Experiencing Racism: A Ninth-Grade Reflection

I was sitting in my ninth-grade earth space science class and a student was telling us about a time when he encountered racism. He was black and so was his friend but his friend’s girlfriend who was also with them was white. An older white gentleman, he described him as a senior citizen, the older gentlemen approached them. He grabbed the girl by her arm and said, “get away from him!” We were all taken aback, the student said that his friend’s girlfriend Hollard at the man that this is my boyfriend and his friend. The story ended when the student said the old man look befuddled and walked off. What I found to be the most outlandish was that the old man saw the student and his friend as “them”. What exactly

Racism can be described as the discrimination of someone or a group of people because of their race. Which brings about another aspect that should be addressed; what is race? Are we not all humans; homo sapien was discovered roughly 200,000 years ago (“Homosapiens”). Yet some still believe that humans of a different flavor are not a part of their “race”. Not only is this philosophy invalid but also amoral; the idea that all humans don’t have a similar origin wouldn’t hold up in a valid argument. In fact, according to an article titled Early Modern Homo Sapien; modern humans like ourselves have been found originate from East African region and migrated to parts of Eurasia (“Early”). If a racist were to admit to this then it would put a major dent in their “us” and “them”

Particularly among our minority groups like the Black and Hispanic communities. Given America’s murky past it’s hard not to imagine why. Blacks and Hispanics have felt and still feel like an outlier among the American populous; whether it be in the media like beauty commercials that don’t have actors that have kinky hair or television shows that show lack of character growth for a minority member, but more so a common stereotype. Not to overlook the tension that has risen in the past decade, because of police shootings of mainly young black men has jumpstarted even more malice between minority and law enforcement communities. (“Racial”). In some sociology circles racism is defined as prejudice plus power; indicating that processes like the criminal justice system, housing, and the concept of white privilege are part of the reasons that the odds are stacked against minority groups