Let's not play dumb - we all know that racism is still alive. It always has been, it is right now, and I hope and pray that eventually it will end. Will it ever? I'm not sure. I can't speak on behalf of experience, because I've never felt victimized due to my skin color. I've never felt at a disadvantage for a career or felt uncomfortable with any type of law enforcement - ever. But I do know one thing... we are all human beings who deserve to be treated as such. Although I can't relate to it, that doesn't mean I don't fully support anti-racism.
Did you know that it wasn't until 1967 that congress passed the Voting Rights Act of 1695, which outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests, and other things that disallowed black people from voting? Did you know that it wasn't until 1989 that the US government issued $20,000 and a formal apology to each of the 60,000 WWII internees of all the camps within the US? Did you know that in 2001, congress passed the controversial USA Patriot Act that gave the federal government the power to detain suspected "terrorists" for no given amount of time? Without access to legal representation/a lawyer? Do you realize that these events have only happened within the span of 50 years? People, that is NOT that long ago.
Racism is an unfortunate and longtime existing form of judgement. Can we all truly say we have never had a racist thought, or made a racist joke, or even applied subtle racist judgement without realizing it? The truth is, I can guarantee that almost every single one of the people who are reading can't say that they haven't. It's everywhere. It's on TV. It's all over social media. It's in the movies. Racism has become a subtle norm, has it not? I know I've heard Jimmy Fallon made a "how are you Asian if you're not good at math?" joke before. It's things like this that we don't think about.
Honestly, I don't know if this will ever go away completely. After hundreds and thousands of years of a certain mindset that being different is viewed in a negative light, it will take a lot of reform. Although, I might say that this is the generation that will put forth the greatest effort to do so. I have seen more anti-racism slogans, phrases, and campaigns in the past couple of years than I have ever seen before. I think if everyone changed their mindset just a little bit, perhaps one day we could all let go of this judgement.
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