Can Racism Be Managed Away Essay

One of the main problems the whole world has been facing is racism. Racism is everywhere be it, workplace, shopping complex, parks, banks, schools and the list goes on. Racism has been the barrier to the formation of a united society around the globe. It takes away peace and harmony in a society and causes a lot of destructions to the development of the world.

We are assumed to be living in the age of advanced civilization. Civilisation and racism are two different things that don’t mix together. However, how does racism still exist in today’s civilized society?Are we civilized enough to be called a civilized society? In order to create a complete civilized society, we have to manage away racism and embrace diversity. Before we discuss further on how to manage away racism, let us first understand the meaning of racism. “Racism is defined as an individual’s discriminatory behavior and prejudicial attitude toward people of a certain race or institutional practices (whether motivated by prejudice or not) that subordinate a certain race’s people. ” (Myers, 1993 ) Racism can be managed away if everyone takes the responsibility to do it.Everyone has to play a role in creating a harmony environment in a multicultural society.

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One of the ways to confront racism is by promoting respect to people from different backgrounds, cultures, religions and races. Race prejudice is a widespread social disease that has been an obstacle in promoting respect. The belief that one race is superior to another has lead to racial prejudice in societies. Everyday, racist jokes are flying around, these jokes may be funny to some but it hurts and threatens those who the jokes are pointed to. Racism starts with these little jokes and end up in fights and wars.

In order to stop race prejudice, we should focus on understanding different races’ ideology and learn to give respect to everyone regardless of their skin colour, race, ethnic origin and culture. Race prejudice can be eliminated if every society stops making irrational judgements on other society of different races. We should treat everyone the same way we would like to be treated. Education has a great potential power in solving racism problem. One of the reasons why racism still exists is lack of knowledge about variety of cultures and races.In today’s education system, much focus is given on subjects that develop intelligence such as science subjects, maths, language subjects and etc. Less focus or none is given to subjects that build character such as moral studies and religion studies. Students nowadays are unaware of racism problem that has been a barrier for them from mixing with students of different races.

They are not given much opportunity to understand the diverse cultures of the world. As a result, they would face problems when they have to mingle and socialize in a multicultural environment.Moreover, they would find it hard to work together with colleagues of different races when they are given group projects.

Hence, the education system must be improved and students should be taught to understand and respect the myriad races and cultures around the globe. Chris Hampton and Kian Lee (n. d) argue that schools should “include anti-racism education in the school’s curriculum. ” Schools should prepare students for real-world jobs where they have to work with colleagues and interact with clients of different races. Neighbours are the closest people who we can share our problems and worries.They are the ones who would give us a helping hand when we are in a trouble. It’s sad to say that in some neighbourhoods these days, racism still exists.

Racism could break the friendly bonds and lead to fights and quarrels between neighbours. According to an article on The Community Tool Box, Chris Hampton and Kien Lee argue that forming a committee to welcome and help new neighbours who move in can reduce racism in neighbourhood. The residents of the neighbourhood should be friendly to any minorities in their communal area.Giving a simple gift such as a bouquet of flowers or inviting them for a cup of tea would help to create a friendly bond with the new neighbours. The committee could also organize activities like games or parties and invite everyone in the neighbourhood regardless of their race.

By doing these, neighbours would get to learn and understand about the diverse races in their neighbourhood. Other than that, Sampson Quain (n. d), an eHow contributer argues that if there is rally racist or march in the neighbourhood, an anti-rally should be organized to protest against racism.Racism often occurs in workplaces and it affects the quality and the performance of workers. John Casteele (n. d), an eHow contributor argues that racism at workplace can happen in different forms such as improper criticism, unjust and prejudiced treatment of workers in regards to “workloads, pay rates and promotions. ” If this problem is let to persist, it will affect the development and the growth of the business.

Therefore every company must implement a policy that eliminates racism and creates a pleasing work environment. According to an article on smallbusiness. chron. com, Amrita Chuasiriporn (n.

), argues that there are some steps in dealing with racism at workplaces. The management department and employees play important roles in tackling this problem. The first step management should take is they should come up with a policy that clearly states the “company’s zero-tolerance on racism in the workplace. ” Racism has two types, covert and overt.

Covert racism is difficult to spot as it is concealed. The second step is by investigating and figuring out “institutionalized racist practices” involved by the company. Everyone in the company’s organization has to cooperate for the implementation of this process.Besides that, the process has to be assessed scrupulously and truthfully. Thirdly, a “progressive action system” should be established as a backup for the “company’s zero tolerance policy on racism. ” Inform managers to record any witnessed racism cases and incidences as well as notify clearly to the workers in the organization of the “corrective action system. ” Lastly, management should create a racism-free environment in the workplace. Management should encourage the workers to voice out their problems especially racial discrimination problems.

Management should also give support and help to workers who face racial discrimination. Other than that, management has to keep every worker’s complaints and problems confidential to ensure the safety of the workplace and the workers. Management should give primary concern to the welfare of workers. Every employee has to take responsibility in managing away racism at workplace. Amrita Chuasiriporn argues that the first step an employee has to take when confronted with racism is record all the details of the racist occurrences that affects him/her or others.Details such as the names of those who provoke racism, time, date and place of the racist incident and some descriptions of the situation could be a helpful tool for the management department to investigate and evaluate racism in the workplace. These details could also help the management department to find a good solution to eliminate racism in the workplace.

