The Main Causes of Racism - Term Paper Example

Racism Introduction Racism is still a major problem in the modern world despite the numerous attempts by people of good will to exterminate it. It is common in the institutions of learning, work places, in the streets and even in the leadership. Black people particularly of African origin are the main victims of this menace whereby blacks have been discriminated openly in various events including sports activities like in football competitions (Rooney 96). Racist usually proclaim that their race is superior than that of the other people thus developing a lot of bad stereotypes about the other groups. However, this is a primitive thinking that should be condemned in one accord since human beings are equal regardless of their skin color, ethnicity or any other baseless reason that is used by unethical and primitive individuals to discriminate others. Skin color should not be used as a ground of determining how much respect a person should get. Causes Racism is believed to be prompted by numerous reasons. However, the four main causes include stereotyping, environmental factors, unfamiliarity, and selfishness (Reilly, Kaufman and Bodino 28). Labeling of other races and communities as inferior through the radio, television, in the internet and through books among other platforms leads to discrimination and unfair treatment of the targeted communities. Stereotype is very effective especially if introduced to young people (children) where a child might be exposed to false allegations of a particular group made by his or community thus growing assuming that all people of accused community are that way. Unfamiliarity is common source of racism in the modern world (Reilly, Kaufman and Bodino 42). People tend to fear what is unfamiliar to them with or do not understand. Sources show that there is a high likelihood for a person to be a racist against a community he or she has never lived in or does not understand fully. This situation is mostly fueled by other factors like negative stereotypes or labeling that an individual might have received in the past against the targeted community or group. Therefore, integration of cultures is highly advisable particularly in the early stages of child development like in schools. Parents, guardians and the society in general have a role to play in attempt to eradicate this problem by counterbalancing false stereotypes that children may encounter while growing up. Another major and obvious source of racism is selfishness since at times human beings are extremely selfish creatures who do not care about others or rather care about themselves at the expense of others. If a person is not taught the need of respecting other people, then the probability of such an individual becoming a racist is very high. This explains the reason why most caring people are not racists or other bad elements in the society. Racism is also triggered by environmental issues associated with the genetic and biological elements that can be affected by the environment that they live in. This means that the probability of a person becoming a racist can be increased by certain environmental aspects unknown to man (Reilly, Kaufman and Bodino 104). Controversial studies have shown that factors like improper health maintenance, head injuries, excessive chemicals just to mention a few can also attribute to one becoming a racist. Nonetheless, this reasoning should not be used as an excuse to promote racism. Instead, people of all origins should strongly work together in order to stop this menace at any cost. Analysis of the play Racism is depicted as a big concern in the Shakespeare’s tragic play entitled as ‘Othello’. In fact, the play reveals how blacks were treated in England during the Elizabethan era. Though the origin of Othello is not mentioned, there are many references in the play that shows that his origin was from an eastern country probably from Africa, Arab countries or maybe from Ottoman Turk (Barnes, Shakespeare and Coleman 153). The play portrays the level of racism that was in the country from its beginning until the end with numerous offensive definitions of the ‘black Othello’. He was a victim of a superficially white character by the name Iago and he was always under attack because of his origin. In the play, skin colors are highly emphasized on in order to show the differences that existed between the whites and the blacks with a good example of this being the way Iago portrayed the sexual relationship between Desdemona and Othello whereby he likened Othello with an old ram with Desdemona on the other hand being compared with a white ewe. As explained earlier in this paper, stereotyping is found to be a root cause of racism in most parts of the world with England being not an exceptional in the days the Shakespeare play was made. Othello was respected irrespective of his color because he was a top ranked general in the military though the other people never appreciated him. This was mainly contributed by the fact that most of the Britons had a very poor image about Africans with some whites considering them as an inferior race as quoted in a journal written by Adler “an African is considered ugly, lascivious, an unnatural mate for a European, a practitioner of forbidden arts, of a volatile, even savage nature, and clearly not as polished or as cultivated as Europeans of a similar class” (Hall 83). This shows the level of hatred and disrespect whites had against Africans. The dislike is also portrayed by the rejection/ostracize that Othello received after he married his white skinned woman named as Desdemona the daughter’s father (Brabantio) being in the front line to rebuke the marriage despite the fact that he seemingly looked like he was Othello’s friend. Brabantio condemned the marriage furiously and claimed that Desdemona should have married a man from her race. According to this happen, it is clear that whites believed that Africans were inferior irrespective of the positions they held in power like that of Othello (highly ranked officer in the military). Some society members like Brabantio could not consider that provided he was a black. Iago is also found to be fond of making racial highly offensive racial slurs to an extent of telling Brabantio that “Even now, now, very now, an old black ram/ Is tupping your white ewe” (1.1.88-89). According to scholars analysis, Iago was equating or comparing Othello with a black sheep and depicts him as an evil fellow who was stealing the virginity and innocence of a white sheep (Desdemona). Different analysts of the play give the word ‘black’ a different meaning with some associating it with the character’s appearance and personality (Dobson 38). Others claim that the word black color is symbolically used to refer to evil, filth, immoral actions and other undesirable characters like corruption. The words and phrases used in the play have an extremely negative connotation that stereotypes Othello throughout the play. The play also describes Othello as an ugly person with “thick lips” (1.1.66), “sooty bosom” (1.2.70) and as “an old black ram” (1.1.88) (Dobson 38). Whites or rather color white on the other hand is the exact opposite of black that is associated with positive aspects. White is presumed to be a pure color and is regularly associated with naivety, virginity, and