Running Head: PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH PAPER

Racism

Jena Colosky

Psychology 101

October 24th, 2018

Tara Cooper
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Racism

The Great Gatsby​, the great American novel, covers numerous situations regarding the

intolerance of racism in the 20th century that includes; caucasians being considered more

superior and that caucasians were typically shocked that there were other races that were just as

rich. Furthermore, racism was familiarized and those of the African descent were still being

treated unequally, even after the radical transformation of African Americans becoming free.

Unfortunately, the unequal opportunities still hold true to this very moment. The controversy of

racism can be attributed to the different interpretations and views people have based on their

background, which includes: white privilege, racial pride, and authoritative worship.

Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another. However,

there are many different views people describe as racism. Institutional racism consists of the

collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people

because of their color, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes

and behavior which amount of discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance,

thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantage ethnic minority people (Banton,

2018). Stereotypes are glorified images of a specific group that people set such as; Arabs and

Muslims are terrorists, all Jews are selfish, and all white Americans are obese, fly around

everywhere in society. Donnella (2018) argues that “[s]ome people hear [racism] and picture a

hood-wearing, cross-burning bigot. Others think more abstractly― they hear racist and think of

policies, institutions, laws and language.”. Many views of racism are out in society, but people

do not understand the concepts other than the basic stereotypes, discrimination and prejudices.
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Prejudice is customarily defined as a feeling of hostility toward the members of of racial,

nationality, and ethnic groups (Rinehart, 1963). Healey, Hinson, and Weisenberg (n.d.) report the

different types of racism such as interpersonal, which “refers to prejudices and discriminatory

behaviors where one group makes assumptions…”. Citizens of society may think of racism as

hate from individuals or blame it on the economy’s inequality. Very roughly we can say that

prejudice is more “cortical,” more “intellectual,” than prejudice. Suppose I dislike Mexicans.

Suppose that since childhood I have been brought to believe that all Mexicans are dirty, lazy,

immoral, ect. Then, suppose I come to college and through my studies find that all these notions

of mine have no validity and represent a foolish kind of behavior. Still, my dislike of Mexicans

won’t go away, just like that. Soon I get to dislike my dislike of Mexicans. First, dislike is more

“cortical,” less “thalamic,” than dislike. Second, dislike carries the implication of wanting to like

Mexicans, so that truly different, in certain respects, of dislike (Weinberg, 1955). With a Ph.D in

psychology, Robert T. Carter (2014) mentions in ​The Difference We Haven’t Overcome… ​“We

prefer to discuss racism as hate by individuals or as a function of economic inequality with the

result that the meaning associated with race and racism is dismantled and fragmented.” Carter’s

statement represents the different viewpoints that humans have for the word ‘racism’. There is no

definite way to carry out the word racism without understanding the different viewpoints.

People often recount caucasians having a born privilege to believe that they are on the top

of the food chain. White people are endured with a ‘god-ordained superiority’. Whites of ‘honor,

genius, and principle’ left us with a ‘glorious heritage’, while black people ‘have never created

anything approximating a civilization’.” (Potok, 2012). Caucasians have the social acceptance in

society to believe that they are superior to those of the African descent, and that they had nothing
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to do with the creation of society. Oppression is a challenge to conquer in society. Being the

minority in society means that people of a different ethnicity are put on the back burner and is

known as being less important according to society’s standards. Oppression should be the social

norm if you are not of the white descent. Carter (2014) claims “... outcomes remain markedly

inferior for blacks, Latinos, Native Americans, and others oppressed because of their skin color.”

White superiority gives them the benefit of not being expected to think to themselves as being a

racist to people who have a different nationality and skin color, and that they get to say and do

whatever they please. Most white people don’t see themselves as a racist (Chalabi, 2015). This

strikes a big issue with racism in society due to the fact whites do not always understand that

what they say is racist to minorities.

It is inevitable to not be biased to a specific race. Stereotypes influence biases in every

form. People can be oblivious to their biases and that can cause a rift in racism because people

can get very offended by other people’s beliefs and can get very prejudice to their own race or to

another. Some people will admit they have biases based on stereotypes. Other people may not.

Some people may not know they have a biased view. In these cases, psychologists describe them

as having a hidden or implicit bias. (Kowalski, 2016). Some might take it that people know they

have a bias, and know that they are showing it, but claim they do not. Others insist as it be a lack

of education of the others race, so they do not think and they just assume their race is inferior to

their own. The statistics of biases shine through when Chalabi (2015) discloses that, “... the data

shows that most people are much more likely to shoot at black men than white men. But that data

comes from white participants who are much more likely to be police officers holding a gun to

the real world (94.5% of police officers in England and Wales are white, 1.1% are black).” This
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information shows the statistics of biases between African Americans and caucasians from a

caucasian person’s viewpoint. Often stereotypes carry on to other people of the same race people

are stereotyping. Robert T. Carter (2014) voices that “[i]f you belong to a racial minority, all

things that are thought about people of that group are thought about you.” Carter’s claim is an

accuracy for today’s society. Everybody has a prejudice side, whether they see it or not.

Racism carries a burden of health issues and doubt towards the victims. Kowalski (2016)

notes, “... people may develop a lot of anxiety. They think about the hurtful incidents often. They

worry it will happen again. They feel they have little power to stop racist remarks or actions.

That distress can interfere with relationships and other areas of their lives.” The power that

racism has overpowers the victims into believing that they can do nothing about it. That leads

into the burden of women, including women of the African descent, being stereotypically strong.

