Combating racial prejudice and discrimination
Significant bedrock of the principle of human rights is the fact that each and every human being was born free with equal rights and dignity. Persecution and discrimination of human beings based on ethnicity and race are violations that are very clear going against this fundamental principle. Discrimination based on race can assume several forms, from the institutional discrimination and severe discrimination to other forms that are covert whereby certain ethnic and racial groups are barred from enjoying similar cultural, political, civil, economic and social rights as other classes of people in the same society. US has for a long time championed for the respect of human rights, thus the vice of discrimination taking place in US is a major impediment to the fight against racial discrimination (GLSEN Inc., 2009).
Combating racial, ethnic or prejudice hatred
Perceptions concerning the minorities that they are weak and inferior are usually planted in the minds of people from the majority group in their early stages of development. They are made to believe such perceptions by their parents, teachers and the society in which they grow in. In order to reduce or eliminate hatred and prejudice arising from racism, it is very important for such perceptions to be prevented from being planted in the minds of the young people. The older generation must play a big role in ensuring that they do not talk about the negatives of the minorities especially in the presence of their children. If such a move is successful, then people will grow up without such allegations and they will thus not learn how to practice discrimination against the minorities. Benefits arising from such a move will take quite some time before they are realized hence constant awareness should be raised every now and then in order to ensure that the minds of the young people are not polluted with hatred which will only divide them along race lines (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.).
Racism involves a set of actions or beliefs that perceives an individual or a class of people to be inferior as compared to another individual or a class of people, due to their appearance physically, such as their skin color. These are perceptions that are fed in the minds of people and they usually have a lot of negative impacts on the individuals or group of people being considered to be inferior. One of the ways through which, prejudices against the minority is by reversing such unfounded perceptions. This can be done through increased awareness that all people are the same and those simple differences such as height or skin color cannot be sufficient reasons for making some people to be treated as less equals as the others and thus oppressed and exploited (Grobman, 1990).
All employers in US should be encouraged to adopt various measures that will be useful in the fight against minority discrimination in the workplaces. They should ensure that in all recruitment processes, the minorities are considered so that they can be economically empowered like the other people in the American society. The employers should discourage any form of discrimination in the workplaces, especially discrimination based on race and ethnicity. In order to discourage various forms of discrimination in the workplace, the employers should create a mechanism through which such matters should be addressed and various actions taken against perpetrators of discrimination so that others with similar intentions to be deterred from acting in a similar manner (GLSEN, Inc, 2009).
Employers should enact several policies and rules aimed at protecting the minority while working for them either directly or indirectly as agents. In order to make people from the minority groups be well appreciated in their workplaces, the employers should ensure that there are certain positive attributes of the minority groups that are applied in the organization. By doing so, other employees would have the tendency of associating the people from the minority groups with the attributes. Employers in the United States should also hold several forums and workshops in their organizations aimed at educating the employees on the negative impacts associated with discrimination at workplace (GLSEN, Inc, 2009).
School life represents a very important experience in the life of anyone who has gone through the education system. It is a place where young people have a great opportunity of interacting with one another regardless of the group one originates from. The life of an individual in school has a great impact on his or her entire life. Various perceptions that are learnt from schools are very hard to delete from the mind of such a person. Schools can therefore be a very effective instrument in reducing the hatred that results from racism. Students should be taught about the negative effects of the vice and discouraged from perpetrating it when at school or in the society (Spencer, 1998).
School administration should ensure that no student is denied admission to any school in the United States on the grounds of race from which he or she comes from. In fact, a balance should be created in school’s admission that should ensure that all school admissions represented the entire of the American population. Incidences of students from a particular race attending a certain school should be discouraged. By making schools to have students from various races found in the country will greatly assist in ensuring that the Americans learn how to live with one another at a tender age and thus when the students eventually join the society, they will continue with the virtues they have learnt in school. The school administrations should also hold several forums in which the students are taught about the demerits of discrimination and discouraged from practicing any form of discrimination against their fellow students. Cultural practices of various races in America should be taught either formally or informally in the schools so as to increase the knowledge of the students concerning the cultures and practices of other people. This will make the student to learn how to appreciate people from other races and respect them (Spencer, 1998).
Since racists behaviors and prejudices emanates from racists beliefs and attitudes, that can be altered at the personal level that is, in the hearts and minds of individuals. In order for this to be achieved, the US government, the civil society, churches, non governmental organizations and other stakeholders within the American society should join hands and address the underlying issues that bring about discrimination. They should aim at changing the perceptions of the society concerning the minority. The individual beliefs and attitudes are also held by the society since the society is made up of individuals. All the stakeholders should use such tactics as altering depictions of racist minorities throughout the US media; they can also increase public education on the effects of discrimination and prejudice. People in the country should be discouraged in talking in a manner that demeans a certain race. Certain behaviors such as jokes and the application of stereotypes and also racial discrimination and racist violence should be shunned (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.).
