The history of racism shows that it has evolved over time. Namely, the starting point was the radicalized violent behavior of the privileged people towards discriminated ones. For example, Native Americans were mainly exterminated by European newcomers (Griffiths & Keirns, 2015). Next, the transatlantic slave trade brought to the Americas multiple black individuals who were treated as inferior and considered servants by nature (Griffiths & Keirns, 2015). Even after the American Civil War, Afro-Americans experienced the hardships of racism in the form of segregation and formalized discrimination; other racial minorities, such as Asians, also have been impacted by racism. However, racism now contrasts with the 1950s and earlier since it is primarily institutionalized: its core is prejudice and systemic discrimination rather than plain oppression.
As such, earlier widespread individual-level racism is shunned now; it consists of discriminatory beliefs and actions towards a particular race. For example, the use of racial stereotypes and jokes on this basis belongs to this group. In contrast, institutional racism supposes the unobvious societal limits for the oppressed racial groups, such as economic differences fixing the status of the discriminated ones. To minimize the impact of both types of racism, in my opinion, there should be an attempt to increase awareness of the constructionist nature of the concept of race. Thus, racism can end only when people realize that their differences do not separate them from each other.
There are concepts related to race and ethnicity that deserve specific attention. First, prejudice “refers to the beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and attitudes someone holds about a group” (Griffiths & Keirns, 2015). Since these beliefs are not based on real-life experience, understanding this concept might benefit an individual by developing rational thinking and eliminating biases toward others. Second, racial steering supposes a practice “in which real estate agents direct prospective homeowners toward or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race” (Griffiths & Keirns, 2015). Comprehension of this concept would increase diversity and remove social stratification, subsequently leading to equality.
Reference
Griffiths, H., & Keirns, N. (2015). Introduction to sociology 2e (2nd ed.). OpenStax. Web.