Topic > The reasons for the existence of racism

Racism has come a long way throughout history. Even though the world has progressed for decades, there is still the categorization of races which then leads to racism. People will say all sorts of indecent and inflammatory things if they think you share even a similar view to theirs. And now leaving the others to the questions, what could you say? Or what should you say? When someone makes a racist remark. Is this a form of racial harassment, disrespect or ignorance? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Racism is an example of ignorance, stupidity with contempt for all human common sense. This article “What do you do when someone makes a racist remark? By Rachel L. Swarns seems to give an indication that most people don't know the things they spit in their mouths. An example would be the woman who said Michelle Obama “looked like a monkey” or Mr. Imperiale who said he “seemed to go out of his way to make racist comments in front of me.” Now comes the questions: What should a decent person do or say when someone who clearly doesn't appear to be in their right mind says something racist in your presence? Do you respond that he was racist, as suggested in the article, or do you just walk away? Frantz Fanon stated in his book The Facts of Blackness - “The beautiful little boy trembles because he thinks the nigger trembles with anger, the little boy throws himself into his mother's arms: mother the nigger eats me.” This comment left him shocked and made him believe that his body had been returned to him. How should he have responded or even how should his mother have responded? The truth is that if one is old enough to know, then he will certainly be old enough to learn. Therefore, why leave when you have the ability to educate that person in ignorance. Have you ever wondered why black people can say the N-word, but when a white person says it, it becomes racist? Richard J. Perry argues that “racism is real. Race is not” – “Race'. Facts or artefacts”. What is meant by this is that race is not real in terms of biological mechanisms, every human being is created equal. Race is something that has been socially constructed and divided into binary categories; like color. Racism exists because of these categories that make us seem indifferent, which then leads to racism as a form of disrespect. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Disrespect is defined as rude, lack of courtesy, and often offensive. Every word spoken by a person has a different tone and intention. As stated in the article, the mother of Ms. Middleton's white friend used the N-word during an argument about race in the living room, which left her momentarily frozen. Not only did she disrespect Ms. Middleton as a black woman who thought she had “done everything she could to keep racism at bay,” but also the black race in general. Not acknowledging what she said and her daughter remaining silent and looking away was beyond disrespectful and outrageous.