In this paper, I will use the sociological imagination to connect my personal experiences of being discriminated against to new racism and institutional racism. Prejudice and discrimination against religious minority groups regardless of their ethnicity and race can be seen as a form of new racism. .
I was born and raised in a Baha'i family in Iran. Even as a child, I directly experienced several forms of discrimination and prejudice both from people and organizations which continued to affect my life through adulthood. I clearly remember parents who would ban their children from playing with me because they considered us to be religiously "unclean". It was not uncommon to hear some schoolmates calling my family incestuous because we were Baha'i. I was expelled from the school several times when they found out that I was a Baha'i. At the same time I met people from Muslim families that would not treat me any different and others that had some form of prejudice at first but later they became my good friends abandoning all of their beliefs about Baha'is. High school was the last level of education that the government would not mind me to have as they did not let me or any other Baha'i student to enter an official university to seek higher education. .
Sociological imagination is a concept that defines one's ability to examine a personal experience using a bigger picture or think about it from an alternative point of view to understand the larger meaning of that experience. It is best described by C. Wright Mills, the sociologist who coined this term, as the ability to "think ourselves away" from the familiar routines of our daily lives in order to look at them anew.
A minority group is defined as a group of people that are distinctive from the majority by some attribute like race, origin or religion and are disadvantaged compared to the dominant group. Baha'is has always been a minority group in Iran in which Islam is a dominant religion.
Institutional Racism can be described in a number of ways. ... Our primary focus now should be to eliminate institutional racism. ... However this is not the case with racism within institutions. ... In many ways these institutions manifest of racism. ... It just goes to prove how fickle institutional racism can be. ...
Their belief excluded many by status, family, religion, or nation. ... Whites and non-whites maintained separate residences and institutions. ... Discrimination can be practiced against an individual or institution; People acting on their own do individual discrimination. Institutional discrimination occurs when an institution makes laws or rules that are unfair to a group of people. ... A hate crime is a crime committed by an offender because of the victim's race, ethnic background, religion, or sexual orientation. ...
Groups may be almost identical physiologically, yet be divided against each other on the basis of culture, language, religion, nationality. ... Racism produces a fear-based society in which no one feels safe. ... Racist" and "racism" are provocative words in American society. ... African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans and Asian Americans (people-of-color) live daily with the effects of both institutional and individual racism. ... Anti-racism is the process of actively and consistently confronting racism and anti-Semitism wherever they occur. ...
Racism Racism is the mistreatment of a group of people on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, place of origin, or ancestry. ... Racism has had a strong effect on society. ... Just as individuals can act in racist ways, so can institutions. Institutions can be overtly or inherently racist. Institutions can also injure people. ...
What Is Racism? Racism is not a simple subject. There is nothing natural about racism. ... The institution of slavery had existed throughout human history, in almost every century, in almost every culture. ... During the crusade, Christians and Muslims used religion to justify slavery. ...
Concepts such as racism, antisemitism, homophobia and even ageism erupted. ... While institutional racism seems to be of great emphasis through both texts it is important to see that despite the negative images projected by society and the institutions that serve it, these women have formed strong bonds with their surroundings, their culture and most importantly, with themselves. The most obvious struggle that is encountered by the women in both texts is racism, however it can be argued that it is not racism that these women must fight against but the stereotypes from which racism stems. .....
It's a new form of racism, which is called covert racism. ... What is racism? ... Covert racism sometimes is called "color blind" racism. ... "We've got people in this country who run nonprofit groups, who run religious institutions, who run political parties, who run for office, ripping this country endlessly on race. ... But, official racism, 'Official Racism' does not exist. ...
Witnessing that racism towards the Asians sensitized him to the other forms of racism in the world around him (Personal Interview). ... Growing up as a Baptist in a racially segregated community in Detroit, he had never seen a racially mixed religion before. ... Black and white patients in mental institutions, the blind and deaf, tubercular patients, and juvenile delinquents lived apart from one another. ... The development and growth of racism in America was a long, complicated process. ... The religion's founder, Baha'u'llah, which means "The Glory of God- in Arabic, was born...
Leila also mentions how women were the active participants of the community taking full part in warfare and religion. ... According to her, men and women should live by their choices and the concept of Islam should not be understood as a patriarchy and patrilineal institution. ... To her, the misconceptions of the veils as well as the misinterpretations illustrate racism of western cultures making them more ignorant to the religion. Such ignorance in fact makes Muslim women face tremendous racism and sexism, which should not be the case at all, according to Hoodfar. ... If this concept is righ...
