Racism Is Learnt Essay

Kwame Anthony Appiah's article “Racisms”, claims racism to be a view of racialism which are the “heritable characteristics, possessed by the members of our species, that allow us to divide them into smaller sets of races… these races share certain traits…” (Appiah). Appiah argues that humans need a definition of

Are we born racist or have we learnt it? Children grow up heavily influenced by the values and beliefs of their family. If these attitudes are racist then innocent pick up these traits when usually they don’t see these differences.

In this paper I will be arguing that racist beliefs are cognitive problems according to Appiah’s account of racisms. In order to defend this position, I will first explain Appiah’s account of how racism is heritable through genes, focusing specifically on what he thinks the connection between extrinsic racists and intrinsic racists are. Then, I will define what Appiah takes a extrinsic and intrinsic racists to be, and show how his definition of what an “insincere” extrinsic is distinctive by contrasting it with other ways one could interpret or define as an “insincere” racist. I will then present an objection that explains why I think that racialism is not heritable through genes and that an “insincere” extrinsic racist should not change

A recent study shows that the United States is home to five percent of the world’s population, but twenty-five percent of the world’s prisoners. That may seem like a lot, but almost half of the prison population is Black men. People may think that this is a sign of racism, which may or may not be true, but where does racism come from? Some people believe that it is “in the blood” while others believe that racism is a learned trait they attained from the parents. I personally believe that racism is a learned behavior.

In the 19th century scientific racism was developed, in relation to the Civil War. Scientific racism was lead by people like Morton who measured brain cavity in multiple skulls and determined from these measurements not only which skulls were bigger, but also if that meant a person was smart, civilized, and various other traits. These conquered with racial stereotypes, placing whites as the most civilized on top, with blacks and Indians on the bottom (The Stories We Tell). His work convinced many people, including leading scientist who hadn't seen race as biological Louis Agassiz, that race could be proven scientifically (The Stories We Tell). The need for this scientific justification of racism came as a byproduct of the Civil War where slavery was abolished, but racism was still firmly entrenched in people's mind, this science was a way to legitimize people still clinging to their racist beliefs (Roediger, How Race Survived U.S. History, pp. 101-103).

Racism has been around since the early times of civilization and has many names describing it. The word “racism” first came into common usage in the 1930s when a new word was required to describe the theories on which the Nazis based their persecution of the Jews. As is the case with many of the terns historians use, the phenomenon existed before the coinage of the word that we use to describe

Racism is drawn and described in all its efficiency. Here is a quote from Adolf Hitler: “The Jews are undoubtedly a race, but they are not human.” Children are taught to be racists at the early stage of their lives, and this is happening at their homes. “The mothers always told so: ‘Be careful! A Jew will catch you to a bag and eat you!’ So they taught to their children.” (Spiegelman, p.151)

I believe that truly humane learning can't help but expand the constricted boundaries of human sympathy, of social tolerance. Maybe the truest thing to be said about racism is that it represents a profound failure of imagination.

The evolution of racism began with the slave trade among Europe, North America and Africa. The “new world” colonists provided a market for slavery. Europeans went to Africa and kidnapped or bought blacks, and then went to the developing Americas where they sold them as slaves. On their voyages from Africa to America the blacks were treated

There are many theories that attempt to identify the precise origins of racism. The three articles that were designated for reading each try to answer the question of what are the sources of racism. Of the three, I found that both Loewenbergs and Allports arguments combined best explain where racism stems from. By using the aforementioned articles I will assert my opinion of the subject, and use past and current class readings to support my argument. In doing so, some light may be shed upon what are the actual derivations of racism.

Racism is a thing we cannot deny we have done. Whether we are black or white or just poor we are prejudiced. Although we may say,” I am not racist.” Everybody is guilty of racism whether we deny it or not. If we grow up in a non racist home, we still know how the world views other races. Of course, there is caution walking into another country, but

The study of prejudice, stereotyping, and racism has been a major theme in social psychology reflecting concerns of society (Jost & Kay, 2010). History of colonization contributed to Europeans’ prejudice against people of color (Tuffin, 2004). For centuries, racism was used to justify the advancement of European nations. In the 18th century, the

Racism presents itself through very different avenues. As the moral guidelines in understanding racism make sense to some, they might not to others. This is due in part to the way in which events have occurred in an individual’s life. An individual’s upbringing is one of the most common derivatives of racism. Upbringing is a very strong factor of what influences people to become racist, or to have even slightly racial views. This is because children are often reliant on their parents to shape them into the person they are to become. This involves their

The ideologies of race and racism were created with the colonization of the Americas. Before that point the idea of “race” did not exist from a European perspective. Before the discovery of the so called “New World,” the main factor that Europeans used to discriminate against those of differing origin from them was religion, particularly adherence to Christianity (Harvey, Sean P.). In fact, it was with the European colonization of the Americas and the enslavement of many of the peoples of Africa, that the ideologies of race and racism were founded. These served two purposes, justifying the enslavement of millions, as well as creating a divide between the white and black communities, solidifying the power of the white elite. By creating this ideology, the powerful and rich white were able to quell resistance by giving even the least powerful white person the feeling that they were superior to

Racism evolves when a group of people or historical collectivity dominates, excludes, or seeks to eliminate another based on differences that it believes are hereditary and unalterable