Racism Is a Disease, Prevalent

Racism is a disease, prevalent in our society today. Many of us believe that racism is a face, distorted by hate and open for the world to see. But I believe racism is a more subtle idea. I believe that racism can be called several different things, like prejudice, subordination or segregation. Racism can hold people back from attaining self-actualization and achieving all they can. Ultimately, racism is a self-propagating poison, keeping prejudice and stereotypes alive based upon nothing more than fear and ignorance.

Racists are eager to perpetuate ideas about a group of people. Racists are willing to generalize ideas about a group of people based on association with one, or perhaps even based upon what others have told them. This generalization then becomes a "standard," and the racist believes that the group they feel prejudice against can never be anything but they stereotype they believe. This mode of thinking is passed down, sometimes from generation to generation. The racism prevents interaction between the groups, and therefore the prejudice is preserved. Worse than this, often times the prejudice breeds hate, not only on the part of the racists but also from the group against whom the prejudice is aimed.

With hatred comes avoidance. If I hate you, I will likely not work with you, not hire you, and not promote you. It is a fact of human nature that we tend to want to keep those people who we do not like subjugated and at our mercy. For this reason, racism wastes the talent and skill of those who may be excellent candidates for jobs or promotion, yet the only limiting factor is the racism against them. People should be judged on their own merits, and not on the color of their skin or the country of their birth. When racism is used as a limiting factor in the work or educational setting, there is a significant loss of valuable human resources. This type of covert racism can often be subtle and difficult to discern, but is malignant nonetheless.

Thirdly, when racism is used as a determining factor in advancement, this ultimately holds individuals from attaining everything they can become. When a man or woman is not advanced in work or provided educational opportunity based on prejudice, the man or woman will then be unable to change his or her position in life. This may perhaps impact an entire family, keeping earning power down. It may even impact an entire neighborhood, since when one member of a neighborhood does well and advances in life, this can be a role model for others of his or her group. But if we deny advancement to people simply based upon racism, not only do we break the law, but we feed in to the perpetration of prejudice against a certain group - "too stupid," "too lazy," "too foreign." How can anyone ever rise above their station if the opportunity is lost to them-based entirely upon racist decisions?