Race
Race is understood as a group or a category of people who have genetic and inherited qualities that set them apart. Race is not present in people’s biology but constructed socially as a set of meanings or designations attributed to people through social activities. Racialization process is deeply entrenched in the social relationships and built into the intellectual, moral and imaginative structures. Notably, the physical qualities which are used to classify people into different races like facial features, hair texture, eye colour and skin colour are actually more varied within a race than between different races. For instance, one is likely to notice significant physical differences within the Caucasians than the differences between a group of African Americans and a group of Caucasians. To the whites, blackness is associated with evil, and being uncivilized or primitive. Given the major role that the society plays in the socialization process, the social aspect is what makes every phenomenon important to people’s lives. Therefore, the society is responsible for establishing cultural rules about race, which are then used by its members when categorizing people.
Imperialism
Through the colonization process, the Europeans used the physical labour, tax revenues, raw materials and precious materials to enrich themselves. The process also implied taking away people’s land, freedom, and humanity especially during the slave trade era where millions of Africans were forcefully taken to other continents to provide labour (Mccarthy 2009, p. 89). The economic and political structures which the imperialism process relied upon led to the birth of racism to justify the systematic denial of a shared humanity. As a result, the imperialists saw the domination as a necessary evil to govern the Africans who were seen as different. Leaving the colonized people without freedom, political authority and land developed race to greater heights (Kaplan 1999, p. 123). The absence of the above basic wants made the colonized communities less humans.
Furthermore, during the Edwardian and Victorian period, African villages were a common feature in European exhibitions. The African villages would be displayed as entertainment to the paying visitors as they carried out their daily activities like weaving while naked. The existence of these African villages during exhibitions portrayed the Africans as different from the Europeans because they were black, naked, engaging in the same activities as their ancestors, and being observed for entertainment (Mccarthy 2009, p. 117). Unfortunately, the Africans in these exhibitions were being forced to play the different roles, and their act did not represent the original African culture. The exhibitions of the African villages were a major source of the racist structure which significantly shaped how Europeans thought about themselves. The exhibitions were probably a strategy of convincing the Europeans that the Africans deserved the domination and their rule over them was morally justified.
In the 1830s, scientists like George Morton further influenced the development of race by claiming that the whites had a superior brain and were more intellectual than people from other races (Mccarthy 2009, p. 84). The manipulated findings by Morton led to the emergence of a new assumption in regards to the existence of unquestionable and natural hierarchy between the various ‘races’. For Morton, the qualities of various ‘races’ were concrete and fixed beneath people’s bodies and skins. Through the work of ‘race scientist’, racism has sort of been given an official intellectual justification. As a result, race is embedded in the very structure of Europeans society, and into the imaginative and moral stories they understand themselves, and they world around (Frankenberg 1997, p. 177).
Anti-Semitism in Europe
The exclusion of Jews in Europe is yet another occurrence in the history of the dispossession and stigmatizing of communities seen as radically different from the Europeans. Over the years, the Jewish communities across Europe have been subjected to all forms of communal and state-led persecution, especially in Germany during the Nazi regime in the 1930s (Kaplan 1999, p. 120). Some countries like Poland even revoked the citizenship of the Polish Jews who resided in Germany. On the other, Germany hand pushed the Polish Jews to the Border of the two countries and forced them to go back to Poland, where they would not be welcomed. As a result, the polish Jews remained stuck between the two countries without food or shelter during the winter season.
The hatred towards the Jews or anti-Semitism is driven by the accusation that the Jews secretly control the history. Various documentaries like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion have furthered the claim by alleging to reveal a Jewish scheme to control the world (Kaplan 1999, p. 123). During the Roman era, authorities in cities like Venice had laws which required all the Jews in the city to reside only in a specific part of the city. The defined dwelling location for the Jews was heavily manned at night to ensure they remained confined. Additionally, to ensure that they were easily monitored, the Jews were required to wear clothes with yellow stars when they were in public.
The state also plays a major role in the advancement of racism. The role of the states in promoting racism is revealed by the process of border protection. The state decides who should be allowed to enter its borders freely and those that should not be welcomed (Mccarthy 2009, p. 97). For instance, over the last couple of years, thousands of migrants from Africa have been denied entry into Britain and France, with some being taken back to their countries. The forceful repatriation of the migrants sort of takes a racialized form by interpreting them as different from the local citizens. Further, the very lucky migrants who are allowed entry into a certain state are subjected to the rigorous state-imposed naturalization process. The naturalization process is meant to convert the ‘different’ migrants to become like the locals.