Common stereotype holds that women are naturally strong (Kowalski, 2016). The belief is that

women can handle problems well, without breaking down mentally and emotionally. Holding

that stereotype of women being naturally strong can put pressure on women, which leads to long

term negative effects such as; depression, the common cold, hypertension, cardiovascular

disease, breast cancer, and mortality (Silverstein, 2013). They feel this constant need of being

strong, otherwise they will not fit into the standards of society. Health issues can become a daily

problem amongst people who have set high standards for themselves, because the burden they

carry often has a negative effect on the relationships with their family members and can even

impact other relationships. Kowalski (2016) asserts, “Racism is literally part of the bone marrow

of the nation.” Racism is in society’s nature. Racism will keep causing negative effects upon the
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victims of racism for as long as they live. That is one of the standards our negative society still

carries along.

The power of one racist can cause the victim to refute back. In Donnella’s (2018) words,

“a huge part of [President Trump’s] power is his ability to make us all jump. He uses outrageous

inflammatory words and we all spend two weeks repeating them.” A racist can say a racist

comment, and it will start a domino effect with people repeating that racist comment. Especially

if one has more power, such as Trump, the victims of his bigotry acts can refute back with

comments and make the fire spread. One specific comment that President Trump has made clear

is that he wants illegal immigrants out of the United States. During this year’s presidential

campaign, some candidates and their supporters spoke about sending illegal immigrants back to

the nation of their birth (Kowalski, 2016). Bigoted comments shown throughout people with

high power have caused governments from other countries to refute back with vengeance. The

Mexican government is forcing their most unwanted people into the United States (Kowalski,

2016). Sending potential criminals into the United States is only causing more fuel to the flame

of racism and causing more issues to the people in power and the international community,

which will create an endless cycle of threats.

Nevertheless, some people believe that racism is over, and that the word ‘racism’ is loose

of its meaning because people in society now know everybody is biased to their own ethnicity.

People say that everybody is just sensitive to what others have to say and that they should just

accept their opinion. Pleece (n.d.) suggests that “[a] racist act is only one that suggests or

implies superiority, just because one is offended, or it is bias, discriminative or prejudicial does

not suggest superiority, only preference.” His statement is often the belief of other people. They
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believe racism is not a huge issue anymore because it is so common and that it is just a set of

biases that inflict problems with people against people. People loosely grasp the word ‘racism’

because their race says one thing, and the opposite race repeats it and they say it is wrong.

McWhorter (2008) explains this issue by giving an example of, “A young black man is shot by

three police officers and only one of them is white. A white radio host uses a jocular slur against

black women― used for decades in the exact same way by black rappers celebrated as bards.”

No matter what race, people will find excuses to play the race card. However, racism is not over.

In fact, it is spiraling out of control. The Southern Poverty Law Center also released a report on

November 28th. It gives the results of a nationwide survey of 10,000 teachers and other

educators teaching elementary grades to high school. More than 2,500 described specific cases of

bigotry and harassment (Kowalski, 2016). This issue can and will gradually progress into

something bigger because this is happening right now, and the issue is not resolving.

Different interpretations and viewpoints people have based on their biased opinions on

their background can cause friction between the people of society which includes: the superiority

of caucasians, racialism, and assertive power. While racist remarks have influenced the way

society is structured today, it was not a great influence to have in society. The overall benefits of

racism is absolutely inconsequential. It is emotionally important to gather the international

community to make a change about the way people view racism and how to overcome the

negative empowerment that is forced upon the victims of racism. The challenge to gather

everybody will be tough, but the benefits will increase dramatically. The consequences of not

gathering everybody to restore the peace, will only create a bigger split in the unity of races. This

opportunity is best started right away, rather than extending the time of racism before it
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potentially causes a greater threat to America and other continents. The people are who can turn

around the toxic filled society, into a cleanliness society.

References

Banton, M. (2018). Conceptions of Racism. In ​What We Now Know About Race and Ethnicity​ (pp.

81-95). NEW YORK; OXFORD: Berghahn Books. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt130h8qv.9

Carter, R. (2014, November 30). The Difference We Haven't Overcome: Why the Color Line

Endures in America. Retrieved from

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-t-carter-phd/the-difference-we-havent_b_5903276.html

Chalabi, M. (2015, October 5). We're all racist. But racism by white people matters more.

Retrieved from

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/oct/05/racist-racism-racially-white-ethnic-mi

norities

Donnella, L. (2018, January 26). We Asked, You Answered: When Should We Call Something

'Racist'? Retrieved from

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/01/26/580749034/we-asked-you-answered-when-

should-we-call-something-racist

Healey, et al. (n.d.). ​Race, Power and Policy: Dismantling Structural Racism. Retrieved from

https://www.racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/race_power_policy_workbook.pdf

Kowalski, K. (2018, March 23). Racism hurts. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/racism-hurts
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McWhorter, J. (2012, July 13). Racism In America Is Over. Retrieved from

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Pleece, R. (n.d.). Why Is Racism Not an Issue Anymore? Retrieved from

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-racism-not-an-issue-anymore

Potok, M. (2012, June 14). League of the South Chief: Whites are Naturally 'Superior'. Retrieved

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Rinehart, J. (1963). The Meaning of Stereotypes. ​Theory Into Practice,​ ​2(​ 3), 136-143. Retrieved

from ​http://www.jstor.org/stable/1475640

Silverstein, J. (2013, March 11). How Racism Is Bad for Our Bodies. Retrieved from

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/how-racism-is-bad-for-our-bodies/273911/

Weinberg, H. (1955). Prejudice, Prejudice. ​Bulletin of the American Association of University

Professors (1915-1955),41​(3), 470-475. doi:10.2307/40221111