Over the past century, racism and intolerance have caused 62 million men, woman, and children to perish. These deaths have taken place in numerous forms including Government-Supported ethnic cleansing, forced suicides, war crimes, terrorism, and acts of violence committed by civilians targeting specific ethnic and racial groups. A further 22 million individuals, who are considered by the international community as refugees, have been displaced, and in certain cases even forcibly expelled from their home nations on the basis of their race, caste, and religious beliefs.

Due to increased globalism and emigration, the world has seen a surge of multiethnic and multiracial groups calling foreign nations home. These international communities and foreign diaspora span the length and breadth of this world; existing in the humid, hot deserts of the Sahara, to the frigid, arctic conditions of Northern Europe, and every nation in between. While multiethnic and multiracial communities promote diversity, integration, and globalism, they also present a unique set of challenges; the likes of which the world has never seen before. These unique challenges between ethnic and racial groups, which have taken shape in the form of hatred, disrespect, and violence, integrate into a single, omnipresent problem: racism and intolerance due to political conflict, religious, cultural and ideological disagreement, and racial supremacy.

Regions plagued with political conflict have often served as a hotbed for racial violence and intolerance due to the instability of the governments in the region. Citizens of politically unstable regions have often belonged to numerous ethnic and racial groups,  and as such racial conflict has usually be inevitable and in certain cases racial conflict has even been utilized as justification for the ongoing conflict. Racism in politically unstable regions have often occurred is mass acts of violence with almost certain impunity and little to no government oversight. 

An example of racism due to political conflict, which has lead to violence, war crimes, and numerous atrocities, is the Kashmir Conflict. The Kashmir Conflict, a territorial dispute between Pakistan and India, has caused three wars, the displacement of over a million individuals, and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of men, woman, and children. The Kashmir Conflict began during the Partition of India 1947; both nations claimed Kashmir to be under the sovereignty. Today Pakistan controls 37% of Kashmir, India controls 43% of Kashmir, and both nations officially claim the entire region as their land. While the Kashmir Conflict has long been considered by the International Community as a territorial dispute, the ongoing conflict and ethnic divide between the religious communities of Kashmir have caused numerous, albeit overlooked acts of racism, discrimination, and in certain cases even horrible atrocities against the civilian population of Kashmir.

A politically-motivated act of racism, which took shape in the form of violence, was the 1988 Wandhama Massacre. The Wandhama Massacre was the systematic murder of Kashmir’s Hindu residents. The Massacre caused the deaths of 23 Hindu Priests and caused over 100,000 men, woman, and children to flee their homes. The perpetrators of the atrocity had one goal: to systematically target and execute individuals on the sole basis of their religion.

This atrocity was one of the many acts of racial violence that has besieged Kashmir in the past 68 years. This incident set a precedent is Kashmir: It is OKAY to target individuals based on their beliefs. The civilian residents of Kashmir, who were horrified and taken aback by the senseless killings, began to carry out retribution attacks under the understandable, albeit misguided assumption that two wrongs make a right.

The ongoing acts of retribution and violence on the basis of religion is present in Kashmir even today. A once idyllic, serene, and beautiful region has turned into a war zone where individuals of different ethnicities have been unable to cohabit in harmony, and as a result have taken to violence and hatred as a means to solve their problems. This ongoing conflict epitomizes the disastrous results racial violence in politically unstable regions can cause over time. Throughout history racism and intolerance during political conflicts have created a never ending chain of violence and hatred, which has furthered the political conflict, tore apart families, ruined lives, and has caused a hatred filled social dynamic for individuals located at the epicenter of the conflict.

Religious, cultural, and ideological disagreement have long been the cause of racial conflict and violence over the past millennium and has recently seen a surge in the past century. Due to mass emigrations, where individuals from different cultures and religions congregate in one region, religious beliefs, cultural customs, and ideologies have often clashed and have directly, and indirectly been the cause of racism based mass violence and intolerance. While religious and ideological disagreement have in certain instances been used by governments and organizations as justification for acts of terror and violence, religious and ideological disagreement based racism often takes shape in the form of individual to individual racism. Over the course of history individual to individual racism have often occurred on a mass scale and have become ingrained so deeply in society it is considered by many to be an acceptable and usual occurrence in daily life. An ongoing example of a nation plagued with religious, cultural, and ideological based racism is the United States.

