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Joshua Rim
Professor Malvin
English 115
1 December 2016
Not Like the Rainbow
Color is something that classifies a persons identity in this world. Many colors do not
blend well, making it difficult to create a harmonious artwork. Including every single color in an
artwork is as difficult as it is for a handful of people to acknowledge and accept every single
person in the world no matter what the color of their skin may be. Throughout the course of
history, racism has been a challenging obstacle to face for the minorities who are not classified as
White. There have slowly been accomplishments and changes to societys culture to accept one
another regardless of the color of a persons skin, but these can be identified as a false hopes for
the people who face racism and discrimination in their lives. Although many have believed that
racism and discrimination were issues that have been solved in the past, many people still face
these problems at an extreme level even to this date.
Racism, by definition, is the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics
or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another
race. Although racism is present in all countries, it is most noticeable in America. The origins of
racism began when the Europeans first started settling into the New World. Instead of sharing the
land that belonged to the Native Americans, these new settlers wanted to make more room to
import more people from the east. They accomplished this by murdering and slaughtering
millions of Native Americans. As the population in the New World grew, the new settlers began
to keep moving west, which resulted in encounters with more Native Americans. The Native

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Americans were not immune to the diseases that the Europeans brought with them, especially
Smallpox, which resulted in the death of millions of more Native Americans. These Europeans
also owned slaves who were the black race. All of this resulted in the rise of the idea of White
supremacy.
White supremacy is defined by the belief that white people are superior to those of all
other races, especially the black race, and should therefore dominate society. White supremacy is
the root of racism in America. In the past, owning a slave was a symbol of status. If a person did
not own any slaves, they were considered poor, and if they did have slaves, they were rich.
During the era that used slaves as a symbol of wealth and authority, these slaves were typically
black. Due to the skin color that was completely opposite of the whites, these slaves were
severely mistreated and abused. They had no freedom in their lives and they would have to live
and obey by their masters rules and authorities. Many of these slaves would even be sold to
another white man even at birth. As history made its course, these slaves, the black race, finally
achieved their freedom and independence after facing extreme levels of racism, discrimination,
and segregation in public places through several new laws and acts, one of them being the Civil
Rights Act of 1964, which ended segregation and outlawed discrimination based on race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin. A government site that explains the creation of the Civil Rights
Act of 1964 and Equal Employment act states that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does authorize
the bureaucracy to make rules to help end discrimination. Though these laws made it seem like
the hardships and difficulties of living a nonwhite life was over, many people still enforce racism
and discrimination in todays society and culture.
The culture of today seems to passively enforce racism as much as it does actively,
possibly even more. In schools, there are numerous racist comments that students consider to be

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jokes. However, these jokes could very well affect the people of races that they point towards.
One example of a racist joke or comment is about Asians, or the yellow race. Asians, especially
immigrants, typically have a strong and thick accent when trying to speak English and their
native language may even sound very odd to people of different races. The racist comment is that
when Asians speak, people of different races would say that all they hear is ching chong ling
long ting tong. This makes an Asian person, especially an immigrant, to be more cautious of
how they speak and discourages them to even try speaking the new language. This is the most
minor form of racism or racist attacks that happen all over the country.
A form of racist attacks that has become very common stems from police brutality. Since
the past, police brutality has been a case that has never been completely solved and has been
growing in todays society. Police brutality is not as severe to other races as it is to black people.
In the past couple of months and years, there have been numerous acts of police brutality against
black people and many have resulted in the death of the victims. Because of these events, many
citizens have become intimidated by the people who are supposed to protect them, not kill them
for trivial reasons. A major incident of police brutality against blacks is the beating of Rodney
King. Rodney King was a man who was chased by the cops due to several traffic tickets and
violations, one of the reasons being driving under the influence of alcohol. When he was pulled
over by the White cops, they beat him with their batons repeatedly to the point where Mr. Kings
relatives could not even recognize his face. In the book, Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, by Anna
Deavere Smith, the aunt of Rodney King says, I dont know if its when you lose a life it comes
back in somebody else (Smith 54), implying that there are so many incidents of brutality against
her race that when she sees another person being beaten, it seems like she is watching the

