Racism: A World Problem

Racism: A World Problem

In one way or another everyone encounters racism at many times in their life. Whether they are making the comments or victims of it, racism is everywhere and continues to be denied throughout the world. Neil Bissoondath, a Trinidad native, writes "I'm Not Racist But..." which discusses the types of labels given to different ethnic groups and the encouragement of racism they give. Based on the effective way it was written, Bissoondath's essay is suggested for an English 101 text.

"I'm Not Racist But..." mainly focuses on the issue of racism currently in Canada, but acknowledges that it is a world problem as well. Bissoondath talks about his own experience with racism and racial comments. He also gives suggestions on ways to prevent or decrease the amount of racism that goes on.

The title of Bissoondath's essay gives hint as to what his argument is about. People of all kind constantly use the phrase "I'm not racist but..." in order to combat a possible racial comment. Bissoondath states, "I think of the mover, a friendly man, who said, 'I'm not racist but the Chinese are the worst drivers on the road' convinced of this because of their slanted eyes which consequently deny them peripheral vision" (Wilhoit, 310). Statements like the mover's are proof that society is in denial about racism. People do not realize the impressions or implications they make when saying comments like the mover's. The way the sentence is spoken easily subjects them to accusation. According to Bissoondath, the remarks are not always "pure racial hatred, like the Nazis or KKK" however, they are "ignorant, stupid and incentive" and still defined as discrimination (Wilhoit, 310). Making discriminate comments does not help fight the racism problem.

"Challenging Racism: An Action for World Development Workshop" by Lilyana Theodossiou is about an organization in Australia that uses workshops to work with people on racial discrimination, using group activities. Theodossiou's opinion on the denial of racism is similar to Bissoondath's. She uses the same evidence of the popular "I'm not racist" statement and concludes that "There's a lot of denial around these issues. It [racism] is, however, within everyone and every workplace to different degrees" (Theodossiou, 78). Denying that racism goes on has a large part to do with it existing. Not acknowledging its presence gives a reason to neglect finding ways to prevent it. Society needs to realize there is a problem at hand in order to fix it.

Bissoondath argues, "We like to think that our multicultural mosaic will help nudge us into a greater openness. But it is failing to educate basic questions people have about each other" (Wilhoit, 310). Just by living with people from different ethnicities does not mean society will instantly accept one another. It would be like giving a toddler a two wheeled bike. The bike would be useless unless the toddler learns to ride it. In a sense, society needs to learn how to accept one another. A reason that preventing racism may be difficult could be the fact that most adults, today, lived during the times when segregation was popular. Therefore, they would have a difficult time changing their opinion because that is how they grew up. However, by means of education, today's children and young adults could be open about the situation of racism. They are the young generation that can pass on to their children the importance of accepting one another.

"Preventing Racism" by Dr. Deidre Tyler, a black woman, defines racism and discusses the author's own incidents with it. She also provides her own ideas in addition to other doctors' ideas on what can stop discrimination. Tyler discusses the suggestion of a doctor who stated "socializing our children to respect multiculturalism, urging schools to educate about diversity will help this effort" as means of prevention (Tyler, 3). This is similar to the argument that Bissoondath is making about teaching the negative outcome of racism. While this doctor's idea focuses on the responsibility of both the parents and schools he or she still believes that educating society on issues that deal with racism could decrease the amount of racism that exists.

A question of how to instruct society about the problem may come up as a concern. How do you teach such a massive group of people to accept everyone? In Theodossiou's essay she gives clear examples of how this is possible. The Workshop's goal is "exploring attitudes and values of other races" (Theodossiou, 79). The Group's focus is the central society's racism. They recognize the ways it affects the native and non-native people of the country. There are different types of Challenging Racism Workshops for different groups of people. Whether they are organizations, community groups, schools or church groups, the Workshops tailor to their specific desires (Theodossiou, 79). These groups are taught through role plays, simulation games and exercises, which promote thinking and reflection about racial issues (Theodossiou, 80). These types of groups, which can last from three days to three weeks, open up the participants' minds to realize their racism and where they learned it. Then slowly they begin the process of unlearning it.

One point that Bissoondath emphasizes is to be careful not to create racism in the attempt to prevent it. An example that makes