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Kenisha Davis

English 111
Definition Essay
October 27, 2015
The Past Is Never Gone
Regardless of the past or present, racism is a topic that will never go away. It has brought
about many conflicts among countries whether it is internal or external. And people are often
afraid of bringing up this topic because it is so controversial. Racism, in my perspective, means
those of another race or ethnicity do not want to interact with those of another race due to
unrelated feelings. As a result, isolation or discrimination occurs from not being comfortable
around unfamiliar people. And I can connect to this meaning ever since elementary school, as for
I was the only black person in the class from kindergarten to eighth grade. Racism was a major
issue of the past and still has a voice today.
Generally, racism confides to the terms of others think that a particular race possess the
same abilities and beliefs. For example, in the early to mid 1900s thoughts of African-Americans
being a generalized group of lower-class blacks having no chance of becoming successful was
seen in the white peoples eyes. Then the African-Americans saw whites to be lucky upper-class,
snobby people but people that had everything they could ever want in life. With the creation of
literacy for voting and the separation of public facilities, discrimination took a toll on the nation.
Eventually, major figure such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X came about to voice on

this troubling situation. Now we may not have separate facilities anymore, but we can see the
racism had made many appearances in society today.
In fact, the issues of racism in the past has brought about future effects. Getting into the
specifics, the police versus black men and women has been the most troubling situation coming
out. All over the news during the summer break you would see a story about a police officer has
shot and killed a black person. Non-whites are most likely to be arrested than a white person.
And the funny thing about these racial issues is that the person was not even armed, but the
police seem to shift their mindset to the past and automatically use force. With these stories
being continuous, the effects have been riots and marches held around the country. Even the new
slogan, BLACK LIVES MATTER is the new thing. Communities have started to come
together as one to show the government that some sort of change needs to form. Racism in the
past has influenced racism of today.
My idea of racism shifts to the more extreme side of not getting a job or chances of
getting arrested increased due to the color of your skin. Others may have a total different view
but from what I see and how I have grown up, I know that some aspects of racism is still here.
And yes there are good white people but there are still white people that are still in the beliefs of
the past. Having a white child just staring at you in a store can get annoying at times, but it is
nothing you can do but you can see that they probably have not encountered a black person
before. Although it may not be as extreme as it was in the past, racism sits in society today.

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