Essay, Research Paper: Racism/Genetics

Racism: Genetics or A Fact of Life?Racism.... A word that means a lot of things to many people. To some, that word is the description of a way of life (or part of the genetic code) to others it is a repulsive term that represents closed-mindedness. In my own eyes, there are no Blacks, no Asians, and no Hispanics; there is only one race, and that race is HUMAN. No matter what our color or physical features may be, it all boils down to the fact that we are all HUMAN. This is yet another concept that we must seek to fully understand before we can consider ourselves ready to attain peace and harmony. Is Racism part of our basic genetic code? Or is it just an excuse that we use. According to a study done by the "The foundation of racism does in fact have a specific entanglement with genetics "Racism is not the simple black vs. white argument that so many people think racism affects people of all ethnic, racial, religious, & socioeconomic backgrounds, this is probably because of the fact that wherever racism is involved we see conflict and problems. Racism is a learned behavior that is passed down from parents to their children. If children can learn to hate others because of their skin or religion or because they may not be as well off as themselves, is it not true that children can also learn to love and respect others for those same differences? We should teach our children to love and not hate, because knowledge is key to ridding society of this horrible disease known as racism. We can see examples of this behavior in many different forms & in different degrees of severity. Some examples of this include the Apartide of Africa, The Ku Klux Klan, Hitler's attacks on the Jew's during W.W.II, and in the way that the U.S. dealt with the segregation of its citizens, and the Communism of Asia and the Soviet Union. Many people compare racism to a match, seemingly harmless until it is lit, by hateful words or actions. Once the match is lit it will grow and spread like a raging wildfire. Though it may seem impossible for it to be stopped, there are things that can be done to both prevent this and stop it once it has occurred.No can really determine for sure where racism started, or why it is so debilitating to society? As far as we can determine racism was not started in any one particular moment in time, or in one specific spot on earth. Racism occurs in every town and can occur at any time. We can still see racism today; we see it in the U.S. when we look at the fact that there are still over 5,000 members of the Ku Klux Klan spread over the U.S. Another example of racism that we still feel the effects of was the attacks on different groups such as the Jews, handicapped people, and homosexuals, during W.W.I. When Adolf Hitler took over in Germany from the years 1939-1945, he and his Nazis killed 6 million Jews, 250,000 Gypsies, and another 5 million non-Jews including homosexuals, members of certain religions, and people with physical and mental handicaps. As stated by German Pastor Martin Niemoller during W.W.II, we see a first hand experience teaching us a very good lesson.
"In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant." "Then they came for me --- and by that time no one was left to speak up." Stimuli that control racism: It seems that there are different times for different groups. For example: The KKK seems to operate best at night. This is most likely because they are afraid to do their crimes during the day because they can easily be seen. This is also shown in the way that they dress, by dressing in white sheets or they try to hide their appearance and in turn make themselves a contradiction. Where as with the Nazis we see that they were willing to attack people at any point in the day. They were not shy to dragging people out in the morning or in the evening. As far as the behavior occurring around certain people, yes of course. When one is dealing with a feeling of hate, it is most likely that they will "hang around" with people of the same character type, and those that feel the same as them. It appears that there is a contradiction even among racist groups. The KKK feel that the whites are the only group that has the "RIGHT" to live, where as the Black Panthers feel that the African American group are superior. These differences are some of the leading causes of hatred and feelings of disdain. Activities that seem to bring out feelings of racism in many people seem to be things like groups rally's, marches, and meetings. But there are always those that just act totally unprovoked and those are the people that are the most dangerous.