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Charles Mercieca, Ph.D.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
For quite a good number of people, the problem of racism deals mostly with the pigmentation of the skin, with the variety of human features, which are visible to the eyes, and with a variety of ancestral characteristics that were passed on from one generation to the other. This problem originates mostly from the fact that we tend to categorize people into various groups based on their external characteristics. As a result, we tend to treat them differently for the better or the worse. Hence, prejudice plays a big role in the problem of racism.
Concept of Superiority and Inferiority
In view of this, we may realize and understand how the concept of superiority and inferiority has developed among the various peoples of this earthly planet. The European colonialists felt superior to the colonized African, Asian and Latin American nations. As a result, millions of natives in the said three continents did feel and act somewhat inferior to these white European folks. However, even among the black tribes of Africa we do find plenty of superstitions that lead to prejudice against most of their neighbors.
In North America, for example, both the Blacks and the Latinos have experienced the scourge of racism for a long time. As a result, they were often deprived from their rightful necessities of life. This explains why so many lived in poor housing facilities, worked mean jobs and barely made enough money to buy food and other necessities of life. Racism has been attached also to nationalities, which explains the past persecutions of Jews and of people from a variety of different religions or cultures.
In this regard, there is hardly any global area that was completely free in its history from the problem of racism. In some nations of Europe, for example, racial prejudice is practiced, in a number of instances, against Negroids who come from sub-Sahara Africa and Semites who come mostly from North Africa and the Middle East. Ironically, most of these immigrants proved themselves very useful to society and they have achieved immensely. Wherever we have the problem of racism we find ourselves faced with injustice of various kinds.
People everywhere need to be judged more by what they say and by what they eventually do than by anything else. In other words, people need to be judged individually and collectively by their respective character, trait and personality. As we read in the Holy Scriptures: Judge a tree by the fruit it gives. This means if the tree looks like an orange tree but it produces lemons then we have to call it lemon tree. The façade of an individual or a group should not be used as a criterion to judge one’s character and personality, in no way and under no circumstance whatsoever. After all, all people share the same human nature. They all want to eat when hungry, to drink when thirsty, and to rest when tired.
Scholarly Definition of Racism
The Webster Dictionary of the English Language describes race as lineage, a family tribe, people who are presumed or believed to belong to the same stock. It further describes racism as the belief in the superiority or dominance of one race over another. This is very unfortunate as numerous needless problems were created as a result to the detriment of everyone concerned and involved. When analyzed properly, racism reveals absence of sound common sense and conspicuous deficiency of mind-function. It does not need for us much intelligence to comprehend the reality of this. Suppose a man falls into a river and begins to drown.
Surely, his greatest desire will be for someone to come in and save his life, regardless of who this person may be or look like. It would not make any difference if such a person were to be a physician, an attorney or a businessman. Also, it would not make any difference if such a person were to be tall, short, fat, or thin, as well as an older or a younger man. It would not even matter if such a person were to be Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Moslem, Hindu or Buddhist. What matters is only one thing: his escape from drowning as to continue to live to enjoy his family, his friends and life in general.
However, if the drowning man happens to be a racist, we should not be surprised if he were to demand to the person about to save him to identify himself in terms of race. This may be hard to believe, but those who practice racism would rather die than be saved by anyone of those against whom they have harbored racial prejudice for quite a time! This explains why those who practice racism, regardless of the position they hold in society, may be viewed as mentally sick people whose presence in the community could be termed as dangerous. Of course, when racists hold a position of power, the harm they may inflict could be frightening like in the case of Adolph Hitler in Germany, Idi Amin in Uganda and the list goes on and on. The racist mind of such men in power led to the brutal and merciless massacre of numerous innocent people.
In view of what has been stated, we may begin to realize and comprehend the danger of racism. As we may already know, we do have many handicapped people in the world that do amount in tens of millions. There are those whose arms or legs were amputated, those who are fully or partially blind, and those who suffer from multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy as well as other maladies that prevent them from leading a normal life. All those who happen to have a handicap of the nature explained may still enjoy life to some extent and may even still contribute positive and constructive things to society in their own way. However, when it comes to mental sickness, the situation is different.
Provision of an Effective Remedy
Whereas all those with the above mentioned handicaps may still maintain contact and relations with all other human beings, those with mental sickness are usually confined to a lunatic asylum because they are viewed legitimately by society to be quite dangerous. Experience has demonstrated to us that when such mentally sick people were not confined to a lunatic asylum, they tended to do irreparable harm to society in a number of instances. This also applies to all those who are racist, that is, who practice and promote racism in the community where they happen to be. Very often we tend to get angry at them and even denounce them by word of mouth or in writing.
Although such denunciation could be termed to be a step in the right direction, yet it is not enough. We need to take one drastic step by way of safety and precaution. We need to have them locked in a lunatic asylum until they have been cured from their mental deficiency. People may then be free to develop their positive and constructive qualities to the fullest in the best interest of the entire local community, the entire nation and the world at large, as a matter of fact. An opportunity would be created for everyone to feel more like members of the same family in dealing with each other. The doctrine of love promoted by all religions would then become a tangible reality, sooner than later.
Many tend to view the problem of racism more as an educational problem than a medical one. They say that education deals with giving the human mind the opportunity to function properly in a positive and constructive way. They do have a good argument, as a matter of fact. Such an argument may serve as a challenge to all of our schools at all levels of education. As the preamble of UNESCO says, since wars begin in the minds of man it is in the mind of man that the defenses of peace must be constructed. In this way, racism could be viewed as a hostility of the mind toward those that look different. This mind could be educated in a way as to have this potential problem of racism be cured before it gets worse. Otherwise remedial steps could be taken to this end in specially prepared places like hospitals for the mentally deficient.
