RACISM: 2020, a year none of us will ever forget. A series of bad events. The latest being the protests on the death of a BLACK !
George Floyd’s death has got the people all over the world together. Social media platforms are trending with the hashtag BLACK LIVES MATTER !
But the question is why have we even got it this far where a person is addressed with his/her color. Do we have a choice of choosing a color when we enter into this world? No. It is just by birth, nobody’s fault, Period.
How can one show superiority over the other just by their color ?
Let’s go back to the time, when racism all started.
In the 16th century, the use of the word RACE started in the English language, which actually meant that one is a member of the same household, group or share the common ancestor. But from when did race shift from this meaning to a more complicated one.
Well, it was in the colonial era, the 17th and 18th century. So why did this shift in race take place ?
It was because of a rise in global capitalism that was backed by slavery and colonialism.
The one who dint comply with slavery were killed brutally. Slavery was for life, slaves were not considered human and slavery was hereditary, i.e. if you are a slave, and you had children, then your children also came into the same category.
Then in the 18th century, the physical characteristics was considered under the race. Here came the BLACK and the WHITE. Now how did this shift the impact of the definition of race?
Slowly birth of race changed from social construction to genital and then we know the further story. It just continued by then until now.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, an activist and the most visible spokesperson in the 20th century once said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their color, but the content of their character.”
Some say racism is born, but racism is actually taught. A seed grows into a plant only when it is nurtured. The same goes with our minds, you grow what you feed in it.
All I would like to say is, nobody is born above or below, that’s why the creator has given us all the same colored shadow.