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previous person being beaten again. Police brutality is just one branch of racism and the idea of
white supremacy.
Many of the elites in society have a major impact on how much people enforce racism
and the idea of white supremacy towards one another. Examples of this are found in the election
campaigns this year. Donald Trump who was a presidential candidate, now President Elect,
sparked a movement of violence among those who embrace the idea of white supremacy. An
article by Alan Rappeport and Noah Weiland discusses the celebration of a group of White
Nationalists after Donald Trumps victory in the election. Richard B. Spencer states that the
victory of Trump is an awakening and views the organization as a successful movement
because he believes that now the group has a chance to expand their white nationalist ideas
towards the nation through Trumps policies. Due to the way that Donald Trump expresses
himself in a blunt manner, along with his policies for immigration, White Nationalists have
interpreted this as a chance for the White race to dominate society again. They want as many
minorities out of the country as possible, which is how they interpret Trumps policies. Not only
does Donald Trump have influence on White Nationalist groups, he also has an impact on the
ordinary citizens of the country. There have been countless encounters of a black person
receiving extreme verbal and physical abuse by white people at election campaign venues or
even just on the streets. Though it seemed like history has ended the problem of racism, the
reality is that society could possibly turn one hundred and eighty degrees around and go back to
the extreme levels of racism that occurred in the past.
Racism is not the only form of discrimination in the world. There is also discrimination in
gender. Most women experience discrimination whether they realize it or not. In businesses,
there is a tem called the glass ceiling, which is the idea that there is a barrier that women

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cannot advance through and get to a higher status in their profession. Another effect of
discrimination against women ties in with businesses and income. According to an article by the
government about peoples right to equal pay, full-time working women earn just 78 cents for
every dollar a man earns. This statistic supports the fact that men and women are not equal and
can make it more difficult for a single mother to support her family than a single father would.
Jessica Valenti posted an article about the frustration that she and other women go through
because of the inequality between genders in society. She says how people act as if the hatred
directed at women is something that can be dealt with by a stern talking to, explaining that this
problem is something that requires more effort than talking it out. Simply talking and telling the
world about the problems that women face is not going to change anything. She also says how
the things that gave false hope for minorities and women like the right to vote, working outside
the home, laws that make domestic violence illegal -- dont change the reality of womens lives.
All these laws that gave minorities and women the hope that they would influence society and
have the same rights as men do may have temporarily changed the lives of these people, but the
reality is that nothing much has changed. Discrimination against women and minorities is still
evident in todays society and is a problem that requires more effort than just talking about it to
solve.
There may be people who say that racism and discrimination is not a problem in society
anymore or it is not as extreme as it once was. They would talk about the extreme levels of
violence that people had to go through in history and bring up the famous incidents about
extreme violence, brutality, and unfair treatment against minorities and women. All of this may
be true to a certain date in our time. However, there has been a steady increase in violence and
brutality against minorities and women in the past years. Many racists are slowly returning to the

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original forms of racism although it may not seem like it. African Americans are experiencing
unfair forms of justice by racist policemen and many have been shot to death without any real
explanation or reason. There are also increasing amounts of racism against Muslims because of
all the recent terrorist attacks all over the world. It is unfair to the people who do not have any
intention to cause harm to receive so much hatred just because they are the same race as those
who do threaten the world. These incidents happen so regularly these days that it makes those
who say that racism and discrimination is not a problem in society anymore to be blinded from
the fact that it is a real threat and problem. Racism and discrimination is a real problem in
todays society that is slowly reverting back to the old, extreme forms and practices.
Racism and discrimination are problems that have been going on for centuries. Although
there have been many laws and rules established to end this problem, they were only temporary
solutions. The historical event of Barack Obama becoming Americas first African American
president was the real hope and achievement for the black race, but it seems that there have been
no significant changes in the behaviors against them. Based on how history has made its way and
the incidents that are constantly occurring in society, it seems that racism and discrimination will
always be a problem no matter how small or big the problem is at a point in time. All the
different colors of race in this world cannot join to become harmonious like the rainbow as long
as there are people in this world who have been taught to hate those who are not of the same
color as them and enforce the hatred against others.

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Works Cited
Did You Know That Women Are Still Paid Less Than Men? The White House, The United
States Government, www.whitehouse.gov/equal-pay/career.
Rappeport, Alan, and Noah Weiland. White Nationalists Celebrate an Awakening After Donald
Trumps Victory. The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2016,
www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/us/politics/white-nationalists-celebrate-an-awakeningafter-donald-trumps-victory.html.
Smith, Anna Deavere. Twilight--Los Angeles, 1992. New York, NY, Dramatists Play Service,
2003.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission | National
Archives. National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and
Records Administration, www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act.
Valenti, Jessica. For Women in America, Equality Is Still an Illusion. Washington Post, The
Washington Post, 21 Feb. 2010, www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2010/02/19/AR2010021902049.html