OPPapers.com

Racial Prejudice

Throughout history, human beings have been eager to explore new worlds, conquer diverse lands and invent unbelievably amazing things. However, despite this inner thirst to discover new things, there is still resistance to accept those who appear different amongst us. Racial Prejudice is an insidious moral and social disease affecting populations all over the world. It can be diagnosed by its various symptoms and manifestations which include fear, intolerance, separation, segregation, discrimination and hatred. While all of these symptoms of racial prejudice may be evident, the single underlying cause of Racial Prejudice is ignorance. While all humans belong to the same species, races are distinguished from one another by such characteristics as hair colour and texture, skin colour, eye colour and shape, and the size of limbs and body parts. Though these differences are superficial mankind itself continues to view each other from the features that are outwardly perceived. Indeed, humans are outwardly different in appearance; the problem arises when the symptoms of the disease become evident: intolerance, separation and hatred. In a positive light, one may embrace the differences of peoples across the face of the earth and marvel at the uniqueness of the individuals who live on a different part of the globe or even across the street. Racial Prejudice perverts this uniqueness of the races and takes the view that these differences separate individuals further into groups, with one group always being inferior to the other. Racial prejudice has been a major cause of death and destruction to many cultures throughout history, some more so than others. The African American culture has been attempting to adjust itself to a world whose laws, customs and instruments of power were levelled against them. With white power being dominant, the African American community has always been marginalised and portrayed in a negative light. Over the years there have been many different...