The Bronx

First article  Race

This article talks about how racism was a recent thing, and that it was only from the Western world. In the ancient world they believed that some races were better than others, but they believed that they could help the other races to become civilized. They did not believe that they would never be as good; they just thought that they were not raised the right way. It was because of the western world that racism and bigotry became a thing. The western world began to think that people of darker skin had less intelligence, and this made them lesser than the white world. After that began darker skinned people were thought of as slaves, stupid, and below everyone. This ideal was made by westerners in the time that they began to colonize the new world. Mexicans were also thought of as lesser for the skin color they inherited. Not only did major slavery exist in the main world, but western civilization was the cause of a huge genocide. Hitler killed, or tortured anyone who was not of his perfect Aryan race. This was mainly the Jewish people. Hitler convinced people that the Jews caused all of Germany’s problems. They think that racism was made by westerners and is a recent problem.

Second article How racist are we?

This article talks about how racism is intertwined into our society. There are a lot of people who are vary racist, but we all have some sort of racism or stereotype for other types of people. Some people were taught to be racist, that one race is better or worse than others. Even if they are not taught to be racist we observe things around us. Many black people are from poor families and keep the same mindset of their families. If we see a race mainly being a certain way we pick up on it. If we see one race being bad and misbehaving we get it ingrained into our mind that that is how the majority of them are. Many people want to live in areas where their race is the dominate race. This is just because of things we have either witnessed ourselves or seen through the media. If we see problems from a race, we connect it to all of them. We feel safe with our own race because we know we are not bad (mostly), and at least part of your family would most likely be the same as you, and you feel safe near people that are like you.

Third article Cultural Bias

This last article states that the racism that many of us had are from our surroundings and from the media. If we see, or hear of a race being associated with a certain action, or characteristic it sticks in our mind. We are surrounded with people and news associate races, genders, and ages with both good and bad stereotypes. Each race has its own good and bad stereotypes; like whites are greedy but successful, blacks are violent but spiritual. Races and genders are also stereotyped. Women are thought to be weak, while men are thought to be strong. Our young are thought to be reckless and rude, while the elderly are thought to be forgetful and grouchy. We think all of these things because that is what we see, and what is portrayed in the news. Some people may fit the stereotypes that people put on them, but not all of them do. We have grown up in the world seeing all of these stereotypes.  Even if we know people that are against the stereotype, we constantly see all of the stereotypes, so that is what gets stuck in our minds. We all end up keeping these stereotypes in our mind wither we act on these associations or not.

Racism is everywhere. It is not just from one country or type of people. The media adds to the racism in our world I don’t really agree with most of these articles. Racism has always been a problem, “…societies throughout history have shown a tendency to view some groups and nations as inferior…” it does not matter if they think they can change, they are judging them for things that are genetic, and things that are beyond anyone’s control. Many people have the racist thoughts, but they know that these are not okay. “What is more important is your behavior, rather than your gut reaction.” Most people know how we are supposed to act. We all see stereotypes, but the majority of us know what we actually should look for in people. “The color of a person’s skin, his genetic origins, and the community of his parents: none of that is essential in judging another. What matters most is whether someone is intelligent, capable, independent of mind, productive, honest, and has integrity, to mention a few key points.” Racism is in all parts of the world. The western world accepts many people from other cultures, America is even known as a cultural melting pot. In most Asian countries it is rare to see any other race than the main one living there. There are sometimes tourists of other races, but the citizens are mainly of one race.