Secondly, workers who have all the details of racist incident must report to supervisor or department manager. A lot of workers keep racism problem to themselves and make complain only when the problem becomes unmanageable and critical.Hence, workers should take action and speak out so that action could be taken to solve it before it becomes even worse till it affect everyone in the workplace. Finally, workers should “file formal complaints through whatever system is available” in their workplace or union. They could also hire a discrimination cases specialized lawyer to “file a lawsuit” and provide adequate details and evidence of the incident. John Casteele (n.

d) argues that some workers misinterpret the situation as racism. Therefore, before jumping to a conclusion they should “look at the situation objectively to determine whether it is actually a racism case. Workers should clarify with the person who made the criticism, if they are unsure whether the remarks were meant to be racist or not. Every company should give training and organize talks that could increase the workers’ understanding about different races. They should encourage workers to work on a project in a group with different races.

Chris Hampton and Kien Lee (n. d) argue that companies should hire employees of different races and ethnics. Companies can also “consider forming an equal-opportunity policy for hiring and promoting workers. Besides that, a committee that monitors “a plan for promoting inclusion and fighting racism” should be formed to ensure the implementation of the policy. According to Wikipedia, the Parliament of the United Kingdom established Race Relations Act 1976 that makes discrimination on the grounds of colour, ethnic, race, nationality and national origins unlawful.

It covers discrimination by trade unions, employers and other similar bodies. NHS Institute for innovation and Improvement website argues “an employer cannot try to change the balance of the workforce by selecting someone mainly because she or he is from a particular racial group. An employer should treat his or her workers equally and fairly. According to eurofound. europa website (Anon,2009), those who are discriminated unlawfully can seek compensation via an Industrial Tribunal. NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement (n.

d) mentioned that Section 37 of this statute states that racial groups who are “underrepresented in a particular work stream” should be given training and motivation. According to Wikipedia, Racial Equality Directive 2000/43/EC is a statute of European Union. It concentrates mainly on equal treatment to ll individuals regardless of their ethnic origin and race.

Besides that, it also focuses on giving protection to those who are discriminated “in employment and training, education, social protection (including social security and healthcare), social advantages, membership and involvement in organisations of workers and employers and access to goods and services, including housing. ” It also defines covert and overt discrimination and harassment. It promotes complete equality to forbid anyone from being discriminated or victimized and allows positive approach to be carried out.Furthermore, it allows the racially discriminated victims to lodge a complaint “through a judicial and administrative procedure and allows for limited exceptions to the principle of equal treatment.

” For instance, when a trusted job requirement does not provide equal and unbiased treatment to people from different ethnic backgrounds and races. The act also allows the complainant to share their burden of proof with “respondent in civil and administrative cases” and promotes equal treatment in each organisation’s Member State. Those who are racially discriminated will be given assistance to access to justice. Wikipedia, Anon, 2012). There are many ways to manage away racism the so-called social disease. Racism cannot be managed away overnight, it will take years to make a difference. Therefore, we must start to practice and implement all the measures of managing away racism from now onwards. It is not an easy task to change every individual’s attitude and practices, but it would be possible if every one of us give commitment and work towards achieving it.

Everyone’s hope is that one day, there will be no racial discrimination and everyone lives in a harmony environment.This hope would become reality if we all really put effort to stop racism and encourage equal treatment to everyone. References: Myers, D. G. (1993). Social psychology (4th ed). Columbus, OH : McGraw-Hill Wikipedia. (2012).

Racial Equality Directive (online). Available from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Racial_Equality_Directive (Accessed 23 december 2012) Wikipedia. (2012). Race Relations Act (online). Available from:http://en.

wikipedia. org/wiki/Race_Relations_Act_1976 (Accessed 23 december 2012) Eurofound . (2009). Race Relations Act 1976 (online).Available from : http://www. eurofound. europa. eu/emire/UNITED%20KINGDOM/RACERELATIONSA CT1976RRA-EN.

htm (Accessed 24 december 2012) NHS Institute of innovation and Improvement. (n. d). The Race Relations Act (online). Available from: http://www. institute. nhs. uk/building_capability/breaking_through/race_relations.

html (Accessed 24 december 2012) Sampson Quain . (n. d). Tips to stop racism (online). Available from: http://www. ehow.

com/info_8554361_tips-stop-racism. html (Accessed 26 december 2012) John Casteele . (n. d). How to handle racism in the workplace (online).Available from : http://www.

ehow. com/how_6577269_handle-racism-workplace. html (Accessed 24 december) Amrita Chuasiriporn. (n. d) How to deal with racism at work (online) Available from: http://smallbusiness. chron. com/deal-racism-work-18745. html (Accessed 26 december) Chris Hampton and Kien Lee (Edited by Bill Berkowitz and Jerry Schultz).

(n. d). Strategies and Activities for Reducing Racial Prejudice and Racism (online). Available from : http://ctb. ku.

edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1173. aspx (Accessed 26 december)

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