The individuals that are racists are simply the product of a society that promotes the vice in one way or another. In order to change such a society, there is need for both political and legal change to be pursued. Politically, the interests of the minority should be well addressed and this can be done through increasing the political representation of the groups facing discrimination. Laws that are aimed at protecting the rights of the minority should be enacted so that anyone violating these rights to be dealt with by the law. The minorities themselves have also a role to play in ending prejudice and discrimination against them. They should ensure that they are in the forefront in the campaign against oppression, prejudice and discrimination along racial lines (Grobman, 1990).
The United States as a nation should consider taking an affirmative action that will greatly assist in reducing or even better eliminating racism and prejudice against the minorities completely. A program or a policy should be adopted that should be aimed at promoting access to employment and education for the minorities within the US borders. The motivation for the policies of affirmative action should be intended at redressing the effects that have been as a result of racial discrimination in the past. The affirmative action should encourage all the public institutions in US such as police forces, hospitals and universities to embrace more representation of all the races in the country. This will greatly assist the minorities who are considered to be inferior to prove to the other races that indeed they can be equally useful as people from the majority races (GLSEN Inc., 2009).
Programs for affirmative action may comprise of targeted efforts of recruitment, preferential treatment to be accorded to the applicants from races that have in the past been disadvantaged, in fact in some situations, quotas should be applied. The idea of affirmative action is in fact not new in the US as it has been practiced for quite some time by some American employers and universities and they have made a great difference as a result of the inclusion of the minorities thus attracting diversity in the workplaces and in the universities. However, while giving the minorities preference, the institutions should ensure that merit is also followed in order to prevent a scenario in which less qualified people from the minority groups are given chances to serve at various capacities in the US only to fail in discharging their duties because they are actually not qualified. Such a move would in fact be detrimental to the overall objective of the affirmative action since instead of eliminating the perception that the minorities are inferior, it would actually cement the perception and thus fuel discrimination against such minorities (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.).
Significant progress has been made in the fight against minority discrimination in the American society. However, a lot still needs to be done since the vice is still being practiced in the American society. There is need for an affirmative action to be taken in virtually all sectors in US so as to bring an end to this vice. By completely eradicating the vice in the American society, the fundamental principle of human rights, which states that each and every human being born free with equal rights and dignity, will be fulfilled.
Combating racial, ethnic or prejudice hatred
Perceptions concerning the minorities that they are weak and inferior are usually planted in the minds of people from the majority group in their early stages of development. They are made to believe such perceptions by their parents, teachers and the society in which they grow in. In order to reduce or eliminate hatred and prejudice arising from racism, it is very important for such perceptions to be prevented from being planted in the minds of the young people. The older generation must play a big role in ensuring that they do not talk about the negatives of the minorities especially in the presence of their children. If such a move is successful, then people will grow up without such allegations and they will thus not learn how to practice discrimination against the minorities. Benefits arising from such a move will take quite some time before they are realized hence constant awareness should be raised every now and then in order to ensure that the minds of the young people are not polluted with hatred which will only divide them along race lines (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.).
Racism involves a set of actions or beliefs that perceives an individual or a class of people to be inferior as compared to another individual or a class of people, due to their appearance physically, such as their skin color. These are perceptions that are fed in the minds of people and they usually have a lot of negative impacts on the individuals or group of people being considered to be inferior. One of the ways through which, prejudices against the minority is by reversing such unfounded perceptions. This can be done through increased awareness that all people are the same and those simple differences such as height or skin color cannot be sufficient reasons for making some people to be treated as less equals as the others and thus oppressed and exploited (Grobman, 1990).
All employers in US should be encouraged to adopt various measures that will be useful in the fight against minority discrimination in the workplaces. They should ensure that in all recruitment processes, the minorities are considered so that they can be economically empowered like the other people in the American society. The employers should discourage any form of discrimination in the workplaces, especially discrimination based on race and ethnicity. In order to discourage various forms of discrimination in the workplace, the employers should create a mechanism through which such matters should be addressed and various actions taken against perpetrators of discrimination so that others with similar intentions to be deterred from acting in a similar manner (GLSEN, Inc, 2009).
