t their fault, but their time periods.
I was really glad to learn what the roots of those stereotypes and racism were. I can finally understand how slavery and opinions of different were born. I finally learnt that it is an issue that is not permanent and it can be solved, but people have to take action.
Maxim Podolny
Ms. Salem, Ms. Brodsky, Ms. Reyes
English 9D
11 January, 2017
In third grade one of my peers asked me to give him something that belonged to me, and I knew he didn’t intend to just borrow it. So answered him “No!”. Than suddenly the other kid suddenly yells “You greedy Jew!”. I didn’t know what that meant but I assumed it was offensive, so I decided to tell my parents. They told me that they never want me to talk to that kid again, and so I did.
As the year went on other kids started bullying me and calling me names. I started understanding what they were talking about, I was persecuted because of my religion. There were only a few people who didn’t treat me that way, my best and only true friend and my science teacher. They didn’t call me names and sometimes even protected me from other kids.
For a long time I couldn’t understand why I was treated this way, until soon I looked something up on the internet. I learnt how Jews were treated in the USSR and realized that many students had parents who lived during the USSR and most of the teachers too, which led me to understand it wasn’t their fault, but their time periods.
I was really glad to learn what the roots of those stereotypes and racism were. I can finally understand how slavery and opinions of different were born. I finally learnt that it is an issue that is not permanent and it can be solved, but people have to take action.
Maxim Podolny
Ms. Salem, Ms. Brodsky, Ms. Reyes
English 9D
11 January, 2017
The Black and White Racism Makes a Grey Area
Racism is a dilemma humanity has been facing for millenniums. Racism is an unequal treatment or judgment of people based on their race or ethnicity. It has caused many conflicts over different periods of time.
Communities today are facing racism and discrimination constantly, described by ncbi.nml. Generally, those communities have people of different color, people of minor groups, people of different ethnicity, their origin or race. There also was slavery all over the world, and some places still have it illegally,aAlike daily there are white people being extremely disrespectful to black people somewhere in the South of U.S.. Those are just a few of most common examples that are known.
Racism is so ancient that most people don’t even know how it originated. Where and how racism was formed, and who created such a system that it started seeming natural to most people? How did the seed of that institution sprout into something so horrible that so much conflict throughout history.
Was racism interpreted differently in the ancient times, and was racism even a term back then. How can people visualize racism now or back in the domination peak of the terrorist organisation, KKK. How are the groups that get discriminated against treated differently? Such as black people after the failure of the Reconstruction Era, which led to the Jim Crow laws.
Massive events were caused by all the hate, many of which were sometimes brutal. Take the Civil War, for example. Numbers of people that died in the civil war over slavery is saddening . Another example would be lynchings and murders that were caused by the KKK. Innocent people that had died for no cause.
After all of this horror, it is fair to ask, what is the cause of racism? Is racism of the human nature, or just an institution that people had created?
Origins of racism comes from ancient times. It spreads as far back in time as slave trade had been established, which existed from almost beginning of time. It was normal to enslave a loser of a war for example. This is a question a like what came first chicken or the egg.. According to the research of Alex Taylor from socialistworker.org ,“Racism isn't just an ideology but is an institution. And its origins don't lie in bad ideas or in human nature. Rather, racism originated with capitalism and the slave trade.” Slavery has been present with humanity for as long as there had been sizable civilizations which were dependant on slavery. Slaves were an essential part of those civilizations, though not all of the were forced. Many low class citizens had to sell themselves to pay taxes. As John Weirick mentions, “Foreigners would often be employed in bonded labor (enslavement to pay off debts, Jesus mentioned in it Matthew 18:21-35)...” It was legal to enslave people to repay debts.
Now it is time to answer how exactly racism was born. As slave trader brought in new slaves, he brought in new items for sales. The slaves were not considered people, but as property. Since people saw slavery as a piece of property, the slaves would be bought and sold. That caused a stereotype that all slaves are inferior to normal people. Which could explain how racism and discrimination had rooted out of slavery and ideology that slave traders set when they brought new slaves to the market. It made it look like some were just animals that need supervision. Meanwhile, it also was necessary for capitalism. If there are no slaves, you have to hire workers, and workers demand payment and food, while slaves only needed enough food for them to not die.
