Prejudice and Racism Today :: Sociology Racism Prejudice Essays

"...Everybody jumped on him, beat the hell out of him... Everybody was hitting him or kicking him. One guy was kicking at his spine. Another guy hitting on the side of the face... He was unconscious. He was bleeding. Everybody had blood on their forearms. We ran back up the hill laughing... He should have died... He lost so much blood he turned white. He got what he deserved" (Ridgeway 167.) The skinheads who performed this random act of racial violence in 1990, had no reason to brutally beat their victim other than the fact that he was Mexican (Ridgeway 167). Racism is objectively defined as any practice of ethnic discrimination or segregation. Fortunately, racial violence is steadily declining as the turn of the century approaches. Now a new form of racism, covert racism, has recently sprung from the pressures of political correctness. This new form of racism, although slowly declining, still shows signs of strong support (Piazza 86). Covert racism assumes a form of civil disobedience against politically correct thought and speech. Essentially, covert racism is a "hidden" racism, or a racism not easily detected (Piazza 78). "Racism is still strongly prevalent in today's society" (Gudorf 3). The three different basic forms of racism, open racism, violent racism, and covert racism all express forms of hatred towards distinct ethnic groups (Bender 47). These basic forms of racism, although different in form, all have the same main purpose, to promote racism. Open racism expresses freedom of racial thought and speech. Open racists promote their views through strictly persuasionary tactics. This form of racism is allowed in our society because of the First Amendment. Open racism is currently almost nonexistent and steadily declining, because it is considered politically incorrect and socially unacceptable. Violent racism promotes racism through violence, fear, and persuasionary tactics (Leone 49) This form of racism is not protected by the First Amendment because it promotes violence to express its ideas. Unfortunately many violent racial groups claim they do not promote violence, and therefore these groups are protected by the First Amendment because not enough sufficient evidence exists to prove their violent intent (Ridgeway 123). Covert racism expresses ideas of racism in disguised forms; sometimes the covert racist is not even aware of the fact that he is racist. "Racism, it is asserted, is no longer blatant: people nowadays are reluctant to express openly their dislike of and contempt for minorities, indeed are not prepared to express publicly a sentiment that could be interpretted as racist. Racism, it is said, is subtle: it is disguised, kept out of sight" (Enrlich 73) "The