Together we stand, divided we fall can be related to a plethora of things in life: sports, jobs, families, and many others but when I see the quote what stand out the most to me is the country as a whole. In order to prosper in life, you need people to work together. If you think about all of the greatest minds in the word, they would have amounted to nothing if it wasn’t for the help of their peers. We have overcome mass discriminations because of how people have worked together. One of the biggest problems that we still haven’t overcome yet is racism. Webster’s Dictionary defines racism as said “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior.” I believe that the average person in America is subconsciously racist to an extent and if this prevails in our country, and we will never truly become equal.

 Racism is highly persistent in America and it has been for the last several hundred years. In the 1800s we used African Americans as slaves. We would pack them onto vessels and ship them over here so we could use them for free labor. As time went on eventually it was deemed unlawful to use slaves. In 1865 after slavery was abolished people still didn’t treat African Americans equal. We started to segregate everything in America. We had black schools, bathrooms, water fountains, and almost everything else you could think of. This is where the massive hate crimes started to break out and where racism truly became a problem. As time went on Africans realized that the way we were segregating them was highly unlawful and began to stand up for themselves. We saw examples like Harriet Tubman who helped hundreds of slaves escape through the underground railroad. The we saw Rosa Parks go to jail for not giving up her seat on the bus for a white man. Lastly we saw Martin Luther King Jr. and all the speeches that he gave to crowds of thousands of people talking about how we are all created equal. Even though now slavery has been abolished and we have de segregated all things in America you can still feel a sense of racial hate in parts of America.  Weather its somebody not getting hired for a job, people not getting into the school of their choice, or if you just scroll through social media; life is full of racial stereotypes. Advertisements such as the one above prove that people are subconsciously racist, and people are too blind to see it. Racism has been deemed unlawful in the major categories such a voting, schooling, and living, but it hasn’t been ruled out on the minor level and this still has major effects on society. Even though I was brought up being the dominant race I too have encountered racism to the point where it made me stand up and say something about it. When I was 16 I was on my way back from setting up my grandmother’s birthday when I was pulled over for speeding. I was going 65 in the 35 which is very drastic but when the police officer approached the car he had his gun drawn and pointed right at my eyes. In that moment my heart dropped. He pulled me out of the car and hand-cuffed me. All of this didn’t compare to what he said to me in the police car. Once I was placed in the backseat he stated and I quote “Man the way you were driving that car I could have sworn I was going to find a black guy behind the wheel.” After he said that I was just in shock, that the only reason he approached my car with his gun drawn was solely because he thought I was going to be an African American. This is the acts of racism that are going to end up tearing this society apart. This is why I believe that the average American is still subconsciously racist. 

If we wish to stop the subconscious racism that is prevalent throughout our country, there are some things we need to concur. We need to understand that racism is a learned attribute not something you are born into. I will also discuss the stages in life and when it is most important to start preaching the horrific outcomes of being racist. I also want to bring to light racist things that the average person might not notice, and how little acts of discrimination can last a lifetime in somebody’s brain. I want to make it know, that when you make a racial slur you have no idea who might be offended by it. I will then go on to discuss how much racism can affect a person’s daily life. How people feel as though they are a waste of space in their work force. I will then lead on to discuss how race has effected politics over the last 15 years. I will then lead on to how people are affected modern day by racism and go into specific cases where districts have reprehended people for acts of racism. Lastly I will discuss an institute that has been created to help spread awareness of racism and move into the conclusion.   

Nobody is born racist; it is a learned attribute. The average person starts to learn what racism is in the lower ages of life (grades k-8th). This is the prime spot where people are rather thought about all of the horrific things that can come out of being racist and how it only tears society apart. This is the time frame where teachers need to make time to spread the terrible things that come out of racism so that the children will learn at a young age that it isn’t good for society and they can start making differences. If this time frame is passed like it has in my generation; it leads to no difference in America. We grow up learning the racial stereotypes are just part of society and that nothing we can do will change the minds of thousands. This is why racism still prevails as much as it does today.

