Wikipedia

Racism

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Assuming that character and abilities of an individual substantially depend on racial or ethnic stereotypes is race prejudice, and granting or withholding rights or privileges based on such stereotypes is racially discriminatory prejudice. The term racism sometimes is used to mean a strong and persistent bias or inclination towards these attitudes.

A Black person drinks out of a water fountain designated for black people in 1939 at a streetcar terminal.

Some believe that the term also is often used incorrectly by supporters of cultural relativism and political correctness to stigmatise their adversaries.

Since the last quarter of the 20th century, there have been few in developed nations who describe themselves as racist, so that identification of a group or person as racist is nearly always controversial. Racism is recognised by many as an affront to basic human dignity and a violation of human rights. A number of international treaties have sought to end racism. The United Nations uses a definition of racist discrimination laid out in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and adopted in 1965:

...any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. [1]

Racism is a controversial issue. Whether there is any validity to the concept of human races is an issue that is discussed in the article Validity of human races. The issue of how and if past practices might be remedied is discussed in Affirmative action, reverse discrimination, and, briefly, in the reparations section of the article on slavery.

There are far fewer occurences of racism in areas where the population is more highly educated. It is documented that higher cases of racism occur in those regions of the United States where the inhabitants have a low level of education, tied to a low level of tolerance of those whose physical appearances are different than themselves, as a means to feel a false sense of superiority to feed their insecurities.

From "racial theory" to "racism"

Before considering racism, it is an important methodological point to distinguish historically when the concept of "racism" became known as such. Historians disagree largely when "race" emerged as a concept, ranging from those who believe aspects of it have always existed among humans, to those who place it as a concept separate from general distrust of "difference" (in which case it emerged either in the Age of Exploration or even as late as the 19th century). In any event, the division of people into discrete groups, usually based on external anatomical features or assumed geographic origin, and theories about how many "races" there were, and theories of how to "rank" these races against each other, existed long before they acquired any sort of distinct stigma against them. During the late-19th century, a number of thinkers emphasized that these views were morally and ethically unjust, but this was a significantly minority opinion. Even those who opposed institutions such as slavery often did so not on the basis of equality of races, but on overall equality in treatment of "mankind".

In the 20th century, however, there began a growth of thought that theories of racial "superiority" and "inferiority" were inherently problematic and wrong. Much of the discourse relating to racial theory of this sort came out of the United States in the years after the American Civil War, while European thinkers began to think of people in terms of linguistic "nations" more than they did "races." The term "racism", according to the Oxford English Dictionary, emerged in the early 1930s as distinct from the "theories of race" which had existed for at least a hundred years before that.

A turning point in racial thinking came with the rise of Adolf Hitler's Nazism, which built much of its political agenda upon the rhetoric of anti-Semitism and overt statements of racial superiority and inferiority. Full opposition to these ideas did not begin until the outbreak of World War II, and a large part of Allied propaganda efforts were in labeling Nazi Germany as a "racist" state, and distinguishing their own states from them. By the end of the war, the association of racism with the Nazis, and the genocidal policies they undertook, thoroughly established the meme that "racism" was something to be opposed. In the United States, the experience of the Civil Rights Movement further emphasized this point. At the present time, "racism" is now seen as something entirely to be opposed by almost all mainstream voices, though there is little agreement over what is "racism". It is worth remembering, when looking at examples of current concepts of "racism" is a relatively recent experience. In hindsight, many eminent scientists, philosophers, and statesmen appear "racist" by late-20th century standards, though the recognition of the historical nature of these judgements exonerates these figures or governments for their ideas or actions.

Origins of racism

One view of the origins of racism emphasizes stereotypes, which psychologists generally believe are influenced by cultural factors. People generally respond to others differently based on what they know, which may include superficial characteristics often associated with race. A "white" person walking after dark in a primarily "black" neighborhood in an American city might be anxious for a combination of reasons. The same may be said for an African-American walking in a white neighborhood. A police officer who spends most of his day in that same city encountering criminality or hostility among people of a certain ethnic background might be expected to react negatively to a member of that same ethnic group whom he meets off-duty. A law-abiding African-American man is less likely than a law-abiding white man to view that same police officer as an ally and protector, and more as a threat to his or her personal safety and well-being because of a history in the U.S. of police authority and force being used discriminatorily, and more frequently with unjustified, deadly force against African-Americans. In both sets of cases, theories of conditioning may apply.

A famous experiment in cognitive psychology showed that the majority of Americans would remember a lower-status "black" man as having a knife in his hand, after viewing a picture which, in fact, showed a "white" man in a suit with a knife facing this lower-status man.

