Prejudice and Racism Today

"...Everybody jumped on him, beat the hell out of him... Everybody was hitting

him or kicking him. One guy was kicking at his spine. Another guy hitting on

the side of the face... He was unconscious. He was bleeding. Everybody had

blood on their forearms. We ran back up the hill laughing... He should have

died... He lost so much blood he turned white. He got what he deserved"

(Ridgeway 167.)

The skinheads who performed this random act of racial violence in 1990,

had no reason to brutally beat their victim other than the fact that he was

Mexican (Ridgeway 167). Racism is objectively defined as any practice of ethnic

discrimination or segregation. Fortunately, racial violence is steadily

declining as the turn of the century approaches. Now a new form of racism,

covert racism, has recently sprung from the pressures of political correctness.

This new form of racism, although slowly declining, still shows signs of strong

support (Piazza 86). Covert racism assumes a form of civil disobedience against

politically correct thought and speech. Essentially, covert racism is a "hidden"

racism, or a racism not easily detected (Piazza 78). "Racism is still strongly

prevalent in today's society" (Gudorf 3).

The three different basic forms of racism, open racism, violent racism,

and covert racism all express forms of hatred towards distinct ethnic groups

(Bender 47). These basic forms of racism, although different in form, all have

the same main purpose, to promote racism. Open racism expresses freedom of

racial thought and speech. Open racists promote their views through strictly

persuasionary tactics. This form of racism is allowed in our society because of

the First Amendment. Open racism is currently almost nonexistent and steadily

declining, because it is considered politically incorrect and socially

unacceptable. Violent racism promotes racism through violence, fear, and

persuasionary tactics (Leone 49) This form of racism is not protected by the

First Amendment because it promotes violence to express its ideas.

Unfortunately many violent racial groups claim they do not promote violence, and

therefore these groups are protected by the First Amendment because not enough

sufficient evidence exists to prove their violent intent (Ridgeway 123).

Covert racism expresses ideas of racism in disguised forms; sometimes

the covert racist is not even aware of the fact that he is racist. "Racism, it

is asserted, is no longer blatant: people nowadays are reluctant to express

openly their dislike of and contempt for minorities, indeed are not prepared to

express publicly a sentiment that could be interpretted as racist. Racism, it

is said, is subtle: it is disguised, kept out of sight" (Enrlich 73) "The