Definitions to understand
To begin this Blog, we first have to understand the three words prejudice, discrimination and racism by definition.
- Prejudice = “preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience”
- Discrimination = “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of ethnicity, age, sex, or disability”
- Racism = “Racism is discrimination and prejudice towards people based on their race or ethnicity”
In fact, biology proved the existence of human races wrong. There is just one race: Human!
Melanin makes the difference
Basically, it’s just one difference between the people of different skin colors: The satiation of Melanin. We all have those pigments that define the color of our skin and hair. Its main function is the protection of our DNA-cells from destruction by UV-rays. It transforms UV into harmless warmth for our cells. The more we have, the darker the pigmentation of our appearance and the higher the protection of our bodies.
That resolves into the following question: How can this helpful molecule reason racism?
Su casa es mi casa
We all know about the painful chapter of colonialism. More than 500 years ago, this chapter was opened by the western world. Covered by the curtain of expeditions, Portugal first started to colonize countries of other continents. Spain entered the international competition of power and sent Christopher Columbus 1492 on the oversea-exploration. After he mistaken the United States for India, Native Americans were enslaved and constrained to let go of their traditions. Slavery was born. It didn’t take long for other western countries like Germany and Great Britain to start colonizing to follow suit.
Eventhough we know better, our children still learn in school to call Inuits by the name “Eskimo” and Native Americans „Indian”.
The fairytale of White Supremacy
Today, we know the impact and harm the West caused in so-called developing countries. Slavery officially lasted in the United States from 1619 until 1862. It took the Civil Rights Movement and three more years to finally establish the 13th Amendment to officially abolish slavery.
Well, written laws are not necessarily followed by the people, but in this particular case, it was even violated by the majority. White supremacy often stood above the law and especially in the south, lynching by KKK were daily routine. It took about one more century and another Civil Rights Movement of the 1960 for African Americans to gain full human rights by law.
Sadly, that still ain’t it… Reality for BiPocs in the United States today is still very different from White-skinned citizens. Not getting an apartment or job because of the applicant’s ethnicity is just one of the harmless circumstances of racism. Social discrimination is one side of the medal, but it’s just the mothers child. The real problem lies within systematic racism that is deeply rooted in everyone growing up in the western society.
Language is racist
Language is nothing but a tool humans evolved to express thoughts and share knowledge. Its roots are wide spreaded and a result of interaction within different nations.
In metaphorical language “dark” stands for “negativity” (”the expression of criticism of or pessimism about something.”). Interesting is the relation between this word to the N-word, which was used globally for People of color and still being used by some today. Socially it is seen as politically incorrect to speak it out loud, but still is not prohibited by law.
The function of a tool can be redefined by its (mis-)use, therefore it also became one for dehumanization. Describing indigenous as uncivilized, wild and primitive savages degraded human beings to animals. This made racism appear legitimate and reasonable and still is the vocabulary for some describing especially people of African heritage.
From slave to criminal
Let’s go back again to the 13th Amendment of 1865.
“The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.”
This article in the American Constitution prohibited private ownership of human beings. On a closer look, it establishes systematic slavery, because: Who commits a crime, ends up in prison. Prison is an institution of the federal state. Today, 1/4th of all American Prisons are privatized.
In a nutshell, privatization of prisons means private companies‘ products are produced with prison labor. Therefore, companies like Calvin Klein or H&M produce their goods for a very low salary.
My resulting rhetorical question at this point: If people profit from punishment, why should they then be interested in avoiding imprisonment?
In parallel, Nixon’s declaration of “War on Drugs” made especially the black-community a target for criminalization. Focused on Crack-Cocaine, which was widely spread by America’s legislature in Bipoc-communities, he ordered the incarceration of everyone related to this drug. (read more about CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy)
Today, the majority of America’s prison-population are people of color.
Say their names
About 70 years ago, the news about the lynching of the 14-years old Emmett Till spreaded all over the Southern States. According to the murderer, it happened in self defense as the boy sexually assaulted his wife. “The two men then beat him nearly to death, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head and then threw his body, tied to the cotton gin fan with barbed wire, into the river.”
In 1991, Rodney King was the first victim of police brutality caught on camera. “King’s injuries resulted in skull fractures, broken bones and teeth, and permanent brain damage.” In their second trial, the four officers were found not guilty, which led to LAs riot in 1992.
“I can’t breath” were Eric Garners last words in 2014. While the illegal arrest, he was choked by a NYPD-officer to death. After years of protest and public pressure by the family and BLM-movement, the officer finally got found guilty.
And still. Tragic news of the death of Black and brown people reach us every day, because police criminality is a serious threat for Afroamericans. Mothers have to teach their young children how to act when being confronted with police officers and unarmed men being shot in front of their children. Segregation is banned by law, but Black and Brown people are still depicted as Jim Crow. Despite evidence, justice is a rarity for the families of the victims and many black men face false convictions, some waiting for their death penalty.
The numbers and statistics are proof enough: Systematic oppression is an exististing part of American reality.
How can we change that?