Debates over the origins of racism often suffer from a lack of clarity over the term. Many use the term "racism" to refer to more general phenomena, such as xenophobia and ethnocentrism. Others conflate recent forms of racism with earlier forms of ethnic and national conflict. In most cases, ethno-national conflict seems to owe to conflict over land and strategic resources. In some cases ethnicity and nationalism were harnessed to rally combatants in wars between great religious empires (for example, the Muslim Turks and the Catholic Austro-Hungarians). As Benedict Anderson has suggested in Imagined Communities, ethnic identity and ethno-nationalism became a source of conflict within such empires with the rise of print-capitalism.

Notions of race and racism, however, often have played central roles in such conflicts. Historically, when an adversary is identified as "other" based on notions of race or ethnicity particularly when "other" is construed to mean "inferior" the means employed by the self-presumed "superior" party to appropriate territory, human chattel, or gold or other material wealth often have been more ruthless, more brutal and less constrained by moral or ethical considerations. Indeed, based on such racist presumptions, the political or moral decision to enter into armed conflict can be made less weighty when one's potential adversaries are "other than," because their lives are perceived as having lesser importance, lesser value. In history, some examples of the brutalizing and dehumanizing effects of racism, are: the trading of smallpox-infested blankets among Native Americans as a weapon of bioterror in order to reduce their population.

In the western world, racism evolved, twinned with the doctrine of white supremacy, and helped fuel the European exploration, conquest, and colonization of much of the rest of the world -- especially after Christopher Columbus reached the Americas. As new peoples were encountered, fought, and ultimately subdued, theories about "race" began to develop, and these helped many to justify the differences in position and treatment of people whom they categorized as belonging to different races (see Eric Wolf's Europe and the People Without History). Some people like Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda even argued that the Native Americans were natural slaves. In Asia, the Chinese and Japanese Empires were both strong colonial powers, with the Chinese making colonies and vassal states of much of mainland Asia, and the Japanese doing the same in the west Pacific. In both cases, the Asian imperial powers believed they were ethnically and racially superior to their vassals, and entitled to be their masters.

Expressions

Racism may be expressed individually and consciously, through explicit thoughts, feelings, or acts, or socially and unconsciously, through institutions that promote inequalities among "races". Although some speakers attempt to express a semantic distinction by using the word racism rather than racialism (or vice versa), many treat the terms as synonymous (see below).

Racism may be divided in three major subcategories: individual racism, structural racism, and ideological racism.

Examples of individual racism include an employer not hiring a person, failing to promote or giving harsher duties or imposing harsher working conditions, or firing, someone, in whole or in part due to his race.

Researchers at the University of Chicago (Marianne Bertrand) and Harvard University (Sendhil Mullainathan) found in a 2003 study that there was widespread discrimination in the workplace against job applicants whose names were merely perceived as "sounding black." These applicants were 50% less likely than candidates perceived as having "white-sounding names" to receive callbacks for interviews, no matter their level of previous experience. Results were stronger for higher quality resumes. The researchers view these results as strong evidence of unconscious biases rooted in the country's long history of discrimination. This is an example of structural racism, because it shows a widespread established belief system. Another example is apartheid in South Africa, and the system of Jim Crow laws in the United States of America. Another source is lending inequities of banks, and so-called redlining.

Racism is usually directed against a minority population, but may also be directed against a majority population. Examples include racial apartheid in South Africa, wherein whites (a minority) discriminated against blacks (a majority); this form of racism also occurred during the former colonial rule of such countries as Vietnam (by France) and India (by the United Kingdom).

"Reverse racism" is a controversial concept; it refers to a form of discrimination against a dominant group. In the United States, many people, mostly conservatives, criticize policies such as affirmative action as an example of reverse racism. They say that these policies are race-based discrimination. Supporters of affirmative action argue that affirmative action policies counteract a systemic and cultural racism by providing a balancing force, and that affirmative action does not qualify as racist because the policies are enacted by politicians (who are mostly part of the white majority in the United States) and directed towards their own race. In any event, reverse racism does exist, as many "minorities" have the economic and social power to deny white entry into certain positions, particularly when the former own their own businesses.

In addition, some white people believe that political correctness has led to a denigration of the white race, through perceived special attention paid to minority races. For example, they consider the existence of Black History Month (February) but not a White History Month, Amerindian History Month, or Asian History Month to be de facto racism directed at the majority and non-black minorities. Yet again, others argue that the lack of a White History Month is due to the fact that much of the school year is devoted to teaching history from a Eurocentric perspective.

Racial discrimination is and has been official government policy in many countries. In the 1970s, Uganda expelled tens of thousands of ethnic Indians. Until 2003, Malaysia enforced discriminatory policies limiting access to university education for ethnic Chinese and Indian students who are citizens by birth of Malaysia, and many other policies explicitly favoring bumiputras (Malays) remain in force. Russia launched anti-Semitic pogroms against Jews in 1905 and after. During the 1930s and 1940s, attempts were made to prevent Jews from immigrating to the Middle East. Following the creation of Israel, land-ownership in many Israeli towns was limited to Jews, and many Muslim countries expelled Jewish Arabs and continue to refuse entry to Jews.

