WHAT IS RACISM?

Racism is when people are treated unfairly because of their skin color. It is a kind of discrimination, and it causes great harm to people.

Racism takes many forms. It happens when people call other people names or attack them physically. For African Americans in particular it also exists in the way that systems of government and society operate. This is known as systemic, or institutional, racism.

a part of discrimination

Marchers show their support during a protest in New York, in June 2020. The protesters were angry because an 

African American man had been killed by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Racism has a long history. Hundreds of years ago some European countries established colonies around the world. As they took control of the land, they also controlled the native people who already lived on the land. The people in power were usually white. They were prejudiced against the native peoples. That means that they looked down on them because the people looked different than they did and had different ways of living. The white rulers did not see the people of color as equals, so they felt that they could treat them as inferior.

History  Colonization

Sometimes racism happens when groups of people move to a new area. The people who live there already may feel like the new group is taking jobs away from them or harming them in some way. They may blame the new people for problems of their own.

This kind of racism happens today when people in the United States attack migrants from Mexico and other parts of Latin America. In Europe residents of many countries mistreat refugees, or people who move to the countries to escape problems in their own countries. Australia for many years had an official policy to keep non-whites from moving to the country. It was known as the White Australia policy. It was mainly meant to keep people from Asian countries out.