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Belief and Racism
Interesting discussion got started in my Sociology class about racism in terms of belief. One student posted this:
I agree with you on how long it’s taken our culture to get where we are with racism and with that we still have quite a ways to go. I believe it will always be a personal thing with certain individuals but I feel as a society theres a chance it could pass on if people just keep their beliefs to themselves.
To which I responded:
I disagree, keeping beliefs to yourself will never solve racism, it will only push the tensions under the surface before it bursts out. Let us never be a passive aggressive culture. No, hiding you’re beliefs is not the key, the key is learning to respect everyone’s beliefs. If we lose belief from our culture then we lose a large part of the cultures and heritage we belong to.
If we respect everyone’s beliefs then it becomes a conversation, not a debate, with no one trying to win the other over and each finding value in each other’s opinions. Anyone should feel comfortable talking about beliefs to others who are interested and respectful themselves. It, generally, shouldn’t be pushed on other people and religious beliefs in particular. Nor should discrimination of belief enter into politics, economics or business practices. The irony of our ideals is that we often fail so readily to live by them in my opinion, but that’s humanities legacy and we, at least in the US are taking steps toward equality.
I say generally because even here we are expressing our beliefs that everyone should be treated equally as if it’s not even a question, it’s a belief that should become universal. In fact, you are expressing you’re belief that people should keep their beliefs to themselves in this very post. These discussions are a great example of how people with different beliefs can respectfully discuss issues like racism.
