Racism Essay

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Blacks have been made to feel as though they were unequal or less than human. Howard Zinn shows the reader how racism that existed in the New World exists today, and how the barriers society has placed on color has caused a division among the races throughout the generations. How we as individuals have allowed one person’s belief to dictate how a person should be treated. Racism is defined as a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races to determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others. In this chapter we see that the slave owners possess all the qualities of racism toward the African slaves. The differences that were made toward the indentured servants versus the African slaves were at times inhumane. There punishments for the same crimes were not as harsh as the African slaves. The treatment against the African slaves was degrading to make them fill inferior. According to Zinn in 1600 the color black meant according to Oxford English Dictionary “deeply stained with dirt; soiled, dirty, foul. Having dark or deadly purposes, malignant; pertaining to or involving death, deadly or deadly purposes horribly wicked, disgrace and liable to punishment, etc” (Zinn pg. 31). And the color white was thought of as beauty meaning they were more superior to a black person. Zinn sets out to show the reader that as early as the 1600 blacks have been made to feel unequal and that the color black was degrading.
According to Zinn slavery was brought to the fore front about fifty years before Columbus’s time, and originated in South American, the Caribbean, Portuguese and the Spanish colonies. “He stated that Por...

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...of their punishments consisted of being hung and beaten, or the removal of a body part. This was a scare tactic by the slave owners to intimidate fear or control over the slaves to keep them obedient. Laws and policies were passed to protect the slave owners making it impossible for the slaves to learn to read or write. This was another attempt at keeping the slave’s dependent on their owners, so they would remain ignorant on what is going on without any skills or training.
Although slavery is not in existence any longer racism is still alive and sometimes it does have an opportunity to come forward. The Africans were tormented and demoralized for centuries due to the color of their skin and was made to feel less than equal. Money and power was a driving force in the past and in today’s society which sometimes make a person do unethical and immoral things.

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