How to Understand Racism and How to Do Something About it

Racism On the surface, as a basic definition, racism is the belief that some racial / ethnic groups are superior to other groups. Racism and discrimination have historically been used as "powerful weapons encouraging fear or hatred of others in times of conflict and war," according to Anup Shah. The American Anthropological Association (AAA) explains that race is "a powerful idea and an enduring concept, invented by society" (Shah, 2010).

The AAA says racism has promoted "inequality and discrimination for centuries," and racism has had a strong influence as to how members of a society relate to other humans (Shah). This paper discusses the issue in sociological terms as to how it applies to the global perspective. Body of Reflective Essay A peer-reviewed article by Alexander uses a racial discrimination lawsuit by an African-American full professor -- against a Caucasian university -- as an example of what one might call institutional racism.

In the process of reviewing this lawsuit, and how mainly white university and a white federal judge ignored evidence that the African-American professor was trying to have reviewed, the authors point to both the Bonilla-Silva and the Critical Race theory. The sociological theory of Bonilla-Silva offers a view of racism -- a sociological structural definition -- that does not use the exact word racism. Instead Bonilla-Silva prefers the use of "racialized social systems" (Alexander, 2012).

Bonilla-Silva discusses the fact that individuals are placed in "racial categories" and that has an effect on their social, economic, political and ideological stations in life (Alexander, 346). As second race theory in the article is the critical race theory. The critical race theory "questions the very foundation of the liberal order," Alexander explains (347).

There are four "basic tenets" involved in the critical race theory: a) rather than being an aberration, racism is "normal"; it is present in everyday interactions between people of color and the general white population and it is how most business is conducted; b) it is not easy to eradicate white supremacy because white supremacy serves "psychic and material purposes"; c) race is not objective at all, in fact it is "socially constructed and is the product of social thought and relations"; race is not genetically or biologically based, rather race is based on categories that society has "invented, manipulated, and altered" whenever it served the purposes of society; and d) the consequences of racism are historically evident; for example, Africans were needed to help the cotton industry until slavery ended; Asians were needed to help build the railroads until there was no longer a need) (Alexander, 347).

Another study referenced by Alexander shows that when a research project involving job application callbacks was performed in New York City, New York employers were more apt to call back "…whites with felony records than African-Americans and Latinos without felony records" (Alexander, 348). When a test program was launched to see if Caucasians would be called back for second job interviews more often than minorities, this is what happened: 31.1% of white applicants were called back; 25.2%of Latinos were called back; and 15.2% of African-Americans were called back (Alexander, 348).

Hence, the study confirmed that racism was at work in these instances -- not blatant, face-to-face bias against a person because of his race, but a more subtle and institution form of discrimination. What Can be Done to Resolve Racism? President Obama's eulogy to Rev. Pinckney last week in South Carolina was a stirring, powerful presentation which offered some ideas as to bettering race relations.

"By recognizing our common humanity by treating every child as important, regardless of the color of their skin or the station into which they were born," and by making opportunities.