Reverse racism…a fact or a myth?
Racism towards blacks goes back to the 16th century during the Transatlantic Slave Trade which was also known as the "first system of globalization". Millions of Africans were torn from their homes, separated from their families, and brought to America to be sold as slaves. However, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States. This deemed to be a giant step forward towards equality in the African American community. Although free, blacks were still looked upon as "inadequate ", whereas, whites still upheld their supremacy. From "no colored allowed" signs to "nigger" becoming the first name and category of all blacks, racism increased and continuously divided the white and black communities. Even after the flagrant reference of blacks as "niggers" began to fade and businesses opened their doors to all races, African Americans, to this day, experience racism and discrimination. Despite understanding the feeling of being oppressed by those who are different, people of "color" continue to "return the favor" as they are being taught to believe that anyone outside of the white or Caucasian community CANNOT be racist. This is a false teaching that should be correctly analyzed and explained. Racism is defined as the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Many people use this definition as support to back up their claim that "reverse racism" cannot possibly be real. Those who are on the counter claim side of reverse racism most often say that racism is "...based on an ideological belief that one 'race' is somehow better than another 'race'," and that black people, "have far less opportunity to discriminate against whites than whites have to discriminate against blacks and lack a system of institutionalized support that protect them when they discriminate against whites." All of these statements are true. However, they do not define who can be racist and who cannot be racist. Racism was an action and concept before becoming a definition. Therefore, before the word "racism" was given a dictionary definition, it applied to those of all races, ethnicities, backgrounds, etc. Many people confuse racism as a whole with "institutional racism" which is defined as any inequality based on race. In addition, many use the excuse that those outside of the white community can only be discriminatory. Yet, "discrimination" is a synonym of the word racism according to Thesaurus.com.
If one believes that they cannot be racist, they are placing themselves at risk of being categorized as being demeaning towards those outside and inside of their race. The white community does not experience racism at the same extreme as the African American community. However, contrary to popular belief, there are many statistics demonstrating that Caucasians do, in fact, experience racism. According to www.kaleo.org ," In 1999, according to the Justice Department, there were 197,679 black-on-white violent hate crimes and 8,198 white-on-black violent hate crimes...In a 2013 Rasmussen Reports phone survey of 1,000 Americans, 37 percent of American adults thought most black Americans are racist against white Americans…"
All in all, in order to effectively prevent the further spread of ignorance, one must not limit inequality and prejudice to a specific group.
