Racism can be defined as the belief that some people of a particular race are inherently superior, ethically, spiritually, physically, intellectually, ambitiously, and/or culturally, to others races and therefore is entitled to dominate. Racism has created significant and profound racial tensions and conflicts in virtually all aspects of American society. White domination over blacks has been institutionalized and supported in all branches and levels of government, in all forms of business, in all forms of education and in all forms of social interaction by denying blacks their civil rights and opportunities to participate as equals in political, economic, and social communities.

Racism has an overwhelmingly wide variety of ways to manifest itself. It is not always as blatant as black people being forced to the back of a bus or white people being permitted to enter through the front entrance while black people have to enter through the rear. Racism is not limited to issues of separate and unequal that just so happen to fall along racial lines. Racism will also rear its ugly head, or its attractive one depending on one’s point of view, in cases of obvious disparity that happens to fall along racial lines as well. This type of racism is just as obvious as the more blatant form with signs that say white only or no blacks allowed. But without the obvious signage that connects the dots for many, it is far easier to dismiss this form of racial discrimination as just an accident of social happenstance.

For years, white people have been spreading propaganda that black people are the bane of white people’s existence by characterizing black people as the epitome of every negative social ill. Black people have been described as lazy, shiftless, and immoral with a sex drive that could make rabbits look celibate. So many people now believe this tripe that we as a national community can justify black people not being offered opportunities for education and employment as black people not wanting to take advantage of opportunities. Black people don’t have the aptitude to be anything but the most basic of employees. Black people must be thoroughly controlled because of our penchant for unethical behavior. And because we as a nation are quick to support this thinking that promotes black people as inferior we will justify the resulting racism as little more than the way things are.

The practice of racism is an attempt to make true artificial barriers that defy nature and the natural. A society that tolerates racism as just the normal course of business cannot and will not survive itself. A society works best and is healthiest when it is completely and thoroughly healthy. A society needs all of its parts strong in order to be its strongest. Like the proverbial chain a society is only as strong as its weakest link. And through a series of manipulations that have lasted for centuries the black community is no where near as strong as it should be. Crime and poverty are allowed to fester throughout entire segments of many large inner cities. Drugs and blight dominate the black community. The raw potential of so many people has been diminished significantly.

Is it true that black people are lazy and shiftless? Is it true that black people are hell bent on criminal and unethical behavior? Do black people have the ability to raise strong black families? Do black people have the ability to successfully run global corporate conglomerates? It really depends on the black person in question. Like any other race of people the behavior of black people runs the gamut. Not all black people are thugs and criminals. Not all black people have the talent or ability to achieve executive status in corporate America. What is important is to find where each individual black person lies within our social structure.

While it has primarily been the norm that the social ills of the black community are unique to the black people, an open and honest look at the social happenings will show that, in many respects, the black community is no different than any other. Black on black crime may be out of hand. But so is white on white crime. It is only the black children that are perceived as committing more crimes and are getting out of hand.

But white children are also committing not only more crimes but they are committing more intense crimes. White children are taking guns to school and shooting anything that moves. White children hang nooses in an attempt to provoke racial animosity. However, when black and white children are engaged in school fights, the local authorities and district attorney are so moved to arrest black children and charge them as adults for second degree attempted murder while white children go free. And then we are surprised to hear about a gang of white girls video taping themselves beating another white girl senseless. Will these girls face second degree attempted murder? Chances are good that they won’t. And this is just another prime example of the racial disparity that plagues our nation. White people make the choice to prosecute black people for attempted murder and black crime statistics will show black people are more likely to attempt murder. White crime statistics will not be so influenced.

For people to minimize racial disparity as whether or not black people ride in the back of a bus or black people cannot sit at a food counter is truly ridiculous. To say racism is a thing of the past thanks to the passage of civil rights laws is to take the most naïve appreciation of this issue. Nobody says murder is a thing of the past because some law says that it is now illegal. The disparity that black people suffer is not a simple abstract of some black behavior. To make general statements that black people are lazy and don’t deserve jobs or to say that black people don’t have an education and therefore don’t deserve a job is more examples of the racial disparity we tolerate and allow to flourish. And in the global economy a nation that makes the choice to retard such a large segment of its population will reap what it sows.