A Brief on Racism

Racism is something that almost everyone has witnessed. Racism is a word that many people do not fully understand or have their own perceptions of. The oxford dictionary defines racism as prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Racism is often misunderstood as someone’s genetic characteristics. The distinction made between races has nothing to do with genetic characteristics. Instead, race was created socially, primarily by how people perceive ideas and faces that they are not quite used to.

The idea of racism includes the perception that humans can be placed into group based on their rank as superior or inferior depending on the color of their skin. Many fail to realize that there are different types of racism. The Holocaust is a common example of institutionalized racism. The definition of institutional racism is the type of racial discrimination done by governments, companies, religious groups, or educational institutions who have the power to influence many people. The holocaust is a good example because it resulted to the death of millions due to their race.

Many people tend to confuse the two concepts of race and ethnicity. Although, race and ethnicity share an ideology

This is because it can range anywhere from inequality, comparison of skin tones, to cultural ranking. Often people will confuse racism with acts of prejudice and stereotyping. Although, they all tie into the same category they all have diverse meaning that do not always involve race. Racism is commonly known as judging someone by their appearance rather than their character. Many scholars of racism prefer to use racism in its plural form in order to emphasize the many different forms of racism that cannot simply fall under one single definition. They also argue that the different forms of racism have characterized different historical