Racism
By: Aaron Schwartz
Racism is generally defined as a persecution based on beliefs, practices and institutions that negatively discriminate people based just on their race. Sometimes it’s based on the idea that one race can be superior to another and must dominate it. Scientists still didn’t agree on the origins of the racism discrimination and the way it started its existence. One of the views on the appearance of racism is based on the theory of stereotypes based on cultural factors. People rely on their past experience judging events and others and sometimes their attitude to other races is superficial. Some scientists see the roots of racism in the early ethnic and national conflicts. These conflicts originate from the fight for natural resources and conquest wars of the past and may also have religious background. Another source of racism discrimination originates from the misinterpretation of the Darwin’s theory of evolution. According to these interpretations some races are biologically more prepared for living and have stronger biological characteristics which make them dominative.
Racism can be expressed physically, emotionally, subconsciously. It can be expressed by single individuals or by the whole organizations and institutions.
Racism is usually directed against the minor group of population though can be cases when it’s directed against the major groups like in case with the Black Americans in the United States.
The notion of the race problem is very close to the notion of racism and is usually defined as - a social and political problem caused by conflict between races occupying the same or adjacent regions. Unfortunately it still exists in the US and there are a lot of proved of it. Though this problem is paid relatively less attention in the latest time it still exists and newest researched prove it. The recent study made by the University of Chicago proved that white people looking for the job are more likely to get than the black people under the same condition. Black people are oftener stopped by the police and they account for 35 percent of all arrests for drug possession, 55 percent of all convictions and 74 percent of all prison sentences. The level of school segregation has increased lately according to the research of The Harvard Civil Rights Project. All that proved that the racism didn’t disappear but has just changed the way it is expressed. We can hardly meet open violence towards other races in the US but they are still discriminated. Now the attitude to racism could be characterized as so called double-thinking when two contradicting ideas live in the minds of the people. Most of them would proclaim equal attitude to all races and nations but at the same time would prefer to have white neighbors, friends, colleagues, employees, etc. There is no doubt that the problem of racism should be solved but first of all it should be admitted that this problem still exists.
Some modern scientists see the possible way of finding the roots of this problem in studying the racism in comparison to the castes system of India.
The word caste derived from the Portuguese word for lineage, breed or race, “casta” and it served to describe a social division of Hindu society. Modern term stands for endogamous social groups specialized occupationally in highly stratified society with a very low social mobility. The caste system of India is based on the Varna division. There were four basic varnas called Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras. Indian texts also name the jatis which make further divisions of the varnas and mainly represent the professional occupation of the people. Each varna included certain characteristics and they were not defined by birth. The varna was defined by the Brahmans – the priest of the Brahmans varna and should have naturally corresponded the born abilities of the individual and let him take the right place the society where he would bring the most use. Each varna possed certain characteristics and people who belonged to it should responded to them. For example the representatives of the Brahman varna – the priest should have possessed such qualities as kindness and tolerance, the Kshatriya should have possessed nobleness and administrative qualities, etc. The situation was changed later when the varna system became fixed and all the chances to get to another varna were minimized. The varnas became fixed by birth and were meant to explain social injustice and suppress possible revolts. This way the castes appeared and the theory of division according to natural abilities became only the mean to maintain social injustice and fixed set of society. The ideas of the Reincarnation and the Karma served very well to maintain the varnas and later caste system in India as it helped everyone to believe that the person had to pass through all the stages of social ladder to work out the Karmas of past lives.
Nowadays in India new laws are adopted which are to take the caste discrimination under control. In the economy and social institutions new system meant to support the people from the lower castes and to give them privileges and possibilities for personal growth is adopted. For example the government provides children from the lower castes with food during the time of their school education. It also reserves the places in higher educational institutions and job places for the people from lower castes. But despite all the actions of the government caste discrimination still exists in the society and it still exists in the minds of the people. Marriages between the people from different castes are often regarded as the breaking of the traditions. The castes division is not only the labor division; it includes also political, social divisions and limitations. Like other forms of discrimination, caste involves enclosing. Opening of the castes will break the caste system as being open the caste will not function as before. That is the reason the question of the marriages between the people from different castes is under such a focused attention in India.
So, as we could trace here both caste and racism include discrimination of human rights. That is the first thing that make them alike but there are much more characteristics which unite these two notions and separate them.
Let’s focus on the differences first. Caste is not based on the race or ethnicity and racism is based on the discrimination of one race by another which can be seen even from its name. The racism never or very seldom includes discrimination on the religions field and it’s seldom influenced or provoked by the religious authorities which is common for the caste discrimination.
As for the common features I would name intolerance as the first of them. Intolerance of the people toward other people and feeling of superiority where some believe that some definite group of people can be regarded as chosen and superior by birth but not by some achievements and deeds. These two characteristics exist both in the caste and racism discrimination. Both caste and race point on the big abyss in the relations between the people and their roots can be traced deeply in the history of the countries. In the caste system there are people who stand on the bottom of the social ladder ( in India this class makes the majority of population) and who are mistreated. And the demand of the better treatment to this group seems quite natural and understandable. But at the same time they have the position, though the lowest, in the society and are not neglected by it. The situation with the racism differs here. People of the other races such as for example American Indians were expelled from the parts of the South; there were demands perceived warmly in the society to make the African Americans move to Africa. This means that these groups of people were neglected completely by the society.
The difference lies also in the legitimacy of discrimination in two societies. In India the castes are legalized social stratification and historically got the religious approvement and even more – they were created by Brahman – superior spirit and the highest power of the Universe. And, in contrast, racism was never justified by the religion of any confession and the racial discrimination and slavery were considered sinful by almost all the religions of the world. This way people who stand for caste division in India can feel themselves “chosen” and respectful to keep the order meant by God and customs of the society which can never happen in the situation with racial discrimination.
The system of Indian castes is closed and there are almost no possible ways to change it. The child gets there by birth (but what is important when the Varnas system started its existence the varna wasn’t defined by birth) and must stay there despite anything and neither social deeds no financial or religion gains can let the person get to another caste. Same happens with the racial discrimination. If person is treated differently or mistreated because of the skin color or the shape of the eyes given by nature it can not be changed by this person. Only the attitude of others can be changed and that doesn’t depend on a person. And though racism and caste discrimination originate from different sources ( in India the origin was a religious division of Hindu and in the US colonial wars and invasions were the first reasons) now it stands for the same notion – discrimination in social, political, cultural life where people of “lower” quality are limited in their rights, possibilities for growth and self-realization. The influenced of the cast was widespread on the people of all religious confessions of India and restricts to the followers of different religions. Both racism and castes are social event now. With the flow of time the caste system loses more and more its religious background and becomes alike in this point with the race discrimination.
Both racial discrimination and caste division deny the ideas of equality of all the people in the world and neglect the ideas of equal rights and possibilities for everyone. Both make the normal functioning of the democratic society impossible. This way prejudices and stereotypes influence the structure of the state and define its policy. And one more thing that make racism and castes similar is how resistant can be such prejudice in the minds of people and how hard they can be to get rid of. It’s difficult to wait for the changes in the attitude to the problem if they come from outside but are not assimilated by the minds of people. It’s not enough to give compensations to the discriminated layers of society. The steps directed to stop this discrimination should be done.
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