What is Racism? It is an intriguing question. The definition of Racism because we understand it today came about during the rise of the slave trade in the United States and the expansion of the European slave trade in the New World, Africa, and Asia. Racism at this point was defined as”a bias against a racial or national group.” This definition is highly subjective and is not consistent across nations and times. Even within countries there can be tremendous differences in how one feels or thinks about a specific racial or national group.

Racist views aren’t limited to the far right, medium right, or left. Racism can be expressed at any time, anywhere, and from any member of any group. Some definitions even describe a country as with a racism problem due to the ongoing difference between the cultural values of the majority white majority cultural groups along with the minority black or fawn majority.

A great illustration of the continuing struggle between nearly white majority cultural groups and the minority black or fawn bulk is found in the USA. Even the US government’s present definition of racism has it,”A person commits or demonstrated hereditary intolerance if he or she’s capable of harboring such notions based solely on a negative motive.” This definition is very vague and leaves much open to interpretation. What exactly is being implied here is that a person can harbor a negative view of someone because of their race or nationality without being able to point to any motivation aside from their own race.

Another way to look at racism is it is a powerful view of the way the world works. Where there’s a structural racism, it means that there is a method of unequal treatment of some kind. Structural racism is normally the effect of the power of some group to dominate other classes. This could be cultural or cultural or it could be the consequence of historical events like slavery. A more refined type of structural racism is known as ideology racism since it’s a particular political ideology that justifies the practices of racism.

The distinction between a structural or ideology racism and what is sometimes known as a personal bias against a specific group, is that it does not have a psychological element to it. To be able to fall in the category of what is known as personal prejudice, the individual should have an emotional investment from the view that the minority ethnic group is being treated unfairly. It is very important to point out in the US, it is almost impossible for a individual to assert they essay on racism and discrimination have never undergone a form of institutionalized racial discrimination because there are so many examples of it. A employer from discriminating against an employee because of his race or nationality is so flagrant.

What is racism has become the subject of much controversy through time. There are many definitions on what is racism that agree on the core meaning but not the details. The important thing is to remember that nobody can tell you what’s wrong or right as a human being, because every individual has their own distinct cultural identity and experiences that make them different from everyone else. Knowing this is one way to be certain that you do not engage in what’s called cultural Appropriation which has nothing to do with race in today’s sense of the word.