innocence (Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa 103). In the play, Shakespeare deliberately contrasts white and black by making Desdemona (Othello’s wife) and Othello black. Stereotyping is found to be the main cause of racism in the whole play whereby most white believed in false stereotypes (labeling) that came from Elizabethan opinions. Many believed that Moors were practicing witchcraft as revealed by Brabantios claim that Othello was using charms to win Desdemona’s love (Hall 158). Othello on the other hand tried to defend himself though he acknowledged that the belief existed by him saying that ‘Desdemona’s love is against all rules of nature (1.3.101)’. With this attitude towards the moors, it is also not surprising that Othello was called ‘the devil’ (1.1.91) in one of the scenes of the play (Al-Dabbagh 50). Back then, dark skinned people were offensively called demonic beings (Hall 158). All in all, Othello tried his level best to prove himself and show the others that blacks (Moors) were not the people whites thought they are not until he was corrupted by Iago. Othello’s heart was as pure and as white as Desdemona’s skin though his skin being dark. Effects The effects of racism are numerous though some are not portrayed in the play. Racism has extremely detrimental effects with a good example of this being the massive genocides that have being witnessed in various parts of the world. Extermination of the Jew community by the Nazi regime that was under the leadership of Adolf Hitler is a clear example of the extreme effects racism can cause (Fredrickson 63). Halter had intense hatred over the Jews and as a result planed their elimination in what is commonly known as the ‘Final Solution’ that left more than six million Jews dead. Racial segregation also accounts for the slave trade whereby Africans were the victims as well as civil wars in most parts of the world with Middle East and Africa being the main victims. Racism also creates unnecessary tension and hatred amongst communities. These two elements are revealed in the play whereby an in-depth analysis of the play shows that Whites (Britons) had some hatred over the blacks as explained earlier in this paper. Racism also creates tension since some of the whites believed that black people were violent, abusive, rash, evil and animalistic though Othello did his level best to prove them wrong. However, he showed some of these personalities as a result of being manipulated by Iago which is understandable to some extent. It is normal for a human being to react when pressure is too much to handle and the person causing it seems not to care the feelings of the victim. His ‘black’ characters started revealing when he started suspecting that his wife Desdemona (his wife) was having an affair with Cassio though all this was initiated by Iago (Al-Dabbagh 45). He finally ended up being very emotional to an extent of abusing his wife and fails to trust her and ultimately killed her for allegations of being unfaithful despite Desdemona’s pleas of innocence. Remedy Cure for racism can only be achieved by focusing on the above-outlined causes among other mild causes not explored by this paper. There is a pressing need for educating all people about the need for respecting one another and equal treatment regardless of one’s ethnicity, race or their area of origin. After all, availability of different races was meant for creating cultural diversity that people should enjoy and appreciate and not to be used as base of discriminating others or treating inferiorly. Children should be taught from the very early stages in life the need for respecting other communities and in attempt to eliminate any negative stereotype that may be planted in them by the perpetrators of racism. Media presenters should also play their part by promoting respect, peace and unity amongst all races. Exposure to different cultures is another factor that may help a lot in stopping racism. People would be accepting other groups more if at all they would have had an opportunity to get exposed to the way they live, communicate and their culture in general. Exposure can be achieved by encouraging multicultural organization and multicultural education. Multicultural organization refers to an organization whereby people of different races are included preferably in all levels, and who are treated equally regardless of their differences. Multicultural education on the other hand means a type of education system that includes people of different cultures from the school management, teachers and the students. This would enable people to understand one another since they are young and it would be very difficult for such people to embrace racism in their later ages. Multicultural education has been proven to be an effective approach of eradicating racism in the USA since the two major races living in the country (Black American and the Whites) have been able to embrace one another despite the previous negative stereotypes they used to hold. As a result of this understanding, USA peacefully and democratically elected its first Afro-American president, President Barak Obama which is a commendable move. In conclusion, the main causes of racism that are often mentioned by many scholars include environmental factors, stereotyping, selfishness and unfamiliarity. Negative stereotyping can be spread against a specific group through the internet, media, books, or even through a word of mouth from generation to generation. Unfamiliarity is also a key cause of racism though it works hand in hand with stereotyping whereby people who have grown up while being fed with negative information about another community may develop racism especially if they fail to get a chance to prove it for themselves. Environmental factors rarely lead to racism though they account for a small percentage. Cure for this problem can only be achieved by focusing on the way forward to deal with the problem from the grassroots and by dealing with the above explained causes. Some of these aspects of Racism as reflected in the Shakespeare’s play that reveals high level of racism all through as discussed in this paper. Works Cited Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Bottom of Form Top of Form Top of Form Al-Dabbagh, Abdulla. “Shakespeare, the Orient, and the Critics.” New York: Peter Lang, 2010. Print. Barnes, Shane, Shakespeare William, and Coleman Aidan. “Othello.” St Kilda, Vic: Insight Publications, 2011. Print. Dobson, Michael. “The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare.” Oxford [u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press, 2002. Print. Fredrickson, George M. “Racism: A Short History.” Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2011. Internet resource. Hall, Joan L. “Othello: A Guide to the Play.” Westport, Conn. [u.a: Greenwood Press, 1999. Print. Reilly, Kevin, Kaufman Stephen, and Bodino Angela.  “Racism: A Global Reader.” Armonk (N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2003. Print. Rooney, Anne. “Racism.” North Mankato, MN: Smart Apple, 2006. Print. Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa. (1987). “Shakespeare in Southern Africa: Journal of the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa.” Grahamstown: Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa. Bottom of Form Bottom of Form Read More