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Racism, a word we see in newspaper almost daily. But what does racism mean, why is it a problem, where does it occur the most, these are the general questions asked by people. In today's post i will be answering these questions and shedding my thoughts on this topic.
Racism , prejudice, discrimination, antagonism are all the words that mean one thing, hatred towards a particular race different from ours. Mostly the reason for this discrimination is the feeling of superiority towards one's own race. Discrimination is generally done by people against the minority. This is a major problem because the one's suffering it also deserve to lead a normal life like the others with equal rights and equal respect.
The question where does it occur the most is a tricky one because there is no concrete answer for it. Racism happens with people on a daily basis. The ones covered in news are the ones reported by people, highlighted on social media or by reputed people. However, if one starts counting even the smallest incident of racism they would run out of numbers.
Racism is a global phenomenon which occurs in every country. This may sound odd. People might think how come there is not even one country free of racism. But this is the harsh truth.
As an observer I have concluded that racism is more active in the developed countries of the world, i.e. the first world nations and in this post i will be quoting incidents and stats from reliable sources.
I start my argument with the United States,' The World Superpower'. NBC news on April 16, 2008 published an article stating that 64% Americans find racism as a major problem. This shows that how a nation considered most developed is caught in the swamp of prejudice. The American President, Donald Trump, dedicated his entire campaign on ensuring people how he would favor Americans over other races if he comes into power. The surprise was that even after showing signs of strong racism he was appointed the President of USA. This is the same country which had a black man as a President and loved him. Despite all the conspiracy regarding Trump's election, the number of Trump's supporter cannot be denied. The hate crime in America is at its peek now making it one of the most racist countries in the world.
Taking you further to Europe, a continent which holds developed nation only is also not spared from this racism fire. People's take on diversity in Europe is still doubtful. In a survey by Harvard university, it was found that the lowest racial bias in European countries were found in Serbia and Slovakia. All the other nations including United kingdom and Germany were reported to hold strong racial bias.This strengthens my point that even the countries with a 100% literacy rate cant fight this problem. Was education not the first step towards progress and development. In fact United Kingdom was one of the last countries to make slavery illegal.
Advancing a little South, we find Australia, a country appreciated for its beauty. However even this country contributes a major portion to racism.Ever year thousands of cases of racial discrimination against individuals are reported. In Australia racism is not a new issue. It dates back to late 18th century. During that period discrimination was done against the indigenous races by the Britishers who colonized there. These days its done against the foreigners who move to Australia and even against citizens of different origins.
This is the horrifying truth of the 'Modern Progressive World', a world where diversity is praised but also becomes a curse for the minority.The increasing number of hate crimes against people of different color, religion, sex etc. has led to world of distress.
A lot of people claim that racism against Muslim community in non-Muslim nations is because of the terrorist groups present these days as they follow Islam. However, you cannot stereotype an community based on the activities of a few. These discriminating actions towards the innocents is what causes in an increase in terrorism. These terrorist groups aim to spread violence and by these racist moves we put fuel in the fire. Terrorism will not come to end with racism but it will surely reduce manifold.
Thus what we require is not the conventional education, but one where we teach the youth about such issues for they are going to form the future. Before checking and criticizing others we need to look at ourselves first. All of us at some point in our lives have discriminated or prejudiced people. We need to stop this. We need to end this superiority complex present in the world. And it hurts me to say but most of these changes are required in the most developed nations of the world.