Essay from Latvia

Throwing away prejudices and racism

Racism has existed all through the history. It can be defined as hatred of one person to another or the belief that the other person is worse just because of his skin colour, different language, unusual customs, different place of birth or any other factor. This has caused wars and slavery, riots and misunderstandings. Innocent people have suffered just because they are different and someone else cannot accept this difference. Nowadays many people are getting more and more tolerant but still there are a plenty of those who feel superior and want to rule others. What can we do to stop it? This is a really complicated question.   

On the one hand, racism and prejudice both are similar and exist in modern society on a large scale. Historically Western people have been really unwelcoming to non-Western residents. The most notorious example was enslavement of Africans in the New World. It was achieved due to the racist belief that black Africans possessed less human qualities than white Europeans. And this kind of prejudice is still there. We can read about it in the news every day. No one knows the solution for this problem, but each of us can start with oneself: be polite to all people, respect everyone and understand that the earth is home for everyone and all of us. We all have equal rights and laws, we all want to live good life and that is why we have to care about one another every day.

On the other hand, there are governments and deputies who pass laws and create regulations. If they really wanted, they could have changed the world and we might be living not even knowing what racism or prejudice is. Unfortunately, it is not beneficial to solve this problem. Many African civilizations are unable to correspond to the technological advances of Europe. And money rules the world, not hard work or charity or honest people. Therefore sometimes it is hard to think about possible solutions as there are none. One can only rely on oneself and think of one’s individual attitude to those sensitive topics. We can get more educated and think globally not locally. Then there will be some hope for a better future.   

What can we do to fight racism? First, we need to understand that we are all the same and can’t be distinguished. We are all one, big family. We were born equal and we have equal rights. If someone thinks differently, then we can say – there is always an opportunity to change your habits and opinions. We are interested in other cultures, so I can tell about it to other people and the process of kindness will start. If we became kind and tolerant, there would be no need for wars and fights.