Racism

The phenomenon of racism is not unique to any country but is encountered worldwide. For people of different ethnic backgrounds who have migrated to the United States, especially non-Caucasians, it has been, and remains, a societal issue. The words racist and racism have been used to describe U.S. society, and although there may be disagreement about how pervasive the problem is, the historical reality of racism and racist attitudes in America is a matter of record; consequently, race and racism are embedded in U.S. institutions and everyday life. People of color, particularly African Americans, have been subjects of both institutional and individual racism. Many individuals respond differently to people of color (as opposed to Caucasians) simply because of their race or ethnicity. The prevalence of racism has been the stimulus for many educational reforms, including significant calls for social justice in teacher preparation programs.

According to Webster's New World Dictionary, race is any biological division of humankind, distinguished by color and texture of hair, color of skin and eyes, stature, bodily proportions, and other physical characteristics. Many ethnologists concur in the identification of three primary divisions: the Caucasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid races. Within these three primary races are varying subgroups. The concept of race is a relatively recent human invention. The word race, interpreted to mean “of common descent,” was introduced into English in about 1580, from the Old French rasse. It has evolved, however, from a biological term to a social, psychological, and cultural term, with people using it to classify others based on genetic traits shared by each group. As a number of social theorists have pointed out, however, the idea of race is primarily about culture, not biology. Although most people continue to think of the races as physically distinct populations, scientific advances in the 20th century demonstrated that human physical variations do not fit a “racial” model. There are in fact no genes that can identify distinct groups that accord with conventional race categories. Moreover, theorists have long understood that the concept of race as relating solely to phenotypic traits encompasses neither the social reality of race nor the phenomenon of racism.

Racism is an ideology, a belief that all members of each racial group possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially to distinguish it as being either superior or inferior to another racial group or racial groups. Racism has existed throughout human history. It may be defined as the hatred of one person by another or the belief that another person is less than human because of skin color, [Page 754]language, customs, or place of birth. In U.S. society, African Americans tend to experience the highest rates of discrimination and racism.

By the early 19th century, racial ideology's influence was widespread. In many nations, leaders began to think of the ethnic components of their own societies, usually religious or language groups, in racial terms and to designate “higher” and “lower” races. Racism elicits hatred and distrust and precludes any attempt to understand the Other. For this reason, most modern human societies have concluded that racism is morally and socially wrong, at least in principle, and social trends have moved away from racist policies and practices. Many societies have begun to combat institutionalized racism by denouncing racist beliefs and practices and by promoting human understanding in public policies, as does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, set forth by the United Nations in 1948.

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