My views on racism

    The problem of racism is real. It’s an ever pressing problem continuing to stalk up on us even when we believe we have gotten rid of it. It manifests itself in many forms and styles, from physical abuse to verbal attacks and mental warfare. We must fight this disease at every moment even if we aren’t directly involved in racist activities.

    I think that the first problem is that people have stretched the idea of racism so much that the slightest comment could be considered as an attack. In my personal life I have not had much experience with racist comments. In my group of teachers and priests, some of which are black, we don’t think things like, “You jump like a black man,” is all that racist. If anything we think of it as a compliment! :) The closest thing to racist that we ever do is turn of the lights and say, “Where did Teague go? He disappeared!” Even this is not racist in our view. We think of racism as the idea of putting another race beneath another. When we joke around like this we are careful to make sure that we do not offend any party. And it’s a lot of fun when one of the black members of our group turns off the lights and says, “Wow Caden, you’re glowing like a light bulb!”

    I believe the second problem is that even when we believe we have fixed racism on a local level, people are quick to call certain things to attention and call them racist. A good example is white police shooting black people. Why is it such a problem when a black man is killed but not when someone from another race is killed? If the cop has committed murder then he has absolutely no sympathy from me, but the extent to which some people take the racism is crazy! In some cases these cops are actually acting in self defense and the people try to make it look like murder.

    Now, many different kinds of racism exist in America. There is the ever popular anti Muslim racism, and anti Mexican racism to name a couple. Our dear president Trump has so successfully used both such racist views in his campaigning and in his presidency. As I address these views of racism I have to say this, there are problems that exist in predominantly Muslim countries and Mexico, but that does not mean that we need to restrict access to and from those countries.

    Let me address the predominantly Muslim countries first. There is a threat from these countries, but to assume that all of the people from those countries packs a collapsible AK-47, a suicide vest, and wants to kill every American they can, is an extreme view. In fact, pretty much 99% of the people from those countries are wonderful people. Dehumanizing the entirety of the “enemy” is a popular tactic that leads to mass racism. We did such in WWI and WWII when we turned the Germans into “Krauts.” When we start to view an entire country as evil we usually end up having massive racism problems. I think the best way to fix racism between these countries and America is to find something to love about Muslims. When you find that one thing to love you will find others as well.

    Now Mexico is a little bit closer to home. The racism usually revolves around the drug trade. This is similar to Muslim countries when it comes to viewing every Mexican as an evil person. There are big problems with some Mexicans, Drug cartels on their own kill dozens a day in Mexico with weapons, and have ruined lives of millions in America with their “Fruit of the fields.” But not all Mexicans are evil. We just need to find something about them to love. Like  their easygoing or generous nature.

    So, put simply, I believe there is still racism in America. I also believe that the way to fix it is to love them.