In the United States, racial profiling of minorities by law enforcement officials is a controversial subject. Some people consider this to be a form of racism. Some claim that profiling young Arab male fliers at airports will only lead to increased recruitment of older, non-Arab, and female terrorists, as well as Arab males who might be mistaken for white males. Many critics of racial profiling claim that it is an unconstitutional practice because it amounts to questioning individuals on the basis of what crimes they might commit or could possibly commit, instead of what crimes they have actually committed. See the article on racial profiling for more information on this dispute.

Racism by country

In 19th century Europe and America, some scientists developed various theories about biological differences among races, and these theories were in turn used to legitimize racist beliefs and practices. Much of this work has since been rejected by the scientific community as flawed and even as pseudoscience.

Today there are some scientists who claim that "race", in the general sense in which the term is used, is a social construct: the way in which individuals are classified into racial groups varies from person to person, and from place to place, and from time to time. These scientists say that superficial characteristics which are associated with racial groupings are poor predictors of genetic variability. There can be more genetic variation within a racial grouping than between two racial groupings. They also point to the lack of well-defined boundaries to racial classifications; for example characteristics such as skin colour and facial appearance can be shown to vary as a continuum from place to place. Other scientists counter that "sex" and "species" are likewise seen by some as socially constructed. After all, humans and chimpanzees (or males and females) are far more genetically alike than different. According to this view, categories need not be absolute in order to have scientific utility.

Australia

See White Australia Policy and Terra nullius.

Canada

While Canada often depicts its society as being a very progressive, tolerant, diverse, and multicultural nation, Canada also has its own history of racism. Although the historical records are not very clear at the very beginnings of the country's history, one can argue that the first event of racism in Canada occurred during the first trip of Jacques Cartier in 1534, when he brought back two Iroquois more or less against their will to France, which greatly amused the French royal court. Later, although still not very clearly recognised in the mainstream culture (where it is more seen as territorial wars), much racism occurred between the French and the First Nations people, between First Nations tribes themselves (fuelled by alliances of certain tribes with the French, and others with the English), between the English and the First Nations, and between the English and the French. Although the country's history was influenced greatly by these wars, the relationships between all those ethnicities has changed a lot since the beginning of European settlement in Canada.

Moreover, there are notable records of slavery in Canada in the 1700s. More than half of all Canadian slaves were aboriginal. In 1793, Upper Canada governor John Graves Simcoe passed a bill making it illegal to bring a person into the colony for the purposes of enslavement, and slavery was fully outlawed in 1834.

In the middle to late 18th century, Canada was a destination for many escaped African American slaves on the Underground Railroad. Many of the former slaves settled in Western Ontario, in communities such as Windsor, Chatham and Buxton, and in Nova Scotia, notably in the town of Africville. Black settlers such as Mary Ann Shadd and Josiah Henson made notable contributions to Canadian history.

Starting in 1858, Chinese "coolies" were brought to Canada to work in the mines and on the Canadian Pacific Railway. However, they were denied by law the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote, and in the 1880s, "head taxes" were implemented to curtail immigration from China. In 1907, a riot in Vancouver targeted Chinese and Japanese-owned businesses. In 1923, the federal government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, commonly known as the Exclusion Act, prohibiting further Chinese immigration except under "special circumstances". The Exclusion Act was repealed in 1947, the same year in which Chinese Canadians were finally given the right to vote.

Restrictions still existed on immigration from Asia. In 1967, these restrictions were repealed and Asian immigrants were given the same rights as any other group. In 1999, Adrienne Clarkson, the child of Chinese immigrants who moved to Canada in 1942 under the "special circumstances" clause, became Governor General of Canada. Japanese Canadians were also subject to anti-Asian racism, particularly during World War II when many Canadians of Japanese heritage -- even those who were born in Canada -- were forcibly moved to internment camps. The government of Canada officially made restitution for the treatment of Japanese Canadians in 1988.

However, racism in Canada has not only been connected to immigration. French Canadians, including Acadians, Québécois and Franco-ontarians, and aboriginals have also been subject to discriminatory treatment in Canada. However, having French recognised as an official language was seen as a step towards today's multiculturalism.

Notable racist organizations in Canadian history have included the Parti national social chrétien, and the Heritage Front. Other notable individuals in the history of Canadian racism include Adrien Arcand, Ernst Zündel, Doug Christie, Wolfgang Droege and Don Andrews.

