RAISIN IN THE SUN RELATION TO "RACISM"
Racism is defined as the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. It can be seen as far back as the 1400’s, with the Europeans arrival on North America’s shores, where the Native Americans were viewed as “bloodthirsty savages” that had to be tamed with religion. These claims made it possible for Europeans to abuse the native americans without any backlash. The treatment affected present day Native Americans, as they have the highest suicide rate of any group in the United States. Going forward another three hundred years, the slave trade began to gain traction as Africans are brought to America against their will to be sold off as slaves. They were forced to work for the benefit of others and often ended up dying from diseases, starvation, and by trying to escape. Although laws began to come in effect that granted African Americans some rights, these laws were made in such a way to ensure that they would never become a dominate race. Going forward another two hundred and forty years, the world witnesses the power of the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Amongst the despair and tragedy, Japanese Americans were becoming targets of harassment, discrimination, and government surveillance. To add even more fuel to the fire, the president at the time, Franklin D.Roosevelt had authorized executive orders to deem all Japanese Americans “Enemy of the State,” Among these people were individuals that had never set foot into Japan, but originated from there. During the forced exclusion of Japanese Americans, many died due to the lack of medical care and others were killed for not obeying orders. Going forward only fifty years shows no change in the development of racism as it is still prevalent in today’s society. After the 9/11 terror attacks, the public view of Islam and Muslims took a plunge as harassment and discrimination ensued. Muslims have been victims of countless FBI interviews, wiretapping, phone surveillance, and racial profiling. After hearing about the countless amount of races that have been discriminated against, it doesn’t take a while before someone poses the question “Was racism ever really abolished?”
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