Racism: An ongoing enigma of inferiority.
Recently, Grammy's Awards have just concluded. Nominees from the different categories received their awards befitting to their talents and contributions to the music industry. They said that this year's Awards is the most diverse compared to the previous Awards because artists “with color” dominated some of the categories as the most nominated artists and bagged some of the trophies. Still, like any other prestigious awards, inequality and racism has always been the talk after the event. So, what is racism? And when did racism and this so called "color-coding" started?
Racism grew from the idea of slavery. Slavery is the early form of colonialism where people are considered as property and deprived for all his personal rights. In the 17th century, slavery has been a very tangible issue in the world. European countries enslaved the black people from Africa, in which they believed that people who are non-Europeans are inferior and should be ruled by the Europeans. This slavery of the African people has become a trade as the European countries extended their business and made profits into the Americas. The Africans became the items of trades; they are bought to toil the fields and were forced to do some intensive labors to cultivate the land. The demand of slaves in both countries took a toll resulting to many deaths due to the brutal treatment to them.
As the population of these black people, and other non-white people who migrated in the America grew, they learned to voice out their sentiments to the public and fought for their lives. Early in the 18th century, slavery was abolished and overruled, giving freedom to these people to live their lives and receive some privileges. Slavery has been stopped but the idea of racism is a growing matter. In the 19th century, black people in America where shunned from the white people, giving them their own "people with color" lanes and places to go. Black people can hardly associate themselves in the matters of the society as they were being categorized and branded by their color.
The fight for equal rights for the "colored" people grew stronger and fervent that they can already participate in the different fields; political, science, cultural, social, and many others. These black people have contributed so much in every aspect and discipline and performed even better than this so called white superiors. Even then, the idea of inferiority over these people with color is still an existing matter until today. Only then can this be stopped if everyone's mind focuses on the purpose of someone's existence and not by determining the color of his skin.