Slavery wasn’t the only thing that caused racism to appear reasonably. In the Bible, story of Noah’s Ark, Noah cursed Ham and Canaan for seeing Noah naked while he was drunk. Noah got very angry with Ham that he cursed Ham and Ham’s son Canaan. They and all their descendants were cursed to serve other brothers’ descendants, mainly because slaves were not thought as somebody who deserved equal treatment of a citizen.
In the Bible it is said that all africans are descendants of Canaan. Their skin color has turned black for being burned by Noah’s curse. Early Jews and Christian don’t have a clear vision of the curse, so they see Canaanites as evil and enslaved them. In 600 AD, Jewish and Christian religious leaders had changed a part of the story and added that three different sons of Noah had different descendants. Japheth’s descendants became the white Europeans, Shem’s descendants became Asian people, and finally Ham’s descendants all became the black African slaves. This explains how a stereotype of white supremacy and an excuse of slavery was created.
It can be seen, how it wasn’t people’s nature to enslave people, but rather an excuse created by them to get easy workforces. And according to Social Worker, it came from capitalism and need of workers. It was integrated into the system of life in various ways like the Bible.
According to a history teacher in WBAIS, Sharna Marcus, back in the ancient times racism wasn’t a concept that was very concerning. It was a straightforward thing. It wasn’t something that was a public problem. Racisms was not even a concept until 1930s. In the ancient times there were three reasons why a person might be a slave. You might have been conquered in a war, have to pay off your debts or pay taxes in such a way. If your were and immigrant, you were found inferior as you are not from the conquering race. In the present time it usually stays under the surface and is no longer supported by the law. It is a system created by people which causes issues such as payment gaps and inferior treatment. Because racisms is not public anymore and stays mostly under the service, it causes larger conflicts such as riots. It is a self justification of people but not nature.
In present time communities a person's race defines your treatment, especially by police. Black teenager will have different treatment from the police or the public. If a white teen will be caught smoking marijuana their punishment will be a lot lighter than a black teens. It is the old system that was created of self justification of people with different skin color are worse than them. It is not a nature but just a justification. People can still change it though. Integration is the best and only way that can do so. WBAIS is an example of beginning integration but still isn’t enough. Many communities never meet but have stereotypes about each other. Public integration, that wouldn't be forced, is the solution of solving this racial discrimination as it would show people their lack of difference, suggests Sharna Marcus.
In present time communities a person's race defines your treatment, especially by police. Black teenager will have different treatment from the police or the public. If a white teen will be caught smoking marijuana their punishment will be a lot lighter than a black teens. It is the old system that was created of self justification of people with different skin color are worse than them. It is not a nature but just a justification. People can still change it though. Integration is the best and only way that can do so. WBAIS is an example of beginning integration but still isn’t enough. Many communities never meet but have stereotypes about each other. Public integration, that wouldn't be forced, is the solution of solving this racial discrimination as it would show people their lack of difference, suggests Sharna Marcus.
Though present time treatment, can’t be compared to what African Americans had faced in 1924. This was the period of time when a terrorist organisation, the Ku Klux Klan, was at its peak of known power. They were constantly destroying property and killing African Americans and Jews or other races that weren’t thought to be supreme. Many people had not just ignored this, but they also supported it. People were happy to lynch black people and Jews during that time period.
The Ku Klux Klan had originally formed as a fraternal social club . The klan had rose back to power three times. The first klan was created by six former officers from the Confederate Army in 1865-1866. It had used assassinations and violence to suppress black political establishment. After some time, more groups had rose and adopted klan’s methods and name. It had declined because of its internal weakness.
The second klan was founded in Atlanta in 1921. The klan had adopted the business system. Recruiters were paid, which made them appear to new members as a fraternal organization, and organizers were paid through initial fees. Unlike the first klan, it had a good structure and organization. There were approximately 4-5 million white supremacists part of the klan, It had wanted “One Hundred Percent Americanism”. For example, it had opposed colored, catholics, Jews and new Southern Europeans. It had seized to exist in such size in 1940’s.
