By Bharat Mehta.

Christopher Columbus discovered the new world, and when he learned about the Indians, he was flabbergasted to realize that the Indians were human

We don’t know anything about racism. We’ve never experienced it. If words can make a difference in your life for seven minutes, how would it affect you if you heard this every day of your life?

This realistic thought from the pen of Jane Elliott, an anti-racism activist, makes us ponder how an individual, falling prey to racism feels! Racism is about the hatred of one group or another, including the feeling of superiority of whites over non-white people.

Racism is so difficult to define. It is a synopsis of baffling questions and terms like ethnicity, bias, unfriendliness to outsiders, xenophobia, nationalism, discrimination, etc. The horrors of exploitation, internal and external colonization, simmered out by the world powers including the United States and Canada; it rallies against the people of countries all over the world including Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, North, Central, and South ‘America,’ and the ‘Middle East,’ where it is like a ticking time bomb that will soon explode.

Battle Of The Races: Moving back through the history of racism; historians, and scientists tried to show that the white race was superior to other races both physically and mentally. Ernest Renan (1823-1892), touted the Indians of America, the Australian aboriginals, and the black man of the dark continent, Africa, as “inferior” race members.

The New World: When Christopher Columbus discovered the new world, and learned about the Indians, he was flabbergasted to realize that the Indians were human, yet he still considered them more like beasts than humans.

Racism At Its Worst: Adolf Hitler demonstrated the worst of racism. After becoming a dictator, he channelized the mistreatment of the Jews, and built concentration and extermination camps, which led to the death of approximately 6 million Jews.

During the early part of the 20th century, the United States’ racial segregation practices ran rampant with the separation of facilities, services, and opportunities akin to education, employment, housing, etc. Although not as prevalent in the 21st century, issues of racial discrimination continue today. Most often, these racial and ethnic injustices occur within the inner cities where African-Americans live in close proximity to the suburbs that house mostly those of European American descent.

The black ghettos in the United States continue as a way to segregate African-Americans. In Africa, survival of the majority ethnic group persists because the impact of colonization by Europeans reduced the hard working blacks of Africa to a status of servitude. One of the reasons for inherent racism today is due to the incapability of national leaders to divide loyalty. Many African countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Sudan, and Western Sahara, fall under the power of their national leaders who create disorder with armed conflicts, which encapsulates a strong division along racism.

Asian countries are no exception to racism, but Asian racism is more about the income disparity between races, and often, the affluent, view less wealthy people as inferior. For example, there is a great amount of racial prejudice towards the Chinese because of their ability to earn good money. In addition, government bodies encourage this form of racism because the politicians base their success on a certain ethnic group, who then enjoys special propriety advantages in various issues.

Racism around the world.
Photo Credit: themuslimtimes.org

The recent global issues that embarked racism across different countries have been pernicious in nature. In 2009 and 2010, Indians faced racist attacks from Aussies in Melbourne, which resulted in the Indian Government submitting an advisory warning about the vulnerability of going to Melbourne. Immigration issues have been dreadful in the United Kingdom for a decade, and many European countries like Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland have seen great violence due to racism.In Zimbabwe (an African country) dominated by dark people, the white farmers are victims of racism because of poverty and the lack of land ownership by dark textured African people. Until recent times, they suffered from Apartheid, which separated them from Europeans. Racism is very common in the United States, with police atrocities against minorities, slavery, and the rising problem against immigrants. It was indeed a historic moment for America to vote for Barack Obama as the first African-American president; but waves of opposition continue to prevail against some of his policies.

Since its origin in 1983, Baha’i International Community has created models of unity that transcend race, culture, class, as well as differences of sex and religion.

They believe in changing the attitude of individuals who compose the world because only personal contribution can sabotage the cruel stigma-racism.

Racism creates an ethical, biblical, social, and political feeling of dismay! The more we realize that we are “one” blood of planet earth, the more prosperity will be bestowed upon us.

Sources: http://library.thinkquest.org/28172/rhistor2.htm
Baha international, http://www.bahai.org
http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism

Article reprinted with permission of USAonRace.com

Featured Photo Credit: newsone.com