Racism versus personality.
Racism versus personality.
It is hard sometimes, or near impossible, without a confession, to determine if someone is treating you a certain way merely due to their personality, or due to racial biases. Racism.
I have realized that some people always blame racism, when in fact it might just be someone's personality and the way they treat everyone.
I tend not to blame racism, but I have realized that racism is not going away either. Racism will not be exterminated. It is here to stay just like the Sun. And will persist among humans until they perish and go extinct. And even after that, it will remain among other multicellular organisms that use skin color to make innate decisions about which direction to go. Toward something that is like itself or away from something that is different.
Racism is a constant, for the most part. It is here and will remain a factor of life.
It has been well written about in the academic literature. There is institutional racism, inherent racism, innate racism, and learned racism. It can not be eliminated. It is not really a disease though. It is more a survival skill, even though it can prevent productive and beneficial interactions too.
Furthermore, being racist does not really indicate that a person has hate towards a particular race. It is just an acknowledgement and utilization of race as a determinant of how we think and operate. Anyone with eyes and visual perception does this, regardless if they deny it or not. It is an unconscious, subconscious, and conscious behavior.
No amount of good will overcome this bias, unfortunately, it just leverages it, at the best.
It is hard sometimes, or near impossible, without a confession, to determine if someone is treating you a certain way merely due to their personality, or due to racial biases. Racism.
I have realized that some people always blame racism, when in fact it might just be someone's personality and the way they treat everyone.
I tend not to blame racism, but I have realized that racism is not going away either. Racism will not be exterminated. It is here to stay just like the Sun. And will persist among humans until they perish and go extinct. And even after that, it will remain among other multicellular organisms that use skin color to make innate decisions about which direction to go. Toward something that is like itself or away from something that is different.
Racism is a constant, for the most part. It is here and will remain a factor of life.
It has been well written about in the academic literature. There is institutional racism, inherent racism, innate racism, and learned racism. It can not be eliminated. It is not really a disease though. It is more a survival skill, even though it can prevent productive and beneficial interactions too.
Furthermore, being racist does not really indicate that a person has hate towards a particular race. It is just an acknowledgement and utilization of race as a determinant of how we think and operate. Anyone with eyes and visual perception does this, regardless if they deny it or not. It is an unconscious, subconscious, and conscious behavior.
No amount of good will overcome this bias, unfortunately, it just leverages it, at the best.
Comments
Post a Comment
comment. and contact me at adrian.d.kenny@gmail.com or adrian.kenny@post.harvard.edu.