One of the biggest problems in the world today, is racism. Every day, even right now, people get harassed, beaten and killed because of the color of their skin. But has it always been this way? Is racism an evil we never will get rid of? And what is racism?

   

In most of mankind’s story colour of skin has been irrelevant. Human beings have always traveled and met other people. They have mixed and mingled, so I think that there is no pure race left in this world. I know that throughout history etnic minorities have been suppressed and have suffered a lot, but could we call that racism? I say no. In my opinion racism is the fruit of imperialism and capitalism.

 

In the America adventurers from Europe, like Christopher Colombus and his crew, treated the Indians – the native Americans- as if they were less worth than the white man. The intruders robbed the Indian’s country and brought one ship after another back to Europe with all kinds of valuable treasures, and they justified their robbing with racist ideas, like saying that the white man was superior. As herds of settlers from Europe started to arrive at “The New World”, they did not even bother to ask the natives to sell them a bit of land, they just took it. Today the proud Indians of the North America live in reservations, many of them out of work, depressed and alcoholized.

 

The same ideas led to the robbing of the third world and lifelong slavery for many black men, women and children. The imperialists justified the buying and selling of humans by claiming that African people were less intelligent and therefore they suited perfectly as slaves. European capitalists made a fortune by shipping slaves from Africa to the USA.

 

Slavery was abolished, in the1860’s, but did that put an end to racism? No. The laws were twisted and used in a wrong way. The “Negroes” were still treated badly, and their freedom was just words on a paper. In the late1950’s, almost a hundred years later, some of the southern states still had racial segregation in schools. Black people could not sit in the same bus – or at the same bench in the park - as the white people, they could not eat at the same café or shop at the same shop. The leader of a non-violent, black movement, dr.Martin Luther King, did a great job gathering people to fight apartheid and unjustice, but although things have become much better, racism still exists in the USA:

 

FN criticizes the USA for racism in conditions to capital punishment and police violence.

 

Texas is the state that executes most people, in the USA. Extremely many of those who become executed are black people. Texas has never executed a white person for a murder on a black person.

 

Is it only in the USA we find racism? No, of course not. The ideas that one race is superior to another can be found all over the world. Apartheid in South Africa and the nazi-Germany are well-known examples.

 

What about our own peace-loving and peaceful country? Yes. Just think about how we used to treat our aborigines, the Lappish people: we tried to wipe out their language, their religion, their culture, their way of living – we tried our best to make them be and behave like us. Why? Because we thought we were superior to them?

 

And how did we look upon the jews? And the gipsys? And how do we feel about todays immigrants? Do we feel different about white immigrants compared to coloured ones? Do we treat them the same? I just ask the questions here, the answers might be too scaring….