The United States is a classic example of a racial diverse, secular nation. Over the past 200 years the nation has welcomed individuals from all walks of life, to truly form a multiethnic and multicultural nation. While the United States is a prime example of cohabitation and cooperation between ethnic groups, it’s citizens have also fallen victim to systematic and omnipresent racism; usually stemming from a clash of ideologies between ethnic groups.  The racism between the ethnic groups are usually non-violent in nature and rather causes victimization through the use of hate speech, social separation, and large financial and economic gaps between large racial groups and minorities. While nations usually have laws specifically meant to deter hate speech, the emotional and phycological, rather than physical nature of this racism usually prevents secular and objective authorities from intervening. Despite attempts to end ideological racism in recent years, racism has become a way of life for many and has indirectly caused a repeating circle of never-ending, violence, racism and intolerance.

Throughout history racial supremacy has been the cause of terrible atrocities against peaceful populations. While racism due to political conflict and ideological clashes have resulted in violence, racism due to perceived supremacy has been regarded by the international community as one of the most serious and violent forms of racism. Racism due to racial supremacy stems from the belief that certain religious, ethnic, or racial groups are superior to other groups of individuals, who they consider to be inferior. This form of racism has often been instated and carried out by governments, with little to no civilian involvement. The ideology of racial supremacy has often resulted in the mass executions and deportations of millions of individuals, rampant destruction of property and economic infrastructure, and a virtually nonexistent possibility for peace through the use of nonviolent force.

The Apartheid in South Africa from 1948 to 1994 is perhaps one of the best know instances of racism stemming from the belief of racial supremacy. The Apartheid was the systematic separation of White and Colored citizens of South Africa, ruthlessly enforced through legislation and physical force by the National Party, a minority white political party. Despite White citizens being a minority in South Africa, the government prevented all forms of racial integration, displacing colored individuals, and in extreme cases even forcibly escorting colored residents to rural areas of the nation, to facilitate the creation of All-White communities.

While the concept of Apartheid was based of separation and prevention of integration, rather than physical violence and ethnic cleansing, the government eventually began to use force and brutality as a method of enforcing it’s totalitarian rule. When colored individuals formed a resistance against the government, the Armed Forces and Police began to use murder, imprisonment, and other despicable acts of terror as tools to prevent a political revolt. The Apartheid in South Africa epitomizes the effects racial supremacy can have on individuals and the nation as a whole and displayed the true effects of institutional racism.

The Holocaust, also known as “HaShoah”  was the genocide of individuals considered “inferior” by the Far-Right Nazi German government lead by Adolf Hitler during World War Two. Over the course of the war Adolf Hitler ordered and oversaw the executions of of eleven million Jews, the physically disabled, and the mentally challenged. This terrible atrocity proved to the world just how disastrous racial supremacy based racism could be. While over eleven million individuals lost their lives on the basis of nothing but their religion or bodily capabilities, the Holocaust also directly resulted in foreign military involvement with the goal of ending the illegal and inhumane onslaught. The military campaign lead to economic and political catastrophe in Nazi Germany.  The Holocaust is the best know example of mass racism and ethnic cleansing, and exemplifies the disastrous consequences of racism and intolerance.

Throughout history the world has experienced racism is all shapes and forms. The surge of globalization has caused numerous conflicts and atrocities stemming from racial intolerance. Racism has become a never ending cycle and has infected itself into our society. In recent years certain regions have regarded intolerance as an acceptable part of daily life, with racist and intolerant views ingrained in today’s society.  Certain regions have responded to racism by preventing immigration and attempting to preserve single-ethnic regions. While the preservation of single-ethnic groups are viewed by some as an acceptable way of preventing racism, individuals are only trying to outrun the inevitable: the world will become completely multiracial and multiethnic.

While the idea of globalization is still young and fresh in the eyes of most people, the world can, and will, outrun the concept of racism and intolerance. There will come a day where they will be no white, no black, no Asian, no European, just you and I. The world will eventually learn to embrace and respect the concept of internationality. The world has already began to pave the road to an integrated community.

With the support of individuals, institutions, and governments, the world will see a day free of racism and intolerance, the world will see a day free of discrimination and economic gaps, and the world will see a day where everyone is truly colorblind and the words “racism” and “intolerance” become obsolete and archaic terms no longer used by the average individual.