How to Combat Racism

Throughout history there has been racism and it is still very prevalent in society. During the Covid-19 pandemic there have been many instances of racism and xenophobia exhibited because the fear of the virus has increased, but so have people standing up to the prejudices in society. The articles I will be discussing are about racism towards Blacks and Asians and how it affects those individuals. First is “Walking While Black” by Garette Codogan, which talks about how the racism he experienced in the cities he lived in affected him and how walking helped him experience the world. Second is “The Other Problematic Outbreak” by Yasmeen Serhan and Timothy McLaughlin, which explores the stories of the Asian individuals that were subjects of xenophobia and discrmination during the pandemic I can learn from the stories told by Codigan, Serhan, and Mclaughlin to see how racism affects the individuals mentioned in the articles through their eyes. As a white person I have never personally experienced racism and I acknowledge that I can’t understand what minorities like black people and Asians are going through but I can still do something to help. As an undergraduate college student, I can use my voice to advocate for lifting prejudices on minorities and reducing discrmination in society. 

I acknowledge that I will never understand how someone who is subject to racism, discrimination and xenophobia feels. As a young white female I have never encountered any of the mentioned scenarios, but I am still willing to use my voice to advocate for change through educating others about the issue of racism, the sharing of cultures, and supporting minority owned businesses.  An example of sharing cultures is when you go out of your comfort zone by doing something such as trying a new kind of food or going to a cultural festival run by a marginalized group or any new culture you don’t know about. You are exposing yourself to new cultures and traditions, so you see the value and understand their culture. Much of racism and xenophobia is rooted in fear so this would make people less fearful of many of the marginalized groups such as Asians and black people. Supporting minority owned businesses will expose you to new cultures too. You can see works of art from a different culture or have a handmade good that is from a culture new to you and learn about it that way.  Expand: focus on a couple of these, whether it is education, or supporting minority-owned businesses.

DFW, the writer of the speech “This is Water”, believes in the ideology of compassion rather than feeling empathy. He claims that if people were thinking of how other people were affected by situations rather than just yourself you can be less frustrated about petty situations. I believe that DFWs idea of making an effort to understand what other people around you are going through can help in most situations, I believe this can apply to racism too. I believe that what needs to happen to get rid of racism is people who have awareness of the prejudices and discrimination minority groups such as black people go through. The stories of Cadogan’s experiences in the cities where he lived in the article “Walking While Black” touch on the discrimination and prejudice. One of the stories is about how there is a double standard for how a white person and black person can dress. Cadogan mentions how “the all-american sartorial choice of white T-shirt and jeans, which many police officers see as the uniform of black troublemakers, was off limits to me at least if I wanted to have the freedom of movement I desired”(4). Basically, if a white person wore the jeans and T-shirt he wouldn’t be looked at differently but a black person would, I don’t find that to be fair. Black people are not the only ones that suffer from discrimination. Xenophobia against Asians arose during the pandemic. In the article “The Other Problematic Outbreak” Eunice is an example of the xenophobia against Asians. When the pandemic first began she wore a mask to keep herself safe and the others around her when she went out, like most of us have done. Because of this, Eunice “began experiencing multiple forms of xenophobia. People would make racist comments, overtly distance themselves from Eunice, and she even received a death threat”(Serhan and McLaughlin 2). Even though she felt like she was doing something good by wearing a mask the people around her didn’t and were xenophobic towards Eunice because of it. I believe that by being aware of the prejudices changes can happen and the world will be a better place for everyone. 

On the subject of prejudice, some may say that they don’t have prejudices because they don’t feel hate towards anyone and they treat everyone equally. They may also say that because they have never been discriminatory towards someone they don’t have prejudices. But, we all have prejudices that come out when we feel empathy towards someone else. That is something that Bloom touches on in his article “Is Empathy overrated?”. He talks about how empathy is not always good because it can be a “spotlight” on a certain group of people or person and is not able to be spread because of that (Bloom). For example, in my life I have found it hard to empathize with the people suffering from the wars in the Middle East because I have a hard time spreading the empathy towards the whole group instead of  the one person I see in the photo and I don’t really understand the culture of the people in the Middle East. But we can change this by being aware of our prejudices and being more open-minded to marginalized groups.

