Definition Essay On Racism

“Us and them”

I often notice when discussing social issues that a copious amount of the people I speak with truly believe that racism is over. That a social issue the world has dealt with for decades has suddenly been solved because being openly racist is no longer socially accepted. The problem is that modern civilization was based upon power structures such as racism. (?) Thus racism is not simply something that goes away. Racism is ingrained in the infrastructure of society. (?) Therefore, if we wish to eradicate racism we need to understand how racism works, adapts, and how it affects people.

A pet-peeve of mine is when people attempt to utilise the dictionary definition of racism as an argument in a discussion or debate. The Oxford dictionaries define racism as “Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.”. The dictionary is a document with a history and a bias that is rooted in privilege, exclusion, elitism, and gatekeeping. However, the dictionary definition of racism was written over several hundred years ago by elderly, white, men. (?) When a colored person tells you that someone or something is racist it is not an opportunity for you to flex your debate skills and drag out the dusty

Racism was never solved, it simply adapted to modern society. When racism became a taboo subject to talk about we refused a chance to learn and grow from our mistakes. When we decided to silence ourselves, it festered equivalent to an open wound in our heads and once it healed it left a nasty scar. Racism is so ingrained in our brains that we hardly acknowledge what harmful effects it has had on our society. Until a few years ago racism was not something one should discuss or acknowledge, but thanks to the internet and media the people were given a