A short history of Racism by Maria Nicola
“We are all human! We are all the same!”. This quote is over known by humanity and it
was thought that discrimination based on races would be dissolved until the 21st century but
it seems that it is not, so let’s talk about racism.
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to physical appearance and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of different ethnicity. Modern variants of racism are often based on social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits,
abilities, or qualities.
In terms of political systems that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in
discriminatory practices or laws, racist ideology may include associated social aspects such as nativism, xenophobia, otherness, segregation, hierarchical ranking, and supremacism.
While the concepts of race and ethnicity are considered to be separate in contemporary social science, the two terms have a long history of equivalence in popular usage and older social science literature.
Racism was at the heart of North American slavery and the colonization and empire-building
activities of western Europeans, especially in the 18th century. The idea of race was invented to magnify the differences between people of European origin and those of African descent whose ancestors had been involuntarily enslaved and transported to the Americas. By characterizing Africans and their African American descendants as lesser human beings, the proponents of slavery attempted to justify and maintain the system of exploitation while
portraying the United States as a bastion and champion of human freedom, with human rights,democratic institutions, unlimited opportunities, and equality. The contradiction between slavery and the ideology of human equality, accompanying a philosophy of human freedom and dignity seemed to demand the dehumanization of those enslaved.
By the 19th century, racism had matured and spread around the world. In many countries,
leaders began to think of the ethnic components of their societies, usually religious or
language groups, in racial terms and to designate “higher” and “lower” races. Those seen as
the low-status races, especially in colonized areas, were exploited for their labor, and
discrimination against them became a common pattern in many areas of the world. The
expressions and feelings of racial superiority that accompanied colonialism generated
resentment and hostility from those who were colonized and exploited, feelings that continued
even after independence.
Since the mid-20th century, many conflicts around the world have been interpreted in racial
terms even though their origins were in the ethnic hostilities that have long characterized
many human societies (e.g., Arabs and Jews, English and Irish). Racism reflects an
acceptance of the deepest forms and degrees of divisiveness and carries the implication that differences between groups are so great that they cannot be transcended
The Holocaust was the largest racist movement in our history because only “racial” Germans were entitled to civil and political rights and Jews were reduced to subjects of the state. When Hitler came to power legally on January 30, 1933, as the head of a coalition government, his first objective was to consolidate power and to eliminate political opposition. The assault against the Jews began on April 1 with a boycott of Jewish businesses. A week later the Nazis dismissed Jews from the civil service and by the end of the month the participation of Jews in German schools were restricted by a quota. From November 1935 to the end of this massacre, Jewish people had to wear David’s star on their clothes and had to have their identity documents marked with a “J” to be separated from the “pure” Germans and to be conducted to horrible lives in concentration camps or just to face their death.
Racism elicits hatred and distrust and precludes any attempt to understand its victims. For that the reason, most human societies have concluded that racism is wrong, at least in principle, and social trends have moved away from racism. Many societies have begun to combat racism by raising awareness of racist beliefs and practices and promoting human understanding in public policies, as does the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, set forth by the United Nations in 1948.
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