Germany

Nazi Germany

 
An illustration to the Nuremberg Laws

The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 used a pseudo-scientific basis for racial discrimination against Jews. People with four German grandparents (white circles) were of "German blood." While people were classified as Jews if they descended from three or more Jewish grandparents (black circles in top row right). One or more Jewish grandparents made someone "mixed blood." Since there are no actual racial differences, the Nazi's used the religious observence of a person's grandparents to determine their "race." (1935 Chart from Nazi Germany used to explain the Nuremberg Laws)

See also:

Ireland

Traditionally there has been very little immigration by non-whites to the Republic of Ireland due to its relative poverty, though in recent times growing prosperity in the country (see: Celtic Tiger) has attracted increasing numbers of immigrants, mainly from Africa, China, Eastern Europe. Descendents of Irish people who emigrated in the past have also started moving to the country. Most immigrants have settled in Dublin and the other cities. Though these developments have been accepted or tolerated by most, there has been a rise in racist attitudes among some sections of society. Though this mostly takes the form of verbal and other petty abuses, occasionally the reaction has been more extreme: in January 2002 Zhao Liutao, a Chinese immigrant, was beaten up by a group of youths in north Dublin. He later died in hospital, in what has been called Ireland's first racially-motivated murder.

Several issues realting to immigration have gained widespread publicity in recent years. Prior to 200 any baby born in the Republic was entitled to Irish citizenship. This led to many pregnant women from Africa and elsewhere travelling to Ireland to give birth and thus allowing their child to gain Irish citizenship. Following a referendum on the issue the policy was overturned. In 2005 Nigerian student Olukunle Elukanlo was deported after his asylum application failed, despite the fact that he had not yet completed his exams. Following an outcry at the descision he was allowed to return to complete his exams. The issue highlighted the growing numbers of failed asylum seekers been deported, and issue which is often controversial.

There are several anti-racism groups active in the Republic, as well as those seeking tighter immigration laws such as the Immigration Control Platform.

Japan

Racism in Japan has typically been directed at the ethnically non-Japanese Asians living in Japan (Koreans, Chinese, Indians, etc.), as well as emmigrated black and white people. Racism towards ethnically non-Japanese Asians is rooted in the thought that Japanese are superior to all other Asian races. Historical cases of racism in the past include the killing of perhaps 6,000 ethnic Chinese and Koreans by Japanese rioters during the earthquake of Kanto in 1923. One oft-cited case of racism in Japan today is the outright refusal to rent an apartment, simply because the applicant was not Japanese. (However, this has been claimed to be due to the belief that foreigners are generally louder and rowdier than Japanese, which is very often the case with tourists in Japan.) Other common cases are the refusal of employment of ethnic Koreans or Chinese, even though they lived their entire lives in Japan. To avoid racism, many ethnic Koreans in particular use Japanese names publicly and generally hide their ethnicity. Ethnic Koreans and Chinese who apply for Japanese citizenship are forced to adopt Japanese names, akin to the forced name-changing of Koreans during the colonization of Korea by Japan from 1910 to 1945; Japanese government agents were also known to check for kimchi in the houses of ethnic Korean applicants, and would reject the application if any kimchi was found. In general, however, the Japanese government as well as the Japanese population do not address this problem or even recognize it, turning a blind eye in general.

Racism can also be clearly seen in the rhetoric of nationalistic politicians, most famously that of Tokyo's governor, Shintaro Ishihara, who has made many racist remarks towards Koreans, Chinese, blacks, Latinos, and even French in the past, and also co-published The Japan that Can Say No. However, he is in general well-supported by the Japanese public, showing either ignorance or apathy about the remaining racism in Japan.

Besides racism towards ethnic non-Japanese, discrimination also occurs to the so-called Burakumin, who although are ethnic Japanese citizens, are seen as the lowest level of Japanese society; Burakumin identity is often second-guessed by employers who know that certain areas of Japan have large proportions of Burakumin. Similarly, ethnic Koreans often live in large proportions in certain areas of Japan; the greatest is Ikuno-Ku in Kansai.

New Zealand

Although New Zealand did not have an official policy along the lines of the White Australia Policy, it did impose a poll tax on Chinese immigrants during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The poll tax was effectively lifted in the 1930s following the invasion of China by Japan, and was finally repealed in 1944.

After World War II, immigration policy remained largely Eurocentric until the mid-1980s, although war refugees and non-Anglo-Celtic migrants were allowed in the country in limited numbers. In the 1975 election campaign, opposition leader Robert Muldoon ran a scare campaign directed against Pacific Islands migrant workers, which was followed by a series of dawn raids on suspected overstayers. Land issues came to a head in the late 1970s with Maori protesters occupying the Raglan Golf Course and Bastion Point, with land claims on both being settled by the following decade.

