Racial stereotypes in America

When the Civil War came to its end in the United States, a question emerged. An enigma which seems to have riddled our nation ever since. What is equality? Equality, is the act of tolerance towards every type of person, treating everyone how you, yourself want to be treated. For some reason the population as a whole cannot come to this consensus and still repeats some of the intolerant mistakes of the past. For example, many in the South embrace the Confederate flag as a sign of heritage while many in the African-American community view it as a symbol of hate. Yet a vast majority of the South's population refuses to budge on the tradition, unknowingly setting a bad example for the rest of the country.The United States has gone through so much progressively, we are not just defined by our racial quarrels from The Civil War. We have gone through so much as community, as a nation, that stood together against something we did not believe in. We were rallied by leaders like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to stand against segregation, protesting in anyway we can to be rid of it. And we did. More laws were put in place and everyone was finally considered equal. Yet somehow racism still prevailed.    What we call racism nowadays has clearly changed. As of 2017, it’s become very rare to see true, blunt racism. The racism now that has absorbed our country is much more passive aggressive and excruciatingly sneaky, making any comment made as subtle as possible. Racism has flood into society’s basics such as our schools, our jobs and our streets. American citizens are being judged and barraded because of the same social norms that have been accepted throughout the caucasian population of our society. This gripping fear that’s instilled by these social norms is usually displayed in the process of rejection or denial. We see racism in the college admission process or when employers find themselves in the position of choosing between two possible candidates with similar attitudes for a job. Then, something as simple as your last name can end up determining your fate due to stereotypical social norms that society has made normal among us and not so much their real talent. In places like California, where racism is supposedly less of a problem in the streets, a passive type of racism is experienced via jokes. In the circumstances in which you know someone for a long time, usually at some point you feel more comfortable with your word choosing. This can sometimes come out as non-judged racial joke but only being said ironically. It's completely understandable to say these conversations in private and having them doesn’t necessarily mean you are racist. You know it's bad, that’s why you'd only say it to people you trust. However this sends minute, feeble messaging to the brain that can’t be ignored. The more racist jokes you make and the further you take them, unknowingly makes your subconscious more racist. Some comments regarding social labeling of different races go from “Mexicans are parasites of our system” to “African Americans act like non-domesticated animals.”On the other hand, when it comes to racial stereotypes about the asian race, the jokes made are not as discriminatory as black jokes but serve as a way to put them in a higher position where they are expected to have higher scores or work more hours than a white person. This higher expectations imposed upon them by society, create more stress and resignation to a minority in this country. These examples as well as many others are unfortunately deep-rooted stereotypes that we have all heard sometime in our life and yet continue to hear. Having said that, one may think, I have made dozens of non-offensive jokes about my Japanese friend for instance, and we both laugh every time without seriously taking a bad approach of it, yet here is the problem. Jokes do affect our perspective because when repeating them so many times, we unconsciously internalize them in such a way that it becomes a racial prejudice that follows us along the way. For this reason, if we truly desire to to fight against this passive type of racism experienced in today’s society, the best way to eradicate any racism prejudices is by putting an end to subtle racism. Yet, look how far we’ve come. All of our past mistakes, were eventually fixed. Time and time again our nation has proven to the world that its citizens can be better. That we want to be better. We have all the tools we need to fix our racial tensions. So why haven’t we done it yet?