President, International Association of Educators for World Peace
Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education,
Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament
Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University
For quite a good number of people, the problem of racism deals mostly with the pigmentation of the skin, with the variety of human features, which are visible to the eyes, and with a variety of ancestral characteristics that were passed on from one generation to the other. This problem originates mostly from the fact that we tend to categorize people into various groups based on their external characteristics. As a result, we tend to treat them differently for the better or the worse. Hence, prejudice plays a big role in the problem of racism.
Concept of Superiority and Inferiority
In view of this, we may realize and understand how the concept of superiority and inferiority has developed among the various peoples of this earthly planet. The European colonialists felt superior to the colonized African, Asian and Latin American nations. As a result, millions of natives in the said three continents did feel and act somewhat inferior to these white European folks. However, even among the black tribes of Africa we do find plenty of superstitions that lead to prejudice against most of their neighbors.
In North America, for example, both the Blacks and the Latinos have experienced the scourge of racism for a long time. As a result, they were often deprived from their rightful necessities of life. This explains why so many lived in poor housing facilities, worked mean jobs and barely made enough money to buy food and other necessities of life. Racism has been attached also to nationalities, which explains the past persecutions of Jews and of people from a variety of different religions or cultures.
In this regard, there is hardly any global area that was completely free in its history from the problem of racism. In some nations of Europe, for example, racial prejudice is practiced, in a number of instances, against Negroids who come from sub-Sahara Africa and Semites who come mostly from North Africa and the Middle East. Ironically, most of these immigrants proved themselves very useful to society and they have achieved immensely. Wherever we have the problem of racism we find ourselves faced with injustice of various kinds.
People everywhere need to be judged more by what they say and by what they eventually do than by anything else. In other words, people need to be judged individually and collectively by their respective character, trait and personality. As we read in the Holy Scriptures: Judge a tree by the fruit it gives. This means if the tree looks like an orange tree but it produces lemons then we have to call it lemon tree. The façade of an individual or a group should not be used as a criterion to judge one’s character and personality, in no way and under no circumstance whatsoever. After all, all people share the same human nature. They all want to eat when hungry, to drink when thirsty, and to rest when tired.
Scholarly Definition of Racism
The Webster Dictionary of the English Language describes race as lineage, a family tribe, people who are presumed or believed to belong to the same stock. It further describes racism as the belief in the superiority or dominance of one race over another. This is very unfortunate as numerous needless problems were created as a result to the detriment of everyone concerned and involved. When analyzed properly, racism reveals absence of sound common sense and conspicuous deficiency of mind-function. It does not need for us much intelligence to comprehend the reality of this. Suppose a man falls into a river and begins to drown.
Surely, his greatest desire will be for someone to come in and save his life, regardless of who this person may be or look like. It would not make any difference if such a person were to be a physician, an attorney or a businessman. Also, it would not make any difference if such a person were to be tall, short, fat, or thin, as well as an older or a younger man. It would not even matter if such a person were to be Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Moslem, Hindu or Buddhist. What matters is only one thing: his escape from drowning as to continue to live to enjoy his family, his friends and life in general.
However, if the drowning man happens to be a racist, we should not be surprised if he were to demand to the person about to save him to identify himself in terms of race. This may be hard to believe, but those who practice racism would rather die than be saved by anyone of those against whom they have harbored racial prejudice for quite a time! This explains why those who practice racism, regardless of the position they hold in society, may be viewed as mentally sick people whose presence in the community could be termed as dangerous. Of course, when racists hold a position of power, the harm they may inflict could be frightening like in the case of Adolph Hitler in Germany, Idi Amin in Uganda and the list goes on and on. The racist mind of such men in power led to the brutal and merciless massacre of numerous innocent people.
In view of what has been stated, we may begin to realize and comprehend the danger of racism. As we may already know, we do have many handicapped people in the world that do amount in tens of millions. There are those whose arms or legs were amputated, those who are fully or partially blind, and those who suffer from multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy as well as other maladies that prevent them from leading a normal life. All those who happen to have a handicap of the nature explained may still enjoy life to some extent and may even still contribute positive and constructive things to society in their own way. However, when it comes to mental sickness, the situation is different.
Provision of an Effective Remedy
Whereas all those with the above mentioned handicaps may still maintain contact and relations with all other human beings, those with mental sickness are usually confined to a lunatic asylum because they are viewed legitimately by society to be quite dangerous. Experience has demonstrated to us that when such mentally sick people were not confined to a lunatic asylum, they tended to do irreparable harm to society in a number of instances. This also applies to all those who are racist, that is, who practice and promote racism in the community where they happen to be. Very often we tend to get angry at them and even denounce them by word of mouth or in writing.
Although such denunciation could be termed to be a step in the right direction, yet it is not enough. We need to take one drastic step by way of safety and precaution. We need to have them locked in a lunatic asylum until they have been cured from their mental deficiency. People may then be free to develop their positive and constructive qualities to the fullest in the best interest of the entire local community, the entire nation and the world at large, as a matter of fact. An opportunity would be created for everyone to feel more like members of the same family in dealing with each other. The doctrine of love promoted by all religions would then become a tangible reality, sooner than later.
Many tend to view the problem of racism more as an educational problem than a medical one. They say that education deals with giving the human mind the opportunity to function properly in a positive and constructive way. They do have a good argument, as a matter of fact. Such an argument may serve as a challenge to all of our schools at all levels of education. As the preamble of UNESCO says, since wars begin in the minds of man it is in the mind of man that the defenses of peace must be constructed. In this way, racism could be viewed as a hostility of the mind toward those that look different. This mind could be educated in a way as to have this potential problem of racism be cured before it gets worse. Otherwise remedial steps could be taken to this end in specially prepared places like hospitals for the mentally deficient.