In 1986, country-of-origin rules were abolished, leading to major inflows of immigration for the first time in years. However, anti-immigration rhetoric from Winston Peters has since forced immigration rules to be tightened.

United Kingdom

 
This postcard from the 1900s depicts an Englishman calling "BOY!" to a Chinaman to bring him a drink. The caption reads "The Call of the East".

There were race riots across the United Kingdom in 1919: South Shields, Glasgow, London's East End, Liverpool, Cardiff, Barry, and Newport. There were further riots by immigrant and minority populations in East London during the 1930s, Notting Hill in the 1950s, and Brixton, Toxteth and Blackbird Leys, Oxford in the 1980s. More recently, there have been riots in Bradford and Oldham. These riots have followed cases of perceived racism - either the public displays of racist sentiment (including crimes against members of ethnic minorities which were subsequently ignored by the authorities), or, as in the Brixton and Toxteth riots, racial profiling and alleged harassment by the police force.

Racism in one form or another was widespread in Britain before the twentieth century, and during the 1900s particularly towards Jewish groups and immigrants from Eastern Europe. The English establishment even considered the Irish a separate and degenerate race until well into the 19th Century. Since World War I, public expressions of white supremacism have been limited to far-right political parties such as the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s and the British National Front in the 1970s, whilst most mainstream politicians have publicly condemned all forms of racism. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that racism remains widespread, and some politicians and public figures have been accused of excusing or pandering to racist attitudes in the media, particularly with regard to immigration. There have been growing concerns in recent years about institutional racism in public and private bodies, and the tacit support this gives to crimes resulting from racism, such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Gavin Hopely and Ross Parker.

The Race Relations Act 1965 outlawed public discrimination, and established the Race Relations Board. Further Acts in 1968 and 1976 outlawed discrimination in employment, housing and social services, and replaced the Race Relations Board with Commission for Racial Equality. The Human Rights Act 1999 made organizations in Britain, including public authorities, subject to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Race Relations Act 2000 extends existing legislation for the public sector to the police force, and requires public authorities to promote equality.

There have been tensions over immigration since at least the early 1900s. These were originally engendered by hostility towards Jews and immigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe. Britain first began restricting immigration in 1905 and has also had very strong limits on immigration since the early 1960s. Legislation was particularly targeted at members of the British Commonwealth, who had previously been able to migrate to the UK under the British Nationality Act 1948. Virtually all legal immigration, except for those claiming refugee status, ended with the Immigration Act 1971; however, free movement for citizens of the European Union was later established by the Immigration Act 1988. Legislation in 1993, 1996 and 1999 gradually decreased the rights and benefits given to those claiming refugee statues ("asylum seekers"). A further government Act in 2002 gave Britain the most restrictive immigration laws of any country in the European Union.

Some commentators believe that a huge amount of racism has been undocumented within the UK, adducing the many British cities whose populations have a clear racial divide. While these commentators believe that race relations have improved immensely over the last thirty years, they still believe that racial segregation remains an important but largely unaddressed problem.

Northern Ireland

Racism in the United Kingdom is particularly acute in Northern Ireland. Despite having the smallest numbers of non-whites in the UK it has the highest levels of racist violence in the country (racially motivated attacks are at 16.4% per 1000 of the minority population, whilst in England and Wales the figures is 12.6%).

Traditionally there has been segregration, hatred and violence between Norhtern Ireland's two main communities: the Unionists/Loyalists, mostly Protestant, who want to remain within the UK and Nationalists/Republicans, mostly Catholic, who want a united Ireland. Following the partition of Ireland and the creation of Northern ireland the government of the province was controlled by and for Protestants, with a policy of systematic discrimination against Catholcis, who formed roughly 1/3 of the population. This eventually erupted in 'the Troubles' in 1968, which saw a renemwed campaign of IRA activity, rioting, Loyalist paramilitary violence, the presence of British soldiers and the fostering of extreme sectarianism.

More recently non-white people, especially Chinese, have started to live in the province, primarily in the captial Belfast. Northern Ireland is 99% white, and racism against non-white communities is endemic, earning it the nickname 'the race hate capital of Europe.' Discrimination takes many forms such as the spraying of racist graffiti, intimidation, systematic intimidation with the aim or forcing out non-whites, assaults, general harrassment, protection racketing, vandalism, house burning etc. Attempts to build a mosque in Belfast was met by much opposition - the plan was eventually dropped.

United States of America

Main article: Racism in the United States
 
This racist postcard from the 1900s shows a casual denegration of black women.

In colonial America, before colonial slavery became completely based on racial lines, thousands of African slaves served whites, alongside other whites serving a term of indentured servitude. In some cases for African slaves, a term of service meant freedom and a land grant afterward, but these were rarely awarded, and few black Africans became landowners this way. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon led a revolt against the Governor of Virginia and the system of exploitation he represented: exploitation of poorer colonists by the increasingly wealthy landowners. However, Bacon died, probably of dysentery, and the revolt lost steam.