Employers should enact several policies and rules aimed at protecting the minority while working for them either directly or indirectly as agents. In order to make people from the minority groups be well appreciated in their workplaces, the employers should ensure that there are certain positive attributes of the minority groups that are applied in the organization. By doing so, other employees would have the tendency of associating the people from the minority groups with the attributes. Employers in the United States should also hold several forums and workshops in their organizations aimed at educating the employees on the negative impacts associated with discrimination at workplace (GLSEN, Inc, 2009).
School life represents a very important experience in the life of anyone who has gone through the education system. It is a place where young people have a great opportunity of interacting with one another regardless of the group one originates from. The life of an individual in school has a great impact on his or her entire life. Various perceptions that are learnt from schools are very hard to delete from the mind of such a person. Schools can therefore be a very effective instrument in reducing the hatred that results from racism. Students should be taught about the negative effects of the vice and discouraged from perpetrating it when at school or in the society (Spencer, 1998).
School administration should ensure that no student is denied admission to any school in the United States on the grounds of race from which he or she comes from. In fact, a balance should be created in school’s admission that should ensure that all school admissions represented the entire of the American population. Incidences of students from a particular race attending a certain school should be discouraged. By making schools to have students from various races found in the country will greatly assist in ensuring that the Americans learn how to live with one another at a tender age and thus when the students eventually join the society, they will continue with the virtues they have learnt in school. The school administrations should also hold several forums in which the students are taught about the demerits of discrimination and discouraged from practicing any form of discrimination against their fellow students. Cultural practices of various races in America should be taught either formally or informally in the schools so as to increase the knowledge of the students concerning the cultures and practices of other people. This will make the student to learn how to appreciate people from other races and respect them (Spencer, 1998).
Since racists behaviors and prejudices emanates from racists beliefs and attitudes, that can be altered at the personal level that is, in the hearts and minds of individuals. In order for this to be achieved, the US government, the civil society, churches, non governmental organizations and other stakeholders within the American society should join hands and address the underlying issues that bring about discrimination. They should aim at changing the perceptions of the society concerning the minority. The individual beliefs and attitudes are also held by the society since the society is made up of individuals. All the stakeholders should use such tactics as altering depictions of racist minorities throughout the US media; they can also increase public education on the effects of discrimination and prejudice. People in the country should be discouraged in talking in a manner that demeans a certain race. Certain behaviors such as jokes and the application of stereotypes and also racial discrimination and racist violence should be shunned (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.).
The individuals that are racists are simply the product of a society that promotes the vice in one way or another. In order to change such a society, there is need for both political and legal change to be pursued. Politically, the interests of the minority should be well addressed and this can be done through increasing the political representation of the groups facing discrimination. Laws that are aimed at protecting the rights of the minority should be enacted so that anyone violating these rights to be dealt with by the law. The minorities themselves have also a role to play in ending prejudice and discrimination against them. They should ensure that they are in the forefront in the campaign against oppression, prejudice and discrimination along racial lines (Grobman, 1990).
The United States as a nation should consider taking an affirmative action that will greatly assist in reducing or even better eliminating racism and prejudice against the minorities completely. A program or a policy should be adopted that should be aimed at promoting access to employment and education for the minorities within the US borders. The motivation for the policies of affirmative action should be intended at redressing the effects that have been as a result of racial discrimination in the past. The affirmative action should encourage all the public institutions in US such as police forces, hospitals and universities to embrace more representation of all the races in the country. This will greatly assist the minorities who are considered to be inferior to prove to the other races that indeed they can be equally useful as people from the majority races (GLSEN Inc., 2009).
Programs for affirmative action may comprise of targeted efforts of recruitment, preferential treatment to be accorded to the applicants from races that have in the past been disadvantaged, in fact in some situations, quotas should be applied. The idea of affirmative action is in fact not new in the US as it has been practiced for quite some time by some American employers and universities and they have made a great difference as a result of the inclusion of the minorities thus attracting diversity in the workplaces and in the universities. However, while giving the minorities preference, the institutions should ensure that merit is also followed in order to prevent a scenario in which less qualified people from the minority groups are given chances to serve at various capacities in the US only to fail in discharging their duties because they are actually not qualified. Such a move would in fact be detrimental to the overall objective of the affirmative action since instead of eliminating the perception that the minorities are inferior, it would actually cement the perception and thus fuel discrimination against such minorities (BARNES & NOBLE, n.d.).
Significant progress has been made in the fight against minority discrimination in the American society. However, a lot still needs to be done since the vice is still being practiced in the American society. There is need for an affirmative action to be taken in virtually all sectors in US so as to bring an end to this vice. By completely eradicating the vice in the American society, the fundamental principle of human rights, which states that each and every human being born free with equal rights and dignity, will be fulfilled.
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