Racism in the Past, Present

and Future.

By Archana Ganapathi

One of the major issues of the past and

present is race relations. Racism has

affected the lives of many people from

various countries. In the past, there has

been a lot of racial tension between the

non-whites and the whites. For example,

the blacks were not allowed to go to the

same public parks or churches that the

whites went to. The non-white workers

were treated like possessions rather than

people. They were never given any

respect or consideration.

Even in other parts of the world, such as

Germany, there was racism during the

Holocaust. At that time, Jews were

tortured and incinerated to death in

concentration camps. All this suffering,

in those days split the Nazis from the

Jews which resulted in war. This war,

later, split Germany into two.

Today, racial discrimination still exists.

It has just taken a different form. There

are also many issues that involve racial

discrimination. For example, in the

Rodney King trial, Rodney accused the

white police officers of beating him up

because he was black. Actually, they

treated Rodney in a harsh way because

he was drunk. In the O.J.Simpson trial,

instead of accusing Simpson as a man

killing his wife, people thought of it as a

black killing a white. The jury was mostly

black. Consequently people considered

the jury bias. Sometimes, movies are

filmed based on racial tensions too.

“Mississippi Masala” and “A Time to

Kill” are some examples. In both of these

movies, people of different races love

each other while their family is totally

against inter-racial relationships. All

these have a bad influence on children.

Some children who have watched these

movies seem to like the idea of

discrimination. Many issues involving

racial discrimination are taking place in

schools. A few months ago, a school

teacher in South Carolina wrote on a

black child’s face using a permanent ink

pen. The child had forgotten her glasses

so in block letters, the teacher wrote

“where are my glasses?” on the child’s

forehead. Another event that took place

in a school in Santa Barbara was more

offensive. Some white girls wrote a note

that said “ Every class should plant a tree

and here’s ours”. The note had a picture

beside it showing a black girl being

lynched. They left it on a black girl’s

desk. If this type of influence on children

continues to grow, pretty soon, there will

be no unity in this world.

As far as I know, grudges have been

passed down from our forefathers all the

way down to us. For example, if my

grandparents decided they disliked

someone, my parents wouldn’t

communicate with them and neither

would I. If this chain continues onto our

future generations, it only increases the

possibility of war and diversity.

Personally, I think we should forget

grudges of the past and look into the

future. As the population of the world is

increasing the amount of prejudice will

also increase. This increases the chance

of discrimination and war. As the years

pass, I hope that someone figures out a

way to stop diversity where it is.

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