Why racism harms everyone

Dear Editor,

It is sickening to see such great discord and division in entire communities and countries, all because of simple outward appearances. Racism never had any boundaries since the start of nations and empires, and today, it has gotten worse under Donald Trump.

Although the case between Africans and Europeans remains one of the most infamous cases of racism and slavery, there were other stories. Israel vs Palestine, China vs Korea vs Japan, Native Americans vs Spaniards and Colonial Britain and much more cases of ethnic wars that left victims of both sides demonized.

Racism simply doesn’t care who started the issue in the first place.

If Africans gained full power and control of Africa, the people who were wronged would inflict vengeance upon any white person, regardless if that person was guilty or innocent. People would say that they deserve it or they would demonize them, regardless if they were good or evil.

Africans would do the same thing to enslave, experiment, gentrify, discriminate or torture and kill thousands of innocent Europeans and other non-Africans if the tables had turned, because all they would see is vengeance and nothing else. They say that this isn’t racism because of a botched definition that white people started racism, but the truth is that prejudice is the same corruption as racism and it doesn’t care about skin color.

The innocent Africans and Europeans had suffered the most in the past 400 years. Africans are forced to endure injustice over and over, modern Europeans have been called racist names, accused of many things that they never did and demonized because of hateful people and of the past sins of other white people.

This behavior from prejudice and racism can be repeated to different ethnic groups at war with each other. Racism was always a mental illness that was fed from the fear of the unknown and poor education. That was how these things started.

While racism cannot be stopped completely, the only way to prevent ethnic wars or conflicts is to treat racism as terrorism.

The next step is to mentally rehabilitate those guilty of racism, which is to find the source of the individual’s hatred, then to educate that person extensively and increase social knowledge and eventually confront and reasonably come to an agreement with the other ethnic group, all in a controlled environment. If we did this effort, people would be sensitized to prejudice and racism, and it would encourage ethnic groups to approach issues and conflicts with an open mind and respectable opinions.

While no government can end racism, we can rise up, and place a zero tolerance attitude toward it to keep social harmony and civil order for the betterment of various cultures and people.

– Ammaka Russell

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/02/18/why-racism-harms-everyone-2/