The central cause of concern to landowners was the unity of Bacon's populist movement. It raised the question to the landowners of how to divide the population politically in ways that would keep the poorer colonists divided enough to rule. To the Governor, the most threatening, and unexpected, aspect of Bacon's rebellion was its multi-racial aspect. So from that time on, the wealthy landowners determined that only Africans would be used as slaves - and white colonists were promised whatever benefits would have gone to Africans had they continued to be indentured servants. This change began the infamously long period of the American slave society, in which slaves were primarily used for agricultural labor, notably in the production of cotton and tobacco. Black slavery in the Northeast was less common, usually confined to involuntary domestic servitude. The social rift along color lines soon became engrained in every aspect of colonial American culture.

Slavery in the Confederate states of America officially ended with the Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued on January 1, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln. Slavery ended in the whole country with the 13th Amendment which was declared ratified on December 18, 1865. Despite this, remnants of racism continued in the United States with the existence of Jim Crow laws, educational disparities and widespread criminal acts perpetrated by local and vigilante groups.

In the 1950's and 1960's a mass based movement of predominately African Americans capitalizing on the gains made by the New Deal engaged in a series of local movements, national lobbying and legal attacks on segregation and discrimination. These groups included the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, The Congress of Racial Equality, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and a variety of local groups and labor unions. This movement culminated in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" - Martin Luther King, "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C. (28 August, 1963).

While the relationship between races in the United States has largely been limited to that between whites and blacks, the changing racial makeup of the American population at the beginning of the 21st century has caused many voices to call for the inclusion of other races in the equation. It is estimated that by 2050, whites in America will comprise less than 50% of the total population (Hispanics, for example will acount for 25 % of the US population). The relationship between races in the US is therefore being redefined to include Hispanics and Asian Americans, the fastest growing ethnic groups.

South Africa

See History of South Africa in the Apartheid Era.

Switzerland

A recent official research report of the Federal Commission against Racism (Bern, Switzerland) revealed both public and officials in Switzerland to exhibit a high degree of widespread racism. The international and national public had denied this so far and typically labelled few incidents as "exceptions" in order to downplay the issue. Racism based on skin colour in Switzerland, however, is by no means exceptional, and it affects immigrants even decades after their immigration. Racism based on skin colour today is a widely accepted norm in Switzerland, as incidents remain mostly without consequence. Immigrants have also labelled the Swiss way of integrating dark skinned foreigners as 'silent apartheid'. Apartheid is silent partly because Black people are typically discouraged to speak about such incidents. They are targeted by police and intimidated by authorities, which is one of the reasons leading to only a few incidents being reported. They experience frequent public humiliation and hate stares. Seats in public transport are typically left empty next to a Black person. Black people in Switzerland are also denied jobs on an openly declared basis of the color of their skin. Job promotion is a huge issue as Black people are mostly denied a higher position in their company, and if they manage to occupy a higher position, they are under harsh scrutiny. A Black person may well be jailed with a broken jaw and not receive the same medical attention as another prisoner. Neither the public nor officials, by and large, see Black people as a diverse group that features of a whole range of nationalities, cultures, languages, political attitudes and religion. The report concludes that it would be good to alert Black people to this issue about Switzerland, as up to the release of this report, many people assumed Switzerland to be free of racism.

Zimbabwe

Until majority rule in 1980, the minority white government of Rhodesia (as Zimbabwe was then called) practised institutionalised racism similar in a few respects to the apartheid system in South Africa. White Rhodesians "lived in the best houses, owned most of the best land, enjoyed a high standard of living and controlled the executive, the legislature, the judiciary and the means of coercion." (Godwin, P. & Hancock, I., 1993. Rhodesians never Die, Baobab Books, Harare, Zimbabwe.) Twenty years later, in 2000, Robert Mugabe's government began an often violent, forced land reform process directed against white farmers, the market dominant minority. In 2001 Zimbabwean Vice-President Joseph Msika declared "Whites are not human beings.". (The Guardian, London, 15 August 2001.)

