Living under the shadow of racism

There have been innumerable fights, battles and even wars to stop the biggest social problem
humanity faces and has faced throughout time, racism. From the holocaust to the American Civil
War, racism has always been a source of hatred, disagreement and problems for the human kind.
Unfortunately, to the day, we have not been able to put such a stupid and unnecessary problem
aside after years and years of it stopping and undermining the worlds progress.
Racism is not only saying bad things about other race, calling black people niggers or Latinos
and Mexicans beaners, it goes way further than this. Racism means inequality and injustice for
a race or culture as a whole, segregation without any logical reason other than different skin
color or belief, less opportunities for minorities just because the society has grown with the sad
belief that in a certain way that is how things
work. Recently a couple of comments made
by candidate for president Donald Trump
have become pretty famous and heard all
across the nation and even further. He called
almost all the people that came from Mexico
to the United States rapists, criminals and the
worst the country had to send. In Figure 1
you can see his exact words. It is
unacceptable that a man who has so much
power, influence and reach talks about that
of a whole country and culture without
Figure 1 Donald Trump, presidential candidate
having any facts, arguments or real
talking about immigrants
reasons, because he just fills all his
followers mind with false and offensive information that leads to racism and the rejection of a
whole society.
It is not possible that after so many years, and in what is so called a modern and civil society,
people with African American names are 50% less likely to get a callback after applying for a job
(Francis, 2016). That finding a nice house in a good neighborhood is far more difficult for black
people just because the society is not ready to accept them fully (FDHUD, 2012). Or that as
we can see in Figure 2 below, minorities are far more likely to be arrested just because of their
nature and origin. Even president Obama asked once in a public speech to elude the subtle
impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview but not Jamal (Johnson, 2015). Opportunities
and freedom are supposedly the main foundations of the American Constitution and yet, we have
not learned to treat each other as equal, therefore, reducing the opportunities and freedom of our
fellows.

Recently a lot of racial abuse and segregation cases have sparked out pretty much on social
media, such as videos of police
assault on black kids at schools
or stories about innocent men
assaulted and arrested violently
for no apparent reason other than
the polices instinct. These
videos and cases are viral and
available for everyone to see
them, and their high impact and
reach on the internet could have
a purpose other than gossiping
and having something to talk Figure 2 Percentage of people stopped by NYPD by race
about. Racism is there, and it will not go anywhere if nothing is done to stop it. Laws and official
policies have apparently reached their limits and cannot further protect minorities from
segregation and racism. It is the job of the society to do that, to work as a whole for a better and
perfect functioning, and effectiveness.
Having said all this, I repeat, it is the job of the society to do something about this, it is your job,
student, employee, citizen, to contribute to eliminate this big bump in the road to success and
progress. You do not need to become an activist or start a foundation to make a change, start the
change by yourself or the people around you. Stand up for the ones with less opportunities, do
not let injustice pass on unheard or unseen. It is a social problem and its only solution is for the
society to act upon it, Make a change and one by one the whole society will.

Reference Page

David R. Francis. (2016) Employers reply to racial names, Retrieved from

http://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html
Bridget Johson. (2015) Obama: Country Must Fight 'Impulse to Call Johnny Back for a Job
Interview But Not Jamal , Retrieved from https://pjmedia.com/blog/obama-country-must-fightimpulse-to-call-johnny-back-for-a-job-interview-but-not-jamal/
The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. (2012). Housing Discrimination
against Racial and Ethnic Minorities, Retrieved from
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/Publications/pdf/HUD-514_HDS2012.pdf