Name and surname: Anamarija Šiškov
Study group: Katarina Zadro, Lana Vrgoč, Ela Vučić
Mentor: Daniela Matić
Date: 26.11.2023.
RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
For those of you who don’t know me already, my name is Anamarija and I’m here to talk
about racial discrimination. First, I will tell you the basic definition of racism and its types,
then I will take you through the history of racial discrimination and finally I will say a little
about antiracism. I’ ll be happy to answer your questions at the end.
The first question that arises is what is racism at all? Racism is a belief that people must be
divided into strict biological identities called “races” and that there must be strong correlation
between inherited physical traits and personality traits(intellectual abilities and morality). The
main ideology of racism is that some races are superior to others. Racism is more than a
prejudice in thought or action. It happens when this prejudice is followed by the power to
discriminate against and limit rights or freedom. Race discrimination includes direct
discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment and victimisation. Direct race
discrimination implies that someone is treated less equally because of their race, the race of
someone they are linked with (discrimination by association), their perceived race(thinking
someone is a certain race when they are actually not- discrimination by perception).
Let’s turn now to history of race discrimination. Different cultures have had ethnic
stereotypes and prejudices throughout history, but the concept of racism in today's sense was
not widespread. The beginning of the dehumanization and exploitation of African slaves
began with the slave trade from Africa to America. Slavery was justified by the fact that white
people were "superior". It all started back in the 15th century, when European traders took
millions of Africans from their homes so that they could work on plantations of sugar cane,
cotton and tobacco in the American colonies. Slaves were transported across the [Link]
the south American colonies, slavery became a fundamental part of the economy. The laws
themselves ensured white supremacy over the black population. This lasted from the 15th to
the 19th century. Racism in the 19th and early 20th centuries changed its form. Scientific
racism was on the rise. There were theories that tried to scientifically support racial
supremacy by studying physiognomy and physical appearance. Legal segregation and Jim
Crow laws in the USA strengthened the already existing racism. Laws are beginning to be
developed that enable legal racial division among the population. Those laws related to
education, public transport….. Jim Crow laws were federal, state, and local laws that barred
African-Americans from being full U.S. citizens. Another idea that came up was Eugenics.
Eugenics as term was founded by the British anthropologist Francis Galton in 1883. It means
the application of knowledge about human genetics and biology in order to reduce the number
of negative genes and increase the share of "desirable" ones. Racists thought that in this way
science was on their side and that the world would be a much better place if there were only
"naturally desirable" people in it. Anti-racism is an activist movement that opposes racism
and fights for equality and justice among all races. Anti-racists want to create an open society
that will provide everyone with equal opportunities. The ways they want to achieve this are
education, activism, conversation and dialogue, and dissuasion from privilege. Some of the
most famous movements are: the civil rights movement in the USA, Black Lives Matter and
the Apartheid movement in South Africa. One of the most famous fighters against racism was
Martin Luther King Jr who fought for the rights of the african american community.
To sum it all up, I have talked about racism, its definition, how it all started and how people
tried, and are still trying to fight against it. In my opinion, racism is still present more that some
people are willing to admit it, especially in the Balkans. I am sure we have all seen or heard
someone being racist at least once in our life. Personally, I think that the change comes from the
invidual, we must be equal to everyone and not tolerate others around us acting any differently.
In addition, it would help a lot to educate kinds about it by doing some kind of presentation or
workshop in schools .
LITERATURE: [Link]
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