Some examples of specific types of alleged racism

  • Afrocentrism - the belief that black African cultures were historically more powerful and influential than most historians believe, or that certain ancient civilizations were created or maintained by black Africans
  • Anti-Arabism - racism and cultural stereotyping directed towards Arabs.
  • Anti-Semitism - racism directed towards followers of the Jewish faith or people of Jewish ethnicity, the latter often including those who follow other faiths.
  • Apartheid - a now defunct, white supremacist system that once existed in South Africa, in which Whites, Blacks and "Coloureds" (i.e. people of mixed race) were segregated; some refer to current Israeli policies towards Palestinians as apartheid as well.
  • Black supremacy - the belief that those of African descent are the superior race.
  • Bumiputra - A system whereby Malays are accorded economic privileges not available to those of other races.
  • Caste system - (not always considered racist) A system of social hierarchy among various social groups, such as in India often stratified along color lines, with the darkest individuals being members of the most subordinate caste - each assigned a specific occupation and social role. (See also Dalit (outcaste).)
  • Colonialism - a practice of the imperial powers of Europe and Asia, wherein foreign territories were subjugated and minority ruling classes were installed to exploit the natural and human resources of the territory. Although not explicitly racist by intent, negative consequences due to racism nearly always resulted.
  • Colorism - a bias against dark skin resulting from an internalization of white racist values, manifested in such things as the paper bag test. There seems to be an implicit calculus behind this belief that makes the worth of an individual inversely related to the darkness of his/her skin.
  • Cultural genocide is a term used to describe the deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage of a people for political or military reasons.
  • Ethnic cleansing - the intentional and systematic relocation and/or elimination of different ethnicities to produce an ethnicly "pure" territory or country - for example, recent history in the former Yugoslavia
  • Eurocentrism - the practice of historically and culturally focusing on white Europeans, to the exclusion of study, or even mention of, significant achievements of other groups of people; and often the appropriation of achievements of people of color as being European in origin
  • Genocide - the intentional and systematic elimination of different races to produce an racially "pure" territory or country - for example, the history of the Third Reich
  • Institutionalized Racism - the process of purposely discriminating against certain groups of people through the use of biased laws or practices. Often, institutionalized racism is subtle and manifests itself in seemingly innocuous ways, but its effects are anything but subtle. An example of this type of racism is the redlining of districts to keep certain people from moving in to a new neighborhood, pervasive in the financial industry in the 1950s and 60s.
  • Interracial fetish - a sexual fetish involving stereotypes of cultural behaviors in a fetishistic manner. Coercion and dominance are recurring themes. Additionally, this is sometimes considered misogynistic as well as racist. Not surprisingly, there is no shortage of pornographic material that has been produced catering expressly to this attitude.
  • Manifest Destiny - a historical form of the belief that asserted that white Americans had the right and duty to colonize the West and "civilize" the Native American inhabitants.
  • Model Minority - stereotype that Asian Americans are intelligent and hardworking and should serve as a "model" for other minorities in the United States
  • Nazism (National Socialism) - a historical form of political organization coupled with extreme racism, that directed its energies against the Jews, Roma (the so-called Gypsies), Poles, Russians and other Slavs, among other groups. Some adherents of Nazi ideology continue to exist today.
  • Racial purity - the belief that the various so-called races should be kept "pure" by not permitting interbreeding
  • Racial segregation - the discriminatory practice of separating groups in society along racial lines, often associated with privilege, power and entitlement for a dominant group and disdvantage and oppression for the subordinate one.
  • Redlining - the practice of denying marginalized communities services (such as food delivery or taxi service), or access to home or business loans allowing residents to build equity and have a financial stake in their own communities, or refusal to locate businesses or other services in marginalized communities (such as supermarkets, banks, or bus and subway routes).
  • Reverse discrimination or reverse racism - the belief that measures designed to correct alleged racism, such as Affirmative action, have in fact simply created new racist policies against the dominant groups. This is a highly controversial idea.
  • Scientific racism
  • White flight - the practice of white residents abandoning a neighborhood or area due to the arrival of black or other residents, often weakening the tax base and reducing public services. The practice is also known as the tipping point.
  • White man's burden - the belief once held by Europeans that they were obligated to civilize and "correct" the great unwashed heathen masses of the world. Although considered a noble mission by some, in practice its consequences nearly always resulted in more human suffering. Term coined by Rudyard Kipling. Similar to "colonialism".
  • White privilege - preferential treatment enjoyed by white persons in various aspects of society.
  • White supremacy - the belief that Caucasians are, as a race, superior or worthy of supremacy, even called by some the "master race".
  • Attitudes of suburb and gated community developers, who are often accused of pandering to racist views by emphasizing "crime risk" in more racially diverse downtowns, especially in North America.
  • Yellow peril
  • Zionism was labeled racism by UN Resolution 3379 in 1975 by a vote of 73-35 with the Soviet Bloc and Arab states voting in favor of the resolution. This was rescinded by UN General Assembly Resolution 4686 in 1991 in a vote of 111-25. See Zionism and racism for details.
  • Affirmative action is the practice of favoring or benefiting members of a particular race in areas such as college admissions and workplace advancement, in an attempt to create atmospheres of racial diversity and racial equality. Though lauded by many as a boon to society, giving the less privileged a chance at success, the practice is condemned as racially discriminatory by others.
  • Historical economic or social disparity is alleged to be a form of discrimination which is caused by past racism, affecting the present generation through deficits in the formal education and other kinds of preparation in the parents' generation, and, through primarily unconscious racist attitudes and actions on members of the general population. (E.g. A member of Race Y, Mary, has her opportunities adversely affected (directly and/or indirectly) by the mistreatment of her ancestors of race Y.) However, many people dispute the idea that this can be called racism; many hold that this view infantilizes members of a given ethnic group (e.g., blacks or Hispanics) and treats an entire race as victims unable to improve themselves through their own efforts. In this opposing view, it would be "racist" to believe that a group is being held back by such concerns. Yet, some recent studies have suggested that this latter view may not be altogether plausible.
  • Institutional racism or structural racial discrimination -- racial discrimination by governments, corporations, or other large organizations with the power to influence the lives of many individuals.
  • Cultural racial discrimination occurs when the assumption of inferiority of one or more races is built into the culturally maintained image of itself held by members of one culture. (e.g. Members of group X are taught to believe that they are members of a superior race, and, consequently, members of other races are inferior.)
  • Racial discrimination is differences in treatment of people on the basis of characteristics which may be classified as racial, including skin color, cultural heritage, and religion. (e.g. Mary refuses to hire John because he is of race Y.) This is a concept not unanimously agreed upon. While this usually refers to discrimination against minority racial groups in Western societies, it can also (arguably) refer to the opposite situation, and in that case is often called reverse discrimination when it is due to affirmative action or other attempts to remedy past or current discrimination against minority racial groups. (e.g. Mary cannot get a job, despite her qualifications, because she is of the dominant race Y.) Many do not consider this racism, but simply a form of discrimination.
  • Racialism is a term often found within white separatist literature, inferring an emphasis in racial origin in social matters. Racism infers an assumption of racial superiority and a harmful intent, whereas separatists sometimes prefer the term racialism, indicating a strong interest in matters of race without a necessary inference of superiority or a desire to be harmful to others. Rather their focus is on racial segregation and white pride.
  • Racial prejudice is pre-formed personal opinions about individuals on the basis of their race. (E.g. John thinks that Mary will have bad attribute X solely because Mary is a member of race Y.)

