Racism is really another word for ignorance. It's another way of saying that nature should have had only one type of flower or tree. It's another way of looking at the world with your eyes closed to diversity and change. Racism is another word for fear.

Fear of the unknown is understandable, of course, and for many of us those of different races and creeds are the great unknown. Most of us are brought up in a particular environment with a particular type of people. We may come in contact with those of other races but we are too busy or perhaps too unconcerned to know them as people like ourselves. For many of us there is the uneasy feeling that they are different, maybe somehow inferior. The easiest option is to close our eyes not to their existence but to their entitlements, to their needs.

Often we do not put those thoughts into words. We simply, as it were, stick to our own. We are comfortable there and it is where we belong. We often repeat our parents' philosophy on race and that too is understandable. They set our standards and w

Yet stereotypes are there and cannot be ignored. We know that in certain areas there are high incidences of crime for example. We often tend to blame that on color rather than on the real causes of poverty and deprivation. When a person of one race is attacked by a person of another race we tend to protect our own, to offer excuses such as provocation. What we should really be doing of course is tackling the fact that one human being attacks another regardless of color or creed.

Facing racism means facing your fears. They may be fears for your safety, for your family, for your culture or for your beliefs. It can mean being afraid of losing your job or of your house being devalued. Facing racism can be difficult but it can be done. That is not to say we should not be afraid but we should recognize that one race does not have the monopoly of evil or that culture has to mean the same thing to all people. We have to be prepared to listen to other views and, even more difficult, to allow that such views may be relevant. Most religions are about respecting the rights of others. We cannot claim to have a religion and yet close our eyes to racism

e often, unthinkingly, adopt them. Some of us may be more aggressive in our attitude, of course, but generally we are just unthinking.

The fact that we automatically protect our own is the kernel of the problem. It is an instinctive reaction rather than a logical progression o

Some topics in this essay:
America Facing, Rodney King, African American, Africa Augusta, King Jr, war tell, whatever color, whatever color skin, racism word, close eyes, eyes closed, person race, color skin, protect own, facing racism,