Is racism really a thing of the past? Some races are different than others. All human beings are not the same, everyone has different things about themselves that make them different. Why are we all different? We are all genetically designed to be a certain way, some genes give us a particular attribute then somebody that does not have those genes. A race is simply a different modification of a certain pattern of genes that gives us a distinct particularity: skin color, height, hair color, or muscular development. As terrible as my description of genetics might be, it is in some way or another quite accurate.

We are all equal in the eyes of the law, better said: we should all be equal in the eyes of the law. There is no doubt in my mind that the best way for society to function is having a particular set of rules under which every citizen is equal. We are not all equal when it comes to height, skin color, muscular tone, or intelligence. Being taller than somebody else does not make you better than them, a person with blue eyes is not better than a person with brown eyes, this all just makes them different. I believe our society imposes a great misinterpretation when it comes to racism. Racism when looked up in a dictionary means: “the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races.” This definition does not necessarily imply that finding differences in races makes a person racist, it states that using those differences to say that one race is better than another makes a person racist. I believe that society accuses certain people of being racist simply for pointing out distinctions in people. It may be true that these distinctions are bold, but many of them are not and have no hidden meaning to them. Pointing out these differences is not racist, making observations in a moderate fashion is not racist either, coming to conclusions based on these observations is what makes a person racist.

Several people would agree with me when I say that African Americans are usually taller than Asians. This statement is in general true, but it does not mean that all African Americans are taller than Asians. The previous statement in no way means that African Americans are better or worse than Asians. The previous statement simply means that African Americans on average are taller than Asians. This statement in my mind is in no way racist, we are simply analysing a physical characteristic of one race in comparison to another and coming to no conclusion relating to superiority. MacBooks are more expensive than regular PC’s. I am not saying that Macs are better because they are more expensive, nor am I saying that PC’s are better because they are cheaper, I am simply comparing their price. The same principle can be applied when comparing physical or mental attributes of human beings, and categorizing them as they are on their identification cards.

Society takes racism to a completely different level. Many things that are said in modern day society are accepted or called racist depending on who says them. The so called “n-word” is a great example of the previous claim. A person of African American descent can use the “n-word”, but nobody else can. Why can they call themselves the “n-word”? I have presenced many young men pertaining to the African American race call themselves the “n-word” as a type of slang, maybe even as a replacement to words such as dude. Another great example of what society calls “racism” are the bold claims that several races make: “I am proud to be an African American”, “I am proud to be Asian”, “I am proud to be a Native American”. But if I were to say: “I´m proud to be white” society would instantly call me a racist. Why is it not okay for me to express satisfaction towards being white if that were the case? Why can other races do it but not whites? It is likely that it comes down to the denotation of it all. Society calls the connotation racist. When an African American says: “I´m proud of being an African American” he or she is probably referring to the fact that he or she is proud of being part of a racial group that thrived throughout the ages despite all the hardships they had to endure. African Americans are most likely not saying that they are proud to be of a black skin color. I believe this same principle can be implemented with several other races, and there is no doubt that it is greatly misinterpreted. If we were all equal we should all be able to call each other by the same terms. The only reason that I am not allowed to use the “n-word” is because of my race, which is not African American. I believe that not being able to use a certain type of word because of your race is not fair, and to a certain extent discrimination. Nevertheless, not being able to use a word is a very small “hardship” that everyone has to endure in comparison to others that many other races have had to endure.

In this article I am in no way stating that whites suffer from greater racial oppression than any other race. Throughout history the race that has constantly oppressed others are whites, they have targeted other racial or ethnic groups and persecuted them several times. I am trying to pose an alternative way of thinking that might challenge pre existing thoughts in your brain. Are the things you though racist really so?

Many might say this article itself is racist. I beg them to express why they believe this article is racist. I believe society has placed a great stigma on all matters relating to racism, this stigma can be related to that placed on religion. Religion and racism, are both subjects that should be more regularly discussed. Religion triumphs all, conflict is easily created when discussing topics that relate to particular beliefs. The exact same thing can be said about racism. Racism should be a topic open for discussion, its implications and misconceptions should be discussed without fear of being called a racist.

There is no doubt that racism exists. There are several people in this world that are racist, and there are several people that will continue to be racist. To me racism is a very sad matter, nobody is better than anybody else simply because of race. All I want you to do is reconsider your prejudices, and maybe reconsider previous things that you thought might have been racist. But there is one fact that we will never escape, we are all a little bit racist.