Racism reflects the truth

Racism does NOT reflect the truth - the truth reflects racism. I will stop for a moment to define racism and clear a few things up. Racism is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. Pro suggests that being black and being an African American are the same thing here: 'Rather, having black skin, or being an African American suggests that there is a greater likelihood of being lazy, aggressive, poor, stupid.' Straight away Pro proves to us that he has not necessarily done all the reading he needs to do. Having black skin does not necessarily indicate that you are an African American. You could, after-all, simply be an African, or a Jamaican. In fact, there is a vast number of places where black people live. This is the same with white people. I would also like to pick up on Pro's use of the word stupid. I think the word pro intends to use here is 'uneducated,' and that is the word I shall be using henceforth. Pro is correct in only one way. He claims that having black skin means that you're more likely to live in a poor household. In a majority of cases this is true. In England, for example, [1]two-fifths of people from ethnic minorities live in low-income households, twice the rate of white people who live in low-income households. However, that does not logically lead to pro's next suggestion: Pro suggests that it is the fault of black people that racism exists. He concludes that a black man could not participate in the ghetto/black culture and could easily avoid being generalized. I think we should take a moment to define a ghetto. Ghetto: A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure. The term was originally used in Venice to describe the part of the city to which Jews were restricted and segregated. Pro suggests that in order to not be victim to racism, a black man should simply not participate in 'ghetto/black culture.' What pro neglects to understand is that people who live in ghetto's live there due mostly to economic and social pressures (not so much legal anymore after the civil rights movement, but originally legal restrictions would have had a large effect too). In other words, the main reason that people live in ghetto's is that they are forced to live there by a racist world. It is therefore not easy for a black man born into a poor ghetto family to 'choose' to leave the ghetto. I am not saying that black people are unable to leave the ghetto, but many are far too poor to even consider it as an option ,and others may even fear the racism they could, and probably would, encounter outside the ghetto. To conclude, ghetto culture is not the reason racism exists. Racism has spanned for centuries and black people living in American ghetto's has only happened for the past 70 or so years. It is ridiculous to suggest that any ethnic minority 'brings it upon themselves' in terms of discrimination. I wish to remind pro that racism started the moment that white people landed on the shores of Africa. Black people were exploited simply because white people were the ones that were more technologically advanced at the time. If it had been the other way round, the result would almost have definitely been the same. [1]http://www.poverty.org.uk...