WRITING

1) Read sample essay on racism.

 I would define racism as a systematic discrimination against minority races as perpetuated through legal frameworks and/or individual mindsets. Individuals can be racist by their irrational and illogical hatred of a certain minority race without any basis for such a hatred; in fact, such a basis can never be justified and can never exist. Additionally, entire states, cities, countries, or cultures can be racist through their legal system routinely and unfairly working against those of minority race and continually putting them in a position of inferiority as compared to Caucasian members of the area.

     In the United States today, racism is still rampant. It is, however, a very different type of racism than the one of the civil rights movement. During the era of the Freedom Riders, racism was blatant in both a legal and societal sense. In southern states, laws and lawmakers expressly stated their hatred of blacks and their belief that being white made them superior to those of other races. There was little pretense; everyone knew they were white supremacists and they didn’t care to hide it. The laws mandated segregation and made no pretense about trying to put blacks on a lower level than whites. However, many things have changed since then. Jim Crow laws no longer exist, and it is unacceptable in most parts of America to come right out and say that you hate black people. But racism isn’t over. It lives on in the way the wage gap between minorities and whites, in the way that a crowd scene in a movie almost always means a white-dominated scene, in Trayvon Martin’s death, in the way that I’ve heard people remark that maybe minorities would not be in poverty if they would just work harder, and have that comment be taken completely seriously. Racism is subtle, and it rarely openly shows its face. People who try to call this brand of bigotry out are no longer hailed as activists, but told they’re being “too sensitive,” or “too politically correct,” or that they’re “playing the race card” or (possibly the worst of all) a “reverse racist.” No one talks about why we don’t have racial equality in America, and by remaining silent, we have adopted the attitude that maybe minorities are only in the situation they are because of their own inability to hoist themselves up to the level of whites, conveniently ignoring the pressures and subtle hatred minorities face that can never be fully comprehended by someone who has the privilege of being white in the United States. No one needs to ride a bus through the south to combat this type of prejudice. But the lesson of the Freedom Riders is not completely lost. Through their story, we learn that in the fight for equality, a few things are vitally important: do not turn to violence, do not allow your voice to be drowned by the hatred of others, and do not ever give up the mission of equality for all.

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Essay