Why aren’t people taking racism seriously?

Imagine a world full of peace, a war-free world and people accepting each other for who they are. Unfortunately, nobody’s perfect and the worst thing going on right now in this world is racism.People aren’t taking racism seriously and no one is stepping up and having the courage to make it stop. Why is that?

According to The Oxford English Dictionary, racism is defined as the ‘belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race. It is especially distinguished as inferior or superior to another race or races’ and the expression of such prejudice. The word racism was first noted around the 1900’s and has been used negatively through prejudice and stereotype.

Racism can be formed through stereotyping which can be seen based on peoples’ judgements to other cultural races. They think that they are better because of their colour, where they are from and what language they speak. Stereotype is one of the main problems for people receiving racial abuse. Being a teenager, I have experienced and witnessed racism being used in school and out in public. My experience involved being brave to talk about what happened and asking for help. This made me think about other times where people would not ask for help or did not have the support to speak up like I did. I then decided to write about why racism is still alive and why I felt that stereotype has played a big part in this.

Through talking to people and reading comments online, I have found some of the main reasons why people are not standing up against racial violence. They can include: the fear of getting bullied, trying to blend in, or receiving racial abuse themselves. This can lead to being emotionally depressed, losing friends and being ashamed of your identity.

My recommendations for eliminating racism would be better support for people to speak up against racism making sure it is not being misused in humor. Also, more education is needed in schools and communities to raise awareness around what it is about including ‘The Human Rights Law’ where people have the right to be free from racial discrimination. Just because you have not experienced racism does not mean you can’t step in to help because everyone should take responsibility for stopping racial abuse.   

Ana-Maria Maugaotega