Although I don’t feel comfortable participating in protests to create change, I can be someone who treats everyone equally no matter their race. In Hong Kong Mandarin speakers are being discriminated against in restaurants because of the prodemocracy movement (Serhan and McLaughlin 4). Restaurant business in San Fransicsco Chinatown restarants have been affected by discrimination against Asians too. In San Francisco, “Restaurateurs in San Francisco’s Chinatown report that business has dropped since the beginning of the outbreak”(Serhan and McLaughlin 3). In other words, people did not go to Chinese restaurants as much because of the xenophobia that is felt towards Asians. As I said before, I would not feel comfortable participating in a protest, but I think it is a good way to stand your ground on the problem of racism by finding others that agree with you and using the unity created to make change. The protests centered around Black Lives Matter are a good example of how coming together for an issue such as racism can create change. The protests made policy makers to reform their policies and people in power to address racism. I can buy items such as clothing or go to a restaurant that serves Asian food from a minority owned business to support them. By supporting businesses I can help reduce the prejudices that are present in society. I believe it is wrong to think that just because someone who is from the area scientists believe the outbreak originated from is discriminated against because they are people just like us just as scared as we are of the pandemic.

Although the article “Unfollow” by Adrian Chen does not have the exact idea of racism and xenophobia, it talks about Megan Phelps-Roper, who was the daughter of the preacher at the Westboro Baptist Church. Through people educating her about how to see others on a human level she became a better person. She used twitter as a way to get the church on the map. She didn’t use Twitter to spread positive messages though. For example, on World AIDS Day she tweeted a homophobic tweet towards gay people. The tweet was, “Thank God for AIDS!”… “You won’t repent of your rebellion that brought His wrath on you in this incurable scourge, so expect more & worse!”(Chen 1). She was basically saying that AIDS is a sign for gays that being who they are is a sin. I am not saying it was right what she tweeted but I do believe that because she was raised in the environment of the Westboro Baptist Church and its ideas she never thought that was harmful to anyone because she was surrounded by the homophobia and the other harmful ideas of the church.   In my opinion she was brainwashed into thinking those ideas and didn’t realize that the rest of the world thought differently. I believe that MPR being educated by people that followed a different religion than her and being exposed to the different ideas shared on Twitter gave her a broader perspective of the world. Being exposed to people like CG and Abitol made her understand that everyone deserves to be treated with respect and to be seen as human. 

Because education was such a powerful tool in making MPR a better person, I believe it can also be a tool to combat racism. Me learning more about the Asian and Black culture will help me be more aware of the why behind the racism and xenophobia and address it in my own life. Educating people on the cultures of minority groups and the reasons behind the racism or xenophobia towards them will help people understand that the marginalized groups are just like them. People fear what they don’t understand, so educating people will make people less fearful and not exhibit as much xenophobia and racism. Education about groups that are discriminated against will help marginalized groups feel safer and have more of a place in society because people will not be as fearful. Cadogan talks about how he feels disconnected from the city because he is black. He tells the readers that, “Walking as a black man has made me feel simultaneously more removed from the city, becoming part of its flow, rather than observing, standing apart(Cadogan 9). In simpler terms, because he is black because he is looked at as a suspect and has to have vigilance to stay safe so he is so focused on staying safe is not able to find his place in New York City.   

Something that goes hand in hand with education is the sharing of cultures, which is created through learning about other cultures from talking to someone, or education, or the sharing of food and traditions. Trying a new kind of food, or going to a talk about black history I never learned about before, would be an example of this. Educating myself about diverse traditions and cultures and staying open to meeting people that are different from me allows me to minimize racism in our society. If people are more educated then they are more open minded about meeting new people because they are less fearful of new people that don’t look like them. Especially during this Covid-19 pandemic we are in fear because Covid-19 is a deadly virus and we don’t want to get it. This fear could be the root of the major incidents of racism such as the anti-Asian xenophobia that was described in the article “The Other Problematic Outbreak”. People being more educated about the cause of Covid-19 and where it came from, and how it is passed on to people, they would not be as fearful. That would translate into less racism and xenophobia and more open-mindedness to learn about the Asian culture and not fear them as much. 

