Racism is the idea that one race is superior to another and that race influences personality, behavior, and values. Racist to believe that Asians are superior at math. You are judging another individual exclusively on the basis of their race. It is prejudiced to believe that black people are more violent or prone to stealing.

These presumptions can occasionally be overt, like when a store clerk pays closer attention to the black clients than the white ones. When a hiring manager believes a white candidate is more competent than a Latino candidate with comparable experience, this bias may occasionally be unintentional. It’s possible that you have preconceived notions about how individuals will act based just on their ethnicity, and that these preconceived notions have an unconscious influence on you. We refer to that as unconscious bias.

We have merely discussed thoughts thus far. When it comes to discrimination, the problem is acting on racial bias. When a landlord decides they don’t want to rent to any Latinos, this can be done on purpose. It can sometimes be unintentional, as in the case of recruiting managers who preferentially employ white men while denying any racial bias on their part.

The term “discrimination” describes how various ethnic, religious, national, or other groups are treated differently. Discrimination typically involves the hostile, harmful treatment of members of marginalized groups since it is the behavioral embodiment of prejudice.

Take a deep breath, pause for a second, and pay great attention to what I’m about to say: you are biased. It doesn’t matter if you prefer to converse with attractive individuals over less attractive ones, or if you value wealthier people’s counsel more, or if you believe that overweight people are lazy or dog owners are nicer—bias is still bias.

The reason why I chose to talk about racism and discrimination for my Civic Issues Blog is because I feel like we all can relate to it and are well aware of it. Some people might not realize this but everyone is actually prejudiced. It might not be obvious to you, but yes, we are all prejudiced in our own way. The appropriate reaction to someone who accuses you of prejudice is “Yes, I am.” since everyone has bias. Everyone. We all make assumptions about other people based on their reading habits, how tidy their home is, the school they attended, the team they support, their appearance, their weight, and the language they use.

So, for my Civic Issues Blog, I am going to talk about racial and discrimination faced by different people in this world and how we can try to overcome it.

https://www.apa.org/topics/racism-bias-discrimination