Essay About Neil Bissoondath And Different Ethnic Groups

Racism: A World ProblemRacism: A World ProblemRacism: A World ProblemIn one way or another everyone encounters racism at many times in their life. Whether they are making the comments or victims of it, racism is everywhere and continues to be denied throughout the world. Neil Bissoondath, a Trinidad native, writes “I’m Not Racist But…” which discusses the types of labels given to different ethnic groups and the encouragement of racism they give. Based on the effective way it was written, Bissoondath’s essay is suggested for an English 101 text.

“I’m Not Racist But…” mainly focuses on the issue of racism currently in Canada, but acknowledges that it is a world problem as well. Bissoondath talks about his own experience with racism and racial comments. He also gives suggestions on ways to prevent or decrease the amount of racism that goes on.

The title of Bissoondath’s essay gives hint as to what his argument is about. People of all kind constantly use the phrase “I’m not racist but…” in order to combat a possible racial comment. Bissoondath states, “I think of the mover, a friendly man, who said, ‘I’m not racist but the Chinese are the worst drivers on the road’ convinced of this because of their slanted eyes which consequently deny them peripheral vision” (Wilhoit, 310). Statements like the mover’s are proof that society is in denial about racism. People do not realize the impressions or implications they make when saying comments like the mover’s. The way the sentence is spoken easily subjects them to accusation. According to Bissoondath, the remarks are not always “pure racial hatred, like the Nazis or KKK” however, they are “ignorant, stupid and incentive” and still defined as discrimination (Wilhoit, 310). Making discriminate comments does not help fight the racism problem.

The writer of the essay also explains that if an attack is said of the article, it is not necessarily a racist response to racially charged comments or statements. Rather, statements of a racist nature are not inherently racist, if they are made based on some sort of psychological or other perception. As the writer explains:

”When an article is written it can be seen as something that implies an overt disregard of racism or a call for change at all. It can also be seen as a postcard ’(and perhaps even a memorial)‡ or the latest social scene‡. The message written by a writer is, —I need to do something to make things better’; a social scene or, just to show off the kind of person that might not be all that helpful to a situation.

He goes on to explain:

”If it were the first time we had seen a racist on the surface, the first time we would have thought, “Wow, it’s a racist. You should be ashamed of it.”  But a racist comment, if it comes out of left field with such strong evidence, has the effect on the article that it is an aggressive and abusive criticism of a particular group of people….A person is never necessarily racist…  So we need to take it from there. If it looks like a racist is attacking a white man’s ability to get on with things, or trying to bully people by showing them a racial view, then the article should be written about racism. If it shows it’s being racist about white supremacy and we look around to see the other extreme things, then we should not go for it,  but we should not go for it because they are making an angry and insulting point‾.

In spite of his article, however, Bissoondath does not make any apology for his use of the term racism. Rather, he makes a claim that he does not understand why the topic is more offensive for people who like to talk about racism. Here are the main points of my review of Bissoondath’s piece:

The article should be about racial prejudice, not about discrimination.

Bissoondath does not claim people are not in need of correction for comments about racism when his comment is being misinterpreted as a joke.

The paragraph about the “unfriendly black driver” is also offensive and offensive.

The author of the piece doesn’t even mention racism or other racial prejudice. Instead Bissoondath merely states how this is offensive.

The article should be about using race to justify violence.

Bissoondath seems to suggest the use of race is only a “tongue-in-cheek attitude” and that people who use “tongue-in-cheek” attitude are in fact “just as racist as racist people who use racism to justify violence.” But I do not believe that this is the case. We can argue about whether the phrase “tongue in a cheek” has anything to do with racism. We can argue about whether “Tongue in a hand ring” has anything to do with racism. If the author is aware that racism is the underlying cause of the behavior of people in general, he could write about that in “The Language of Racism: A Critique of Racial-Racism and its Impact on the American American System of Democracy” and make no apologies for “trying to point it out in every context.” I would suggest

“Challenging Racism: An Action for World Development Workshop” by Lilyana Theodossiou is about an organization in Australia that uses workshops to work with people on racial discrimination, using group activities. Theodossiou’s opinion on the denial of racism is similar to Bissoondath’s. She uses the same evidence of the popular “I’m not racist” statement and concludes that “There’s a lot of denial around these issues. It [racism] is, however, within everyone and every workplace to different degrees” (Theodossiou, 78). Denying that racism goes on has a large part to do with it existing. Not acknowledging its presence gives a reason to neglect finding ways to prevent it. Society needs to realize there is a problem at hand in order to fix it.

