RACISM TODAY

Gone are the days when racism was attributed to the brutalization of the blacks by the whites. With the world growing by population, ethnicities, cultures and races, the experience of racism has changed – but it is still as harmful and as prevalent.

The University of Western Sydney’s project titles Challenging Racism resulted in 8 panelists crafting an interesting app. Apple Store and Google Play featured an app called Everyday Racism geared towards improving the understanding of racism via a 7-day challenge via daily scenarios and fears. The app allows you to live a week as a person hailing from a different group – a Muslim, an aboriginal, and Indian or just yourself. It was launched in response to the intolerance practiced by societies all over the globe.

The word racism has long brought to mind subjugation of dark skinned individuals under superior men. Throughout history, we have seen various examples of how detrimental racism is. The cost to human life and social integration is far too much. However, that didn’t stop racism – in fact, nothing can stop it.

Unfortunately, the answer to the question of racism still affecting us today lies in a very strong Yes.

It has begun to make its way into society through subtle ways, and this is called subtle racism. Sounds innocent but really, it’s not. Subtle racism occurs when incidents that seem harmless or small have an impact on an individual’s mental health and are targeted towards their racial identity. It’s begun to occur in various ways, like excluding or ignoring an ethnicity or race, rendering them unable to integrate with the social majority.

Subtle racism can also occur if an African woman is told that her hair worn straight makes her look prettier. It also occurs when an Indian girl is told that her skin is the benchmark of tan. In fact, Oprah was called beautiful only during her set makeup; otherwise, she was not lauded for her natural features.

Racism still affects us today, and as the world has advanced, so has racism. It has begun to find loopholes to seep in through conversation or rules at a workplace. If you’re interested in knowing about how to tackle subtle racism, check out some shared experiences to get an idea of what subtle racism (and outright!) really looks like.