In recent years, I have become aware of the increasing lack of cultural acceptance within our generation. In this supposedly modern and non-prejudiced, multi-cultural society, there is little acceptance for those who have differences. Racism originated in the mid 19th century, although evidence of racial discrimination can be found much earlier than that. The fact is that, racism has always been present, even in Biblical times. There are scriptures dating back to ancient Greek and Roman societies, which record slavery and racial divisions. It is outstanding that the amount of young people in our society who, without any knowledge, past experiences or just reasons, form prejudgements on those who have come from a different ethnic background, economic division or social class. Aren’t we supposed to have advanced since these times into a cosmopolitan, culturally diverse and acceptant society? I, personally, believe that race is not the “problem”; racism is.
In every country, of every continent, there are racial issues, which need to be dealt with. Racial issues hold a strong bearing over the well being of our generation and of generations to come. Racial abuse and anti-social behaviour must stop; we must stop it now. How many of us have been in the presence of somebody who has a racial, social or economic difference and have treated that somebody in a way, which we ourselves would not wish to be treated? Or have we ourselves ever felt under-appreciated or prejudge because of our family history, ethnicity or wealth? Be it the colour of skin, accent or dialect, amount of money a family receives annually, or the clothes that someone wears, we can all be susceptible to forming prejudgments and expressing our views in a less than social manner. Yet when the role is reversed, we still cannot appreciate the emotional turmoil that racial, social or economic isolation abuse causes.
The important thing is this: we should not make any un-informed or offensive declarations about the importance or value that a person has, which is solely based on appearance or hearsay. We must think before we find ourselves prejudging others: “How will that affect the individual?” or “Would I like to be treated in that a way?” We must try to think about how it would affect our emotional state to be in somebody else’s shoes. Certain actions are not conducive to the situation. Irrational or rushed thinking and the expression of racist or discriminative views cause discomfort for everyone present.
So why do we believe someone is inferior or superior to someone else? London is a good example of cultural diversity, as 45% of its inhabitants are non-white. How one identifies one’s self is very personal. One in nine people in the UK who are mixed-race would class themselves as British. What we have to appreciate is that the colour of one’s skin holds no significance on the personality of that person; cultural differences can. The history, music, arts, language, food and religion of a person form the identity, but the personality of a person forms the individuality. Who has the right to stereotype someone into a category? We are all individuals who share something in common – we have a culture.
When reading an article on the BBC website, I was struck by the power that religion holds over cultural differences. In Britain, 40 million people described their ethnicity as white and their religion as Christianity. Of the people who described their identity as Chinese around 53% stated they had no religion. Some faith communities are concentrated in particular ethnic groups and it is easy to see how people can make stereotypes, but stereotyping causes conflict. With the recent increase in religious conflict, people have started to believe that religion itself is to blame; religion isn’t to blame, mankind is.