Some examples of allegedly racist organizations

The terms racialism and racialist is sometimes used by those who feel it is a different concept where negativity or hatred is not prescribed. People who call themselves "racialists" tend to be separatists (or white nationalists) and sometimes see a difference between themselves and white supremacists.

Many people who study racism, such as Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie Shanks-Meile, contend that terms such as white separatism and white nationalism are euphemisms that have been adopted by neo-Nazi and racist groups in order to make their views seem less extreme.

White separatists reject such claims. For instance, Kevin Alfred Strom has defined white separatism this way:

"A separatist may believe that his race is superior to other races in some or all characteristics, but this is not his essential belief. The separatist is defined by his wish for freedom and independence for his people. He wishes them to have their own society, to be led by their own kind, to have a government which looks out for their interests alone. The separatist does not wish to live in a multiracial society at all, so he naturally has no desire to rule over other races—since such rule necessitates the multiracial society the separatist wants to avoid at all costs." [2]

See also

Affirmative action, Afrophobia, Afrocentrism, anti-racism, anti-Polonism, anti-Semitism, Apartheid, Ascribed characteristics, Asian fetish, The Bell Curve, Black power, Black supremacy, Chauvinism, Civil rights movement, Collectivism, Criminal Blackman Myth, Discrimination, Dominant minority, Environmental racism, Essentialism, Ethnic stereotype, Ethnic cleansing, Ethnocentrism, Eugenics, Eurocentrism, Genocide, Hate crime, Health disparities, Homophobia, Institutional racism, Islamophobia, Jim Crow laws, Ku Klux Klan, Lynching, Master race, Miscegenation, Nazism, Neo-Nazism, Nigger, Pigmentocracy, Race, Race riot, Racialism, Racial profiling, Racial realism, Racial segregation, Task Force to Overcome Racism in Topeka, Rankism, Sexism, Skinhead, Social Darwinism, Social stereotype, Tulsa Race Riot, White Australia policy, White nationalism, White power, White pride, White separatism, White supremacy, White trash, Wog, Xenophobia

List of ethnic slurs

References

  • Elazar Barkan, The retreat of scientific racism: changing concepts of race in Britain and the United States between the world wars (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
  • Bruce Dain, A hideous monster of the mind: American race theory in the early republic (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002). (18th century US racial theory)
  • Vincent F. Rocchio, Reel Racism. Confronting Hollywood's Construction of Afro-American Culture, Westview Press 2000
  • Ann Laura Stoler, "Racial histories and their regimes of truth," Political Power and Social Theory, 11 (1997): 183-206. (historiography of race and racism)
 
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