Deciphering Racism: Beyond Stereotypes and Slurs

In the current day of age, have you ever held back a debatable racial joke or comment? For the United States, racial equality has become a priority. Therefore, being politically correct has become important for many American citizens. Refraining from debatable comments has specially been important for figures in the media. In one example, Kelly Osbourne, a talk show host on The View, made a comment in which applied all maids are Latinos. The comment has raised controversy arguing if she should be considered a racist. Kelly Osbourne made a racial slur based off a stereotype, although she might show racial tendencies, her comment doesn’t make her a racist. The book, Blindspot, by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald, discusses our brain’s hidden biases in which can influence our behaviors against different social groups. From different ideas discussed in Blindspot, racism is defined as conscious thoughts and feelings that provoke repetitive endorsed expressions and actions of hostility, dislike, and disrespect towards a race. Although racism can be defined, distinguishing a racist isn’t quite as clear cut.

For example, many critics argue if Kelly Osbourne is a racist. In response to Donald Trump’s remark on deporting Latinos from the

According to Blindspot, “Stereotypes do not take effort to acquire. Quite the opposite- they are acquired effortlessly, and take special effort to discount,” (109) .In her response to the comment, she takes full responsibility and hopes others will learn from her words. When someone apologizes, it is meant in which they won’t do it again. Contrary, a racist wouldn’t apologize for their actions. More importantly, racists repetitively commit actions of hostility, dislike, and disrespect towards a race. Likewise, Kelly Osbourne’s remorse indicates she won’t do it again and will consider her conscious thoughts more before