Racism Rears its Ugly Head on Occasion

By Iris Santana –

Although some of the more violent and severe racial acts are not commonly expressed anymore, the verbal and “brainwashed” antics are still alive today.

There was a recent case where an 8-year-old South African girl told Ted Koppel on Nightline her disturbing outlook on the subject.

“White people are better than black people. Whites know more, have more and get more. I wish I was white but I am not,” the girl said – again… 8 years old.

Racism is a developed set of attitudes that include antagonism based on the supposed superiority of one group or the supposed inferiority of another group, based solely on skin color or race.

“I hate racism,” said Quay Hanna, a Penn Manor club leader, activist and author who gets kids talking about racial issues in an effort to ease tensions.  “It’s artificial.”

According to Hanna, racism runs in a four to five year cycle at Penn Manor. If racial discord is bad from a new freshman class, Hanna explained, it doesn’t start again until that same freshman class are seniors and more mature.

In high school, Hanna was considered racist.

“There is an underlining prejudice,” he said, adding, “you weren’t offended unless you were that race.”

When college hit, he had to watch what he said around certain people because he wasn’t sure whether or not they would take offense to it.

Hanna and other racist friends called black people “shallwesays” instead of the “N” word, so no one would know what they were talking about.

Between his junior and senior year, Hanna started feeling guilty for living two lives because he was friends with a couple of young black men.

There are many reasons why people become racist.

One of the main reason why people become racist are because of their family and friends. Being surrounded by racism and learning to think that’s the right way to be is going to make you live that way.

In my opinion family or friends shouldn’t try to influence their children to become like themselves. They should try to encourage them to do better and explore different cultures, expanding their knowledge about other ethnicities.

Xenophobia, meaning the fear of people who are different, is another reason why a lot of people become racist. They’re not able to adjust to changes and/or different characteristics between certain people.

According to humanrightsfirst.org, the race most targeted for hate crimes in the world are African Americans.

In 2007-2008, many of these attacks were reported in Germany.

In Berlin, on March 2, 2008,  a young woman screaming racial slurs pushed a dark-skinned man into the path of an oncoming train. The 19-year-old victim, luckily, was able to jump back onto the platform in time, with the help of two bystanders.

There are still some very cruel and hateful people in this world. Honestly some people just need to get over themselves. Even if everyone was the same skin tone or ethnicity, we would not all get along, just for the simple fact that we are all different and have different personalities.