Has Racism Gotten Better in the Modern World?

Sean Yong

Prof. Johnson

May 2nd, 2016

Prof. Johnson

Has racism gotten better and does it still exist today?

        Racism is one of the biggest world issue today. The widely known misconception is that racism has gotten better from the 15th century when it first began; however, the only thing that has really changed is the eradication of “Whites Only” signs. Is Racism really gone? In reality, racism has not gotten better. Although many people believe that racism has been eradicated from the United States over the years, it is clear to me that racism still exists and it has gotten worse. And yes, externally, it has gotten better regarding that black people are not forced to work as slaves and have legal rigths, but many people do not see how much racism exists in schools, workforces, and anywhere else social life is occurring. In this paper, we still be discussing about the discrimination minority groups including but not limited to Blacks, Hispanics, and Asians. We could easily see that there is a wage gap between Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics.

        For starters, we start by asking the question, when did racism begin? It was only after the establishment of the Slave Trade when racism began. This means that before the new world, there was no thing called Supremacy, except the hierarchy in the European system. Records proves that Blacks existed in Europe since 45000 BCE, and back then, color was not a stigma for segregation but just another physical feature. Black people were not treated differently just because they were black. ^[1]Pictures of black noblemen are easily found when searched on google. ^[2]Although slavery existed back before racism existed, black and whites were enslaved indiscriminately. When Portugal developed the technology of ships and the Age of Sail started, countries strived to go all over the world. When Portugal arrived to South Africa, they found Africans, who were not able to understand the Portuguese language. The Portuguese and the African Elders made a trade agreement that would trade valuable materials for slaves. People say that “African chiefs sold their own people because of their own greed”; however, there is evidence that African Chiefs only sold captives in wars or members of other communities. ^[3] [4]

        In the 17th and 18th century, it is evident that in the spark of the slave trade, racism was very extreme. Slave traders took as many as 12 million Africans by force to work in plantations in the Americas and the Caribbean. During their trip to the Americas, about 13 percent, which sums up to 1.5 million, died during the middle passage. The conditions in which Africans were held upon forcefully was basically hell. The slaves were packed below the decks of the ship. On average, there was about 600 slaves per ship and were usually shackled together with leg irons. People were so packed that they were not able to turn or even go to the bathroom. ^[5] For those who made it to the Americas, things did not get any better. Although there were still white slaves, these white slaves were able to obtain freedom after their debt had been paid; however, black slaves, on the other hand, were not subjected to freedom. Even if the black slaves were finished with their time on the plantations, the owners did not let them be free. Also black newborns were subjected to slavery just because their skin color. If a black slave was caught with a gun, the slave received 39 lashes and had to return the gun to his or her owner. Furthermore, black people were not able to stand in court as witnesses, they were not able to receive education, and they were not able to assemble. In the 17th and 18th century, we could conclude that black people had no human rights.