Another way to combat racism is to teach children early that being racist and xenophobic is not okay. Racism and xenophobia are learned behaviors, children are not born racist. Adults are looked up to for model behavior so I can be a role model for the children I work with as while I am an undergraduate student. I know from my experience as a camp counselor in my town. I worked as a camp counselor for five years for the playground camps and for the gymnastics program in my town. I was someone who they looked up to almost like a parent for the day. The kids never discriminated based on skin color or race, they based who they interacted by their personality and what kind of fidget toys they had. As we grow up and watch our parent’s behavior we lose that. As humans we naturally find it easier to, “empathize with those who are close to us, those who are similar to us, and those we see as more attractive or vulnerable and less scary” (Bloom 2). In other words, we don’t care as much about others that we don’t understand. 

Like many women I have had to alter the way I move through the world to keep myself safe. As Cadogan mentions that “my woman friends are those who best understand my plight; they have developed their own vigilance in an environment where they are constantly treated as targets of sexual attention(8). Simply put he is saying that women have developed a vigilance to keep themselves safe when they walk around. Because of this many women feel unsafe walking at night alone or walking around in general. I am not saying that I feel that I need to fear the police, but I can still relate on a different level to having to be extra vigilant about keeping myself safe when I am walking around. I personally don’t feel unsafe when I walk around at night or at any other time, but I feel nervous when I have to walk home after my sports practices at night, but I set rules for myself to keep myself safe. I don’t use my phone when I am walking to stay aware of my surroundings  and try to walk near or with a group of people so I am not walking alone. I feel that I can be an ally to the discrimination towards black people and Asians that is ever present in our society. 

Some Americans may say that racism is so deeply rooted into our culture and society that it will not go away. I can see why they would say that because they don’t know how to fix it and because of that, think it is impossible. Thinking racism is too deeply rooted to change allows some to keep doing what they’re doing, avoiding the realities of racism in our country. They simply turn their blinders to the issue of racism so they don’t do anything about it because they don’t know what they can do and their parents may have been openly racist and that made them think it was okay. But I believe that through education, understanding other cultures, and the sharing of cultures, racism and xenophobia can eventually go away. Doing the previously mentioned actions such as educating yourself and the others around you can make people see how the many minorities are just as human as them and that they deserve the same amount of respect as someone that is not in a marginalized group. 

Overall, by educating myself and others about the “why” behind racism, supporting businesses run by marginalized groups, and sharing cultures, I will help create a society with less racism and break down barriers. I don’t believe fear or my own race should limit my ability to create a better world and environment in society and make it equal for everyone including minorities. Learning from the stories of others can make you reevaluate your own prejudices and motivate you to create and advocate for change in your own way, whether it is protesting, educating yourself or going out of your comfort zone to try a new kind of food or going to a cultural festival. I hope that people will realize that you can create change and get rid of your own prejudices and get out of their comfort zone to learn more about the groups that are subject to the racism and discrimination in our world today using the ways I talked about in this essay. 

Works Cited 

Bloom, Paul. Is Empathy Overrated?. TED, March 24, 2017. 

Cadogan, Garnette. “Walking While Black”. Literary Hub, July 8, 2016. 

Chen, Adrian. “Unfollow.” The New Yorker, November 23rd, 2015. 1-17. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/11/23/conversion-via-twitter-westboro-baptist-church-megan-phelps-roper 18 September, 2021

Serhan, Yasmeen and McLaughlin, Timothy. “The Other Problematic Outbreak”. The Atlantic, March 13, 2020. 

Wallace, David Foster. “This is Water”. 2005. Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio. Commencement Speech