People aren’t aware that racism is all around them; they see advertisements like the one above and make nothing of it. There was an experiment done that surveyed nearly 1,500 African American women. The survey asked about their childhood, and if any particular racist events occurred towards them or that they had witnessed. The survey concluded that “Direct and vicarious childhood racism experiences were each independently associated with greater postpartum depressive symptoms” (Heldreth and Guardino). This suggest that childhood racism experiences, even those that are observed rather than directly experienced, may have implications for future mental health. This study shows that if we truly want to stop racism we need to stop it at a young age. If it is stopped then we will not have to worry about future generations from being affected by racism. People for the last hundreds of years have been fighting racism. We have moved from completely segregated to having segregation to be deemed unlawful. The crucial part that everybody missed is that people are still going to be psychologically racist. This is the hardest thing to change and it is the most powerful part in racism. If people are still racist in the mind, then did we really accomplish anything by the thirteenth amendment. 

The main reason that racism is so persistent is that they don’t see it as being a major problem or even a problem at all in America. My roommate claims that “since we have an African American president we can’t possibly be racist” (Johnathan Grimm). When people make remarks such as this it can actually effect people of the non-dominant race. People are so quick to make racial slurs without thinking about who might overhear and get offended by it. These comments are usually made by young adults. One thing that we should start to incorporate into schooling systems is the classroom activities created by the Association for supervision & Curriculum Development. They claim that if teachers would start to do role playing situations that allows the dominant race to see what it feels like to have racism affect them, and to also directly discipline the student if a racist action is made by them. 

Racism effects people at all stages of life. Even once a person becomes an adult they will still face challenges in life because of the color of their skin, their religion, or their heritage. In an article I found it talks about what difficulties female African American nurses go through in life. Nurses to start are just for the aid of the doctors so they don’t have much authority in their line of work. “Racism is a thorn in the black nursing community, and the thorn is represented by not being taken seriously, being valued, the lack of opportunity, and the feeling of being “invisible” (Robinson).” These feelings can ruin a person’s life. When people show up to work every day and feel as though nobody knows why they are there, and that they are a “waste of time and money” (Robinson), they start to become depressed. The sad thing is, is that that is only one example of how racism can affect people lives on an everyday basis, but it can even get more severe in some cases. Depression only effects the person that is depressed but one terrific emotion that comes out of racism is anger. People hit a tipping point where they can’t control their emotions. People will end up seriously injured or even die from the anger that people have towards they opposing races. Cases like Dylann Roof are solely because of racism and it ends with tens of people of dying. 

Racism has gotten to the point where people have a specific stereotype of criminals that when they see somebody that isn’t in the parameter they don’t even look twice. The documentary that I have placed below shows a white man stealing a bike from a park and the bystanders doing nothing solely because he is white. What would you do? This video clearly shows that the average white American will get away with things that African Americans would immediately be reprehended for. It has even gotten to the point where our president was elected because of the color of his skin. Nate silver does a Ted talk about how different the voting was from the years 2004-2012. He starts by stating a survey that is taken every 2 years. The survey asks the question “Would you vote for a qualified Black president?” (Silver). As he lists the facts it shows a relation to what political party you are in. At the time it was mainly republic and it didn’t have much effect on how you voted. As he transfers into 2008 you can see a huge increase in the correlation from how often you associate with the non-dominant race and your political views. The people who mainly associate with people of their race vote no to a black president but people who do would vote yes to a black president. Also if you look at the difference between African American voters from 2004 to 2008 the New York Times claims it jumps nearly 20%. (Roberts) 

In the year 1999 Vermont was struggling hard with acts of racial harassment throughout the state. It was to the point where kids were transferring schools, and it wasn’t only the minority that was affected by this. The minority retaliated and started to harass the white children almost as much as they were being harassed. People were even turning to violence because of how hateful people got. “A significant number of incidents are race related, with some accompanied by physical altercations or serious threats of violence.” (usccr.gov) The state’s department of education created a committee so that they could come up with ways to stop the radicalness of what was going on throughout the schooling district. They observed the psychological aspect of why this was happening to the kids in public schools. They soon learned that if they were to put in rules at a young age that deter the kids from disliking people solely based off of their heritage. After they started to incorporate these rules to kids at a young age they saw a major change in there public schooling system. Now they have reports of “a genuine commitment among many individuals and organizations in the state to ensure that schools are safe learning environments for all students.” (usccr.gov) If all states would follow in their path then we would see a major change in the persistence of racism across the country. 