The third rise of the klan was in 1950’s and 60’s, and was opposing the Civil Rights movement. Several members of the klan were convicted for assassinating Civil Right workers. The klan, as of 2016, had about 30 klan groups that are still active. The exact number of supporters and associates of the klan is unknown, but is estimated to be around 3,000-8,000 people. In the end the group was did exist, but was no longer approved by the majority. It shows how integration in those periods of time had declined the racist views of many.
It can be observed that racism in the past wasn’t nearly as weak, because then there weren’t any human rights systems or equality. It was set, if a person is a slave and not because of your race and because your country or civilization were conquered. Meanwhile today, race of a person can determine every aspect of their life. It is greater importance than most other aspects. This institution created by people that has caused death and suffering for long. It wasn’t part of the human nature, but people made this justification seem natural and right. It was not intended to exist, but was created by human
Such racism cannot pass without consequences and events. Those consequences had led to some massive changes. Some of them were positive, though some weren’t. Such examples of of two kinds of events are the brutal consequences and events of the American Civil War.
The American Civil War was definitely one of the most brutal wars of the world history. It started when Republican, Abraham Lincoln, was elected as the new president of United States. Eleven Southern states, who called themselves the Confederate States, had seceded because they had a fear of losing their slaves. Most people in the South, they thought were fighting for independence and their rights. They didn’t know that and thought they were fighting for their independence. Slavery in US had existed for approximately 100 years. It made it seem like there is no other way of living without it. . Owning slaves was just a privilege that rich people could afford. All of that in the end led to the death of 620,000 people. Even though the war led to abolishment of slavery, it had led to some very desperate times, such as the Great Depression and the Southern Reconstruction. Those factors didn’t bring a the most goodness. The effects of these events were the roots of many other issues.
On the bright side, one of positive effect was the Civil Rights Movement. It had led to the equality between races, ethnic groups, genders, and more. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., it had taken for 15 years until the movement had ended, but it was worth it. The end of segregation and to give groups of people who were not treated equal was the targeted. The Civil Rights Movement had started in 1954, after a black woman named Rosa Parks refused to give up her sit for a white man, which meant she refused to obey the law, so she was arrested for civil disobedience. This started the Montgomery bus boycott, which meant that no black person would ride the bus in the entire city. It had lasted over a year. After the government gave up, black people were allowed to sit anywhere in the bus. After 15 years of fighting the system by peaceful protests, segregation was outlawed and made illegal. Even though it didn’t work instantly and had to be enforced in many places, equality was achieved after so long. It can be clearly seen that racism, discrimination, and segregation are just institutions. Racism, discrimination, and segregation are all outlawed in most of the world, but still exist in many places on a smaller scale, they were outlawed as a system that was no longer true to people and stopped seeming natural.
In concluded, it can be seen, racism is not a part of human nature. It was caused because of capitalism, and supported by the governments and religion., which all are also systems that were created by humans. Racism wasn’t something that even existed during ancient time when there were slaves everywhere. How do people remove those ideals that people had created so long ago that shows as an ideology. If it would have been a part of human nature, we wouldn’t be able to end it. Just like slavery was stopped during the Civil War, or segregation by the Civil Rights Movement. It has been used for financial profit.People needed product to sell or they needed workforce. So in the end, people are the ones who had created this system which was just a justification for themselves.
Work Cited
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Chalmers, David Mark. Hooded Americanism: the History of the Ku Klux Klan. Duke University Press, 2007.
Church, NewSpring. “What Does the Bible Say about Racism?” NewSpring Church, John Weirick, newspring.cc/articles/is-racism-a-sin.
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Sharna Marcus. Personal interview. January 10, 2018.
Sharna Marcus. Personal interview. January 10, 2018.
“Slavery.” Slavery in Ancient Rome | UNRV.com, www.unrv.com/slavery.php.
Taylor & Francis, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00438240500509819?src=recsys&journalCode=rwar20
Taylor, Alex. “The Roots of Racism.” The Roots of Racism, 22 Nov. 2002, socialistworker.org/2002-2/431/431_08_Racism.shtml.
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