Indigenous Movement
For many years, the indigenous people like the Amazonian tribes, Australian Aborigines, San and the Inuit among others have been treated as subversive because they do not share the culture of the majority or live a sedentary life (Kuper 2003, p. 394). Given that the world has witnessed massive technological advancement over the years, most people argue that the indigenous people should change their way of life. However, organizations supporting the indigenous communities argue that people who lose their culture are seen as those without identity. In fact, the loss of culture is equated to a form of genocide (Kenrick and Lewis 2004, p. 4). Hence, the reduction of cultural variation mainly by the domination of a single universal culture represents a significant loss for humanity. The indigenous movement is not only concerned with hunting and land rights but also identity and culture. According to the indigenous movement, it is impossible to imagine a world that champions for human rights when cultural authenticity is not preserved (Kenrick and Lewis 2004, p. 5).
Over the years, the indigenous rights movement has tried to address the issue of dispossession and other historical injustices committed. The movement seeks equal rights based on the recognition of the legitimacy of the social and economic basis of their way of life (Kenrick and Lewis 2004, p. 6). Racial bias discriminates against the various ways the different communities express their environmental and social relations. The past injustices against the indigenous people should be addressed through restitution, reparations, and compensation. Indigenous groups like the hunters are more in tune with nature than the exploitative farmers. The indigenous people live in much better harmony with the natural environment than the populations of the industrialized and modern society (Frankenberg 1997, p. 175).
Racism in Movies and News
There is a racial grammar that makes black movies specific (for blacks only) and white movies as universal (for all the people). Different scholars have given a historical explanation of the cinematic racial order found on TV shows and movies. In the order, people of colour are still under-represented on TV and in movies, and they even do not appear where they should. For instance, in the 2008 box office hit 21 movie, which was based on a true story involving Asian American teenagers, the Asians were replaced with white characters (Bonilla-Silva 2012, p. 180). Additionally, when minorities are given a role in mainstream movies, they mostly play stereotypical roles like angry people, buffoons, and thugs.
Further, there is a racial angle in the coverage of child abduction stories. The abduction of white children receives very serious media attention as compared to those of black children. For instance, a couple of years ago, a white girl from Utah, named Elizabeth Smart, and a black girl named Alexis Patterson were abducted almost at the same time (Bonilla-Silva 2012, p. 182). However, the abduction of Elizabeth received six times more coverage in the news than that of Alexis. Ironically, despite a third of the black children being involved in kidnapping cases, the police mostly regard missing black children as runaway cases.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is evident that race is not present in people’s biology but constructed socially during the socialization process to depict other people as different. The various physical qualities which are relied upon in classifying people into the various races are principally more diverse within a race than between races. The colonization of different countries by the Europeans is a significant historical phenomenon that facilitated the social construction process of race. The main goal of the European imperialists was to enrich themselves using the labour, taxes, precious stones, and natural resources from the different colonies. To justify their violent and inhumane actions against the Africans, the Imperialists portrayed them as different and lesser humans during the different exhibitions organized in Europe at the time. To further the imperialist notion, scientists like Morton reported that the Africans were lesser superior as indicated by their brain size. Anti-Semitism is also another form of racism which has been there for centuries and has seen millions of Jews being subjected to persecution simply because of their race. In more recent times, movies with white individuals as the lead characters have been portrayed as universal, with the minority communities being mostly assigned stereotypical roles. Also, there is a racial angle in the coverage of stories, with the issues or incidents which are of interest to the whites being given more priority, whereas the issues of interest to the minority communities like the African Americans are not prioritized.
References
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2012). The invisible weight of whiteness: the racial grammar of everyday life in contemporary America. Ethnic and Racial Studies. 35, 173-194.
Frankenberg, R. (1997). Displacing whiteness: essays in social and cultural criticism. Durham, N.C., Duke University Press.
Kaplan, M. A. (1999). Between dignity and despair: Jewish life in Nazi Germany.
New York, Oxford University Press.
Kenrick, J., and Lewis, J. (2004). Indigenous peoples' rights and the politics of the term "indigenous". Anthropology Today.
Kuper, A. (2003). The Return of the Native. Current Anthropology (Chicago). 44, 389-402.
Mccarthy, T. (2009). Race, empire, and the idea of human development. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