Many people have taken this issue to heart and realized the damage that it causes to a person and have started to create organizations and institutions. One institution that stood out to me the most is the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley. They were established in 2012 and their mission statement goes as said “HRIPV exists to build a more inclusive and racism-free community by addressing and engaging people and organizations around race and racism.” (Waleska Lugo-DeJesus). The mission statement is exactly what I am supporting in my paper. I want to not only create a more peaceful country but I want to spread awareness of the subject. People think that the 13th amendment was all we needed but racism is still one of the most harmful things that is still around in America. We need more institutions like the one in Massachusetts so that the word will spread. They host a two-day signature program twice a month where they invite people of all different heritages and allow them to come share their lives with people who may never get to experience the country of which they are from. They also give short history seminars so that people have a better understanding of ethnic background. The seminars not only spread the word about ending racism but it actually brings people together from all different backgrounds and creates relationships the flourish for years. One of the most helpful things that they do is offer volunteer positions to help those in need. It allows them to work in a highly friendly environment and they feed the volunteers and helps them turn their life around if need be. 

If we want to stop racism, there are some things we have to start doing. The main arguments that people make about racism not being persistent goes as such: “racism isn’t around after Martin Luther king died”, “We can never stop people from being racist”, “We had a black president”, and “They have the same opportunity as us so how could we be racist”. To start racism is highly persistent in America to this day. Just because we are desegregated doesn’t change the fact that white people still look at black people in a different way. People still to this day don’t like the presence of people that are a different race. Just the other day I heard one of my friends call a black male in a movie the N word with a hard R on the end. At that moment I could feel my body cringe and had to stand up and say something. That is an example of how you can help end racism. By simply telling a friend that it is wrong to say things like that. Secondly, we can stop people from being a racist. Like I stated before, nobody is born a racist. It is a learned attribute that nobody should ever learn. We should be teaching kids equality. Our president was African American for eight years and we still have people thinking that Africans are a problem in the United States. Obama made many things just while he was in office. He created more equal work force for the people of the non-dominant race and made it so that schooling teaches kids to respect one another no matter the color of their skin which has helped a lot in this fight but we aren’t done yet. It is going to take the minds of almost every person across America to come together as one to finally see a non-racist United States. 

In order to see actual change in how race is perceived in America it is going to take the word of mouth by almost every American. We need to have more institutions like the Healing Racism Institute of Pioneer Valley so that people get a better understanding of the topic. We need to embrace change not go against it with fear of the worst. If we could come together as a country and share more love than hate, we would stop seeing these massive riots and outbreaks in major cities that end up costing the state millions of dollars in damages.  The persistency of racism will ruin the lives of more and more people unless we make a stand. The work force is too effected by race. Nobody should be deigned an opportunity because of heritage. If states would make it mandatory for public schools to inform the younger students more about the harm that racism causes, we can have hope for the future generations to not be as affected by race as our country is today. The affect that the color of skin has in this country is too rash. It got a person elected to be the president. Racism is one of the most overlooked problems in America and it will take a lot more than just me to make a difference. Once you finish reading this paper please don’t hesitate to stop somebody after they make a racial slur to try and be funny, just a racial comment in general, or see somebody being racist towards somebody. That is how we truly make a difference. Reading this paper will inform you of all that should be done but once somebody stops you and actually questions your remark they might think twice about making a racist comment. If we continue down the path that we are on it will be a very bright future for the upcoming generations and will lead to an overall more caring, harmless, and peaceful country. 
