RACIAL OPPRESSION
Racial oppression is one of the major challenges that has faced mankind since the ancient days, where humans were mistreated by other fellow humans, based on the color and the complexion of their skin, and generally, because of their race (Blauner, 1972). Racial oppression has a long history and has been happening in many parts of the world, across the centuries, where individuals of different races would oppress and even humiliate each other, based on who was more powerful than the other. In this study, therefore, the major focus is the analysis of the racial oppression, not only in the US but also in the whole world. This study will also lead to the analysis of the various ways in which racial oppression occurs, what causes the racial oppression, its intensity, history, and whether it exists in the modern world, and under which sectors it exists. It is, however, important to note that, racial oppression is evil, inhumane, since it has various devastating impacts, and also affects different individuals differently, socially, economically and politically and should be shunned from the society, in all means possible.
The history of racial oppression dates back in time, where many individuals were oppressed based on the color of their skin, during the Roman Rule, stretching all the way to the slave trade, colonization of Africa and most of the other countries across the world, and the modern discriminations, based on the color and racial origins of individuals are major challenges to a majority of the individuals (Wilson, 1992). In America, the history of racial oppression dates back to times of slave trade, where the individuals who were forced into slavery, especially the blacks, were oppressed, based on their skin color. After the independence, a majority of the blacks in the US and South Africa were also oppressed, since they had no certain rights and privileges, like their white counterparts (Whitney, 2018). In South Africa, the situation was bad, since a majority of the black citizens were oppressed by the white counterparts, because of their race, where apartheid took control, and whites and blacks could never mix (Schutte, 1991).
Today, racial oppression continues to happen, in most parts of the world, with the US being in the leading line. Research has shown that a majority of the individuals who undergo the racial oppression in the US face such challenges at schools, places of residence, workplace, shopping places, among other areas (Lartey, 2018). In the US, as well as the other places where racial oppression is experienced, the social stratification, political organization, economic structures, as well as the policy stipulations are set in a way that, they favor one or more group of individuals, while excluding, or targeting another minor group, which in the long run becomes a major point of oppression (Pyke, 2010). There are also various factors which lead to the process of racial oppression, such as the socialization processes, the political and even social organization structures in a given country. To end racial oppression, thus, it is important for nations to ensure that they understand the history of its racial oppression processes, how it has affected the people, and ways in which the people can live in harmony and as a unified state (Meyerson, 2018). There should also be the abolishment of the social, political and even economic barriers and oppression, for racial oppression to end.
In conclusion, it can be noted that, from the above discussion that, racial oppression is one of the most destructive social problems facing a majority of the people across the world. This study has shown that, although racial oppression started a long time ago, it is a problem which still exists amongst us, as a community. From this study, however, it has been shown that through the eradication of the social, political and even economic barriers, that racial oppression can also be done away with from our communities.
References
Blauner, R., (1972). Racial Oppression in America. Harper & Row, Publishers New York Evanston, San Francisco, & London. Online Access https://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/Black%20Liberation%20Disk/Black%20Power!/SugahData/Books/Blauner.S.pdf
Lartey, J., (2018). Oppression in America: ‘To root this out we need a movement against racist policies’. Guardian News and Media Limited. Online Access https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/06/everyday-racism-in-america-how-to-fix-it
Meyerson, C., (2018). It’s Time for Americans to Reckon with the True History of Racial Oppression in This Country. The Nation. Online Access https://www.thenation.com/article/time-americans-reckon-true-history-racial-oppression-country/
Pyke, K.D. (2010). What Is Internalized Racial Oppression And Why Don’t We Study It? Acknowledging Racism’s Hidden Injuries. Sociological Perspectives, Vol. 53, Issue 4, pp. 551–572. Online Access http://www.irows.ucr.edu/cd/courses/232/pyke/intracopp.pdf
Schutte, G., (1991). Racial oppression and social research: Fieldwork under racial conflict in South Africa. Qualitative Sociology. Volume 14, Issue 2, pp. 127–146. Online Access https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00992191
Whitney, W.T. (2018). Notes on the Capitalist Origins of Racial Oppression in the United States. CounterPunch. Online Access https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/28/notes-on-the-capitalist-origins-of-racial-oppression-in-the-united-states/
Wilson, R., (1992). History of Racial Oppression. Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism: by Derrick Bell. New York, Basic Books. Online Access http://nova.wpunj.edu/newpolitics/issue17/wilson17.htm
