Racism is a personal and social problem that every country all over the world faces today. Racism is the belief that a person can be attributed certain rights, abilities, and characteristics based on their race. Racist people also normally believe that one race is better than another. Racism and discrimination have both been used throughout history to intimidate and scare other races. One example of this would be white supremacy groups such as the KKK against African Americans in the civil rights movements. Racism tends to rise in areas undergoing issues such as conflict, war, or economic downturn. During these times of conflict, stress and anger is heightened and people are usually looking for someone to blame for their problems. One more example would be recently when the economy started to suffer and many people lost their jobs. Much of the blame went to Mexican immigrants because they were thought to be stealing their jobs. This was mostly based off of the stereotype that Mexicans work for cheaper and more rigorous manual labor.
Racism is a very touchy issue that lies within the boundaries of many controversial and hazy subjects such as freedom of speech and equal rights. Although saying racist and discriminating comments is discouraged and unspeakable to most, others argue that it is their right under freedom of speech to be able to say racist comments. Obviously this causes a lot of conflict and controversy between races and people of different ideals and morals. Overall racism, no matter the form, should be avoided, otherwise it can lead to catastrophic events such as the holocaust. Racism has been especially discouraged after the holocaust where we pledged never to give in to such serious discrimination and hatred again.