Professional Documents
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Racism Is
Racism Is
English 2010
Racism Is
Imagine living every day in a paranoid state knowing that everywhere you go, everything
you do is being watched and judged. Imagine walking into a store or a mall and having someone
watch your every movement thinking that you’re going to steal something in the store or have
something hidden under your clothes. Imagine being mocked and ostracized at school because
you’re “different.” No one likes to be left out. Why do we judge? What causes us to think we are
better because of our differences? Why is hatred spoken of in a non-concerning way? Why does
hatred continue to be spread because someone wants to look powerful or feel stronger by the
words they use? Why do we discriminate? Society has come to believe or wants to believe that
racism is no longer occurring in the United States and is not happening in 2018. As a society and
through the challenges of the past we have forgotten the change that has been made since the
50’s and 60’s when the fight for civil rights was first waged. We have forgotten that
discrimination is a dividing force and that division changes the way the world can work together
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
Racism is the attitude that people of a certain race are inferior. People with this kind of
belief tend to treat others from this supposed inferior race badly. Racism continues to be a huge
problem throughout the world. An example of this is in Israel where the Jews and the
Palestinians experiences this attitude. In African countries where women we all kidnapped due to
their religious beliefs and traditions. Just like with the Underground Railroad back in the 1800’s
there are civil rights groups that help people fight their way to where they want to be and to be
able to experience fair treatment no matter their race. There are laws in place claiming people
have a right to vote, work, and speak, but even the law has flaws that have kept people from
receiving opportunities because of their race or religion. The change in belief and attitude
continues to be needed.
Pat and Gary had heard tales from other adoptive families about racism and prejudice
directed at their adoptive children that was so intense, they were forced to move on a regular
basis. They had also heard that race doesn't matter. On the other hand, they heard that race was
the only thing that mattered. “We had an “obligation” to live in predominantly black
neighborhoods, so our kids could have the “black experience,” they were told.
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
When Pat and Gary were out on a date with their new baby they were sitting at the table in a
restaurant and overheard the couple next to them asking, “Why would they want to have a black
baby? Who would do that?” During their conversation they spoke loudly and kept pointing at the
baby. That was the first experience they had with prejudice. They thought to themselves how
surprised they were that prejudice still existed. It was unexpected. (Pat)
They had a similar experience with their other adopted child who is full African American. They
went to McDonald’s with their two biological children and their two adopted children who were
both African American. While they were in line they were approached by two men who
approached them very aggressively asking whose baby they had and why they had her. The men
kept yelling that they didn’t have the right to have a black baby that it was not good for white
people to include them in their families. The cooks at McDonald’s were watching what was
happening and when the men became louder the cooks jumped over the counter and stood
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
The fight of racism has re-emerged as the emotions and beliefs are turning back to those
that were believed to be changed in the 1950’s or 1960’s. The struggle for Civil Rights, Equality
and Justice is a continuous fight. Those beliefs have turned back time and have reintroduced
racism through unfair treatment of people of different ethnicities, including Black Lives Matter,
In the past months it has become apparent that differences cause discomfort to some who
feel it so deeply they are willing to break the law and destroy lives with their actions. On
December 3rd, 2018 the father and son of Lopez tires, were beaten by 50-year-old Alan
Covington outside of their family tire shop, because he “Wanted to Kill a Mexican”. This blatant
act of racism is a prominent example of why racism is still alive in this world.
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
“In Utah, the last year has shown a rise in racially-charged hate messages and slurs in
viral videos, in complaints sent to the Salt Lake City branch of the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, and reports of more verbal racism in public spaces.
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a Hurricane High School student shared an image of
herself on Instagram, a photo and video sharing social media sight. The photo depicted the 16-
year-old student being lynched with red crosses drawn on her eyes. The caption read “Happy
National N----- Day.” The post quickly went viral, and school officials and law enforcement got
involved. The Hurricane Police Department hasn’t charged the students— one pictured in the
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
photo, and another who shared the photo online — but Washington County School District HHS
Principal Jody Rich made a statement on his own Instagram account, regarding the student's
The “black lives matter” push has become the necessary voice and action to begin
recognizing the unfair treatment of people of color. It has opened the door to other actions that
have identified discrimination and intolerance. It is necessary to become the voice and action of
change and begin to work toward equality between races, sexual orientation, religious beliefs and
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
Although all religions teach about love, sometimes their attitudes towards other religions
are prejudice. This comes from an opinion that their religion is superior. For centuries, racial
discrimination has been haunting millions of people worldwide, almost everywhere you turn;
A friend of my sister’s experienced prejudice when her mother’s car was tagged with
racial comments and her father received several death threats. It didn’t help that her father was
from Jordan and 9/11 had just occurred. The threats were considered racially motivated and was
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
investigated by local police. They eventually had to move to a different area because of the fear
it evoked.
Racism has led to careless acts of death, punishment and unfair treatment of adults and
children. It appears that progress has been made only to see different people suffer due to their
differences from the “norm.” The work that has been done oftentimes takes steps forward as well
as steps backwards because of the strong beliefs of people. Trayvon Martin was murdered
because of profiling. He never got the chance to live out his life because of someone else’s short
mindedness.
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
While the world wide web, news, and all media are great ways to promote ideals of free
speech, it can also be a breeding ground that harbors hatred and continued negative beliefs. It
effects safety. According to Roger Solomon PHD regarding safety and race “it is a tsunami of
emotional reasoning, and labeling. It not only effects society it also effects mental and emotional
strength in individuals as they fall into the patterns of negativism and fear. An example of this
According to the Association of Psychological science research has shown that the effect
can be greater on people who care about being judged versus those who don’t. Emotion, trauma
and mental health effect from discrimination and stereotyping result in the most significant harm
to an individual. It opens the mind to thinking errors and allows people to not identify those
The Civil Rights Movement never ended, it just became quiet. It is time again to begin
the fight to show others that everyone bleeds the same color blood and that we are of the human
race rather than a race of ethnicity. Knowing our history is important to understand our present
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Marissa Cox
English 2010
Works Cited
Association for Psychological Science. 15 January 2013. December 2018.
"Claims of “Post-Racial” Society and Other Denials of Racism May Reflect Ignorance of History."
Psychological Science (2017): 10-16.
Havens, Emily. Racism in Utah: In the workplace, on social media, and inside schools. 30 January 2018.
<https://www.thespectrum.com/story/news/2018/01/30/racism-workplace-social-media-
inside-schools-utah/905356001/>.
PhD., Roger Solomon. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and First Responders Marissa Cox. 8 December
2018.
Shoichet, Catherine E. Is racism on the rise? More in the U. S. say its a 'big problem' CNN/KFF poll finds.
25 November 2015.
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