Bissoondath argues, “We like to think that our multicultural mosaic will help nudge us into a greater openness. But it is failing to educate basic questions people have about each other” (Wilhoit, 310). Just by living with people from different ethnicities does not mean society will instantly accept one another. It would be like giving a toddler a two wheeled bike. The bike would be useless unless the toddler learns to ride it. In a sense, society needs to learn how to accept one another. A reason that preventing racism may be difficult could be the fact that most adults, today, lived during the times when segregation was popular. Therefore, they would have a difficult time changing their opinion because that is how they grew up. However, by means of education, today’s children and young adults could be open about the situation of racism. They are the young generation that can pass on to their children the importance of accepting one another.

“Preventing Racism” by Dr. Deidre Tyler, a black woman, defines racism and discusses the author’s own incidents with it. She also provides her own ideas in addition to other doctors’ ideas on what can stop discrimination. Tyler discusses the suggestion of a doctor who stated “socializing our children to respect multiculturalism, urging schools to educate about diversity will help this effort” as means of prevention (Tyler, 3). This is similar to the argument that Bissoondath is making about teaching the negative outcome of racism. While this doctor’s idea focuses on the responsibility of both the parents and schools he or she still believes that educating society on issues that deal with racism could decrease the amount of racism that exists.

‟I do believe that the idea of being a racist is the most effective tool in combating racism today. For example, it is important to take an active role in getting support for the movement that aims to get racialized youth out of school and into an active community, and through activism and media participation. The message that the medical society is trying to send to the medical community is that it is dangerous or threatening to black people, and that there is no room for the medical research into racism, racism or any other kind of discrimination. To address the medical society’s message we are organizing a medical conference called “A Black American American Society for Reproductive Justice” with Dr. Tyler and Dr. Deidre Tyler in Washington DC on November 19, 2014.

Deece Johnson, President of the New York City Physicians’ Hospital Association, recently asked at a meeting of the Physicians’ Association of Greater New York about the new, “New Black America” documentary titled, “RACISM, BORN BY, AND THE BORN BRAIN.” Although the film, which did not include an African American speaker, was made after several black men identified themselves as victims of child molester Frank Bly.

‟Why does the medical community need to change attitudes toward racialized persons of color with the intention to teach young people how to understand and deal with racist messages if we, as black children, are at risk of falling under the care of so many of these abusers?

Johnson does raise a point. Why should the medical community teach black children how to see, feel and feel, before the fact or in person? What is the idea that this will help heal the wounds caused by those who are not willing to admit to being racially oppressed?

That is not the purpose of the documentary. The purpose of the film is to teach our medical society about race and how it should be dealt with in the medical profession. The point of the documentary is to show what this black healing can look like.

We have been educating our medical society of black Americans for quite some time now, how we can heal our wounds through medical intervention based on our own personal experience and personal experience. The film shows how this is not so simple. We are dealing with a highly developed body of health (see: “Hippocampus Research, Physiology, and Medicine: An Examination of the Hippocampus Theology and Biology of the Blood-Brain Connection” by Richard Stearn, the Director of the University of Michigan School of Medicine and a PhD researcher at the University of Michigan in Michigan, 2010; “Medical and Organizational Development and the Relationship Between the Hippocampus and Human Development: An Introduction”), with an emphasis on the research and clinical experience of African-American individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, alcoholism and drug addiction and their impact on the health of their populations.

The medical profession now has great political

A question of how to instruct society about the problem may come up as a concern. How do you teach such a massive group of people to accept everyone? In Theodossiou’s essay she gives clear examples of how this is possible. The Workshop’s goal is “exploring attitudes and values of other races” (Theodossiou, 79). The Group’s focus is the central society’s racism. They recognize the ways it affects the native and non-native people of the country. There are different types of Challenging Racism Workshops for different groups of people. Whether they are organizations, community