Racism and Discrimination

Posted: March 26th, 2020

Name:
Tutor:

Course:
Date:

Racism and Discrimination

The questionable focus on the notion of ‘black’ and ‘white’ is a matter that stems from the way the notion of race has been adopted as a social norm. Over the years, the United States has undergone a tumultuous experience associated with struggles between ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’. Nonetheless, the most interesting aspect regarding the overdue processes of oppression and discrimination involves the significance that has been attached to racism over the years. It is because of racism that society has persistently engaged in the establishment of segregated contexts and simultaneously, influenced the development of ‘movements’ and activisms aimed at addressing inequalities perpetuated by members of a single race. However, it is important to note that race is just a mere social construct that has been derived from racism, which is another construct as well (Coates 7). Simply, without racism, it would be possible to establish the absence of categories or classes based on race. The effect that racism imposes on the segregation of persons via race is akin to the manner that aspects such as gender are utilized to enable the discrimination of women in the South African contexts (Hutson 83). Similar to the way race has been used in order to enable discrimination by persons that hold power on basis of color, the notion of gender constitutes a construct that has been utilized in order to perpetuate prejudice against women especially by those that hold power, specifically men in institutions such as the family and marriage (Hutson 84). Despite the fact that race is just a social construct, there is considerable focus especially in respect to the black matter because of the repercussions it has imposed on the respective people for many years.

Works Cited

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Spiegel & Grau, 2015.

Hutson, Shaina. “Gender Oppression and Discrimination in South Africa.” ESSAI, vol. 5, no. 26, 2007, pp. 83-87.