Racism by Phillip Rodriguez

Racism 

by Phillip Rodriguez

     Traditional racism has been prominent in American and others culture for centuries with examples of slavery but it is believed that racism is diminishing in the modern age. However is it really?

Scientist have discovered a new form of racism, or one that isn't entirely gone. It's called subtle Racism. According to the American Journal of Political Science under the article,  "The New Racism", "...many fear racism itself has not disappeared; it has only been replaced by a new racism, 'more indirect, more subtle, more procedural, more ostensibly nonracial'." Racism is still present within the communities even for other professional scientists. Two Latino professors and scientists, Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa (professor, neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins University, and Chair of Neurologic Surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Florida) and Daniel A. Colón Ramos (professor and researcher of neuroscience and cell biology) tell their story about experiencing racism in the workplace. In the article "Racism in the Research Lab" published by the New York Times, they state regardless of their heroism of saving a life and finding new scientific discoveries, they will always be stereotyped as "'illegals', 'anchor babies', and 'rapists.' or if recognized for their accomplishments they receive comments such as "'You are too smart to be Mexican' and 'Congratulations! You probably got the award because you are Latino'". They go on to say, "Being a minority in this country means inheriting a narrative of prejudice, regardless of personal accomplishments...We all need to acknowledge racism and its heavy-handed presence in our communities." Because of this type of casual racism, Lu-in Wang, author of Discrimination by Default: How Racism Becomes Routine, draws on social psychology and believes these racist remarks are unconscious where "discrimination occurs by default and not design". She also demonstrates how they play out in a range of everyday settings and suggests ways for institutions and individuals to recognize and end it. Also, according to Matthew Clair (professor at Harvard University) and Jeffrey S Denis (professor at McMaster University) in Racism, Sociology Of,  they state, "In the post-Civil Rights era, with (overt) racism now widely condemned, one challenge for social scientists is to conceptualize and measure its more subtle and diffuse manifestations and lasting effects." Racism is still effective throughout communities from unconscious thinking whether it is subtle or not. With the help of each other and scientist we can create a world that is not so stereotyped.

My Story

     I chose this because it not only surrounds me everyday in my community but I have been a victim of it myself. Talks and issues of racism have been blown up in media but it also very much exists on a smaller scale anywhere you look even right next to you. Family members, friends, and even people who I am not close to would say racist remarks without knowing it, just what Wang referred to. From the news and passing through prominent Asian residential or business streets they strike a conversation between my family members about how "Asians are greedy and want to steal American business' to take over the world". Even some of my Hispanic friends who have been victims of racism would also say racist remarks out of humor such as "only a white person would buy that" pointing to a ridiculously oversized floppy straw hat and then laughing it off as a joke. Not only have friends been racist but strangers have, even towards me. It may not be in the most negative connotation as other racist remarks have been but all my life many assume I speak Spanish and either start speaking it in front of me or ask if I do because I am Latino however that is not the case. I wasn't raised in a Spanish-speaking household so when I have to tell them I do not  know much of it, they get very confused and once I was reprimanded for it. After telling my friend's grandmother that I could not understand her since she was speaking Spanish to me, she face palmed herself and shook her head, sighing then speaking in broken English, "Aye, really? Mijo, you should speak it. You must learn it or else you won't know what people saying. It's a shame you don't know multiple languages." Just like me, others of my community have been victims of racism.

The Community Affected

"When I was little I tried to play with the neighbor girl who was my age and white. She didn't want to play with my younger sister or I because we had darker skin color. She just wanted to hang out with my older sister who was lighter skinned."

-Samantha Rendon

"I was at work in drive through and I had someone tell me I was a worthless Hispanic for not knowing Spanish and have been told "Is there a white manager I can talk to?"

-Lexzene Giron

Justin Sepulveda

References

Sniderman, Paul M., et al. “The New Racism.” American Journal of Political Science, vol. 35, no. 2, May 1991, p. 423., doi:10.2307/2111369.

Colón Ramos, Daniel A., and Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa. “Racism in the Research Lab.” The New York Times, 4 Aug. 2016, kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/racism-in-the-research-lab/.

Wang, Lu-in. Discrimination by Default: How Racism Becomes Routine. New York University Press, 2006.

Clair, Mathew, and Jeffrey S Denis. “Racism, Sociology Of.” International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 2nd ed., vol. 19, Elsevier Ltd. , 2015, p. 857.