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A lot of people in today's world play the "victim card" We teach kids that racism is bad and that people who involve themselves with it should be taught a lesson. However, some use this to get attention and have an excuse for their actions. When a person of color does not get their way, some immediately divert to it being because of their race and that it is "wrong"'. I'm not saying that racism is not present today and that this doesn't happen, but it has become excessive. It goes the other way as well. For example, in this article a white boy claims another student is racist because he told him he wouldn't understand because he is not black. I think that people introduce their children to an injust society well, but we do not emphasize the fact that being the victim of this kind of injustice is not always the answer. I personally have experienced someone blaming their unpopularity due to the fact that they are of color. I think it is just denial that they have done something wrong.

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A lot of people assume that racism is taught. However, if parents don't actively tell their kids NOT to be racist, then they may be, just by nature. As a child, humans tend to group themselves into what they recognize. I'm not saying that people are naturally racist but unless taught otherwise, they might be. When racist groups make the news, people are in shock and claim that "this is not us". However, like stated in the article, it seems to be that this is us. We claim that over time racism will disappear and everyone will be equal, but will that ever be true? When looking back on Huckleberry Finn, we are no wheres near viewing colored people as objects. However, for every few steps forward, I feel a step backwards is taken. There is still racial injustice everywhere you look.

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Torch-bearing white supremacists shouting racist and anti-Semitic slogans. Protesters and counter protesters colliding with violence and chaos. A car driven by a known Nazi sympathizer mowing down a crowd of activists.

Many Americans responded to this weekend's violence in Charlottesville with disbelieving horror. How could this happen in America, in 2017? "This is not who we are," said Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (D).

And yet, this is who we are.

Amid our modern clashes, researchers in psychology, sociology and neurology have been studying the roots of racism. We draw on that research and asked two scientists to explain why people feel and act this way toward each other.

What causes people to be racist?

"In some ways, it's super simple. People learn to be whatever their society and culture teaches them. We often assume that it takes parents actively teaching their kids, for them to be racist. The truth is that unless parents actively teach kids not to be racists, they will be," said Jennifer Richeson, a Yale University social psychologist. "This is not the product of some deep-seated, evil heart that is cultivated. It comes from the environment, the air all around us."

Richeson compares children's instinctive formation of biases to a student at a new school. "When you arrive at a new high school. You are instinctively trying to figure out who's cool, who's not, who's a nerd, who gets beat up? Kids quickly acquire these associations," she said.

To get a sense of just how pervasive and imperceptibly our environment can affect us, one study at Tufts University found that even with a TV show on mute displaying scenes with no explicit discrimination, the nonverbal body language of black and white actors interacting was enough to cause watchers to test higher for implicit bias afterward.

"An us-them mentality is unfortunately a really basic part of our biology," said Eric Knowles, a psychology professor at New York University who studies prejudice and politics. "There's a lot of evidence that people have an ingrained even evolved tendency toward people who are in our so-called 'in group.'"

But how we define those groups, and the tendency to draw divisions along racial lines, is social, not biological, he added. "We can draw those lines in a number of ways that society tells us," he said.

When does racism drive people to commit violence?

"The most likely predictor of that is exposure to a kind of ideology," Knowles said. Most if not all people carry implicit biases and unexamined prejudices, he said, and some may harbor feelings of fear or resentment that they don't express in public.

"But when people come into contact with an organized ideology that valorizes or glorifies an intergroup struggle like a race struggle - that scaffolds from people's everyday prejudices into something altogether more violent," he said.

White supremacist groups promote a "siege mentality" among their followers, Knowles said - rhetoric that aims to lend legitimacy to people's racial and ethnic fears. He pointed to the slogans shouted by participants in the Charlottesville rally: "You will not replace us" and "White Lives Matter."

"I think that one thing that these violent ideologies are communicating to people, and people are receptive to, especially people who are struggling, is that whites are actually the ones who are being discriminated against in society," Knowles said.

Charlottesville was hardly the first time this thinking has led to violence. Dylann Roof, who shot and killed nine people at a historic African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., justified the killing with a hate-filled rant in his journal in which he wrote that he wanted to "take action for my race."

Knowles has been studying what he calls "everyday racism" for nearly two decades. He said he hasn't seen significant change in baseline levels of bias among Americans. Instead, he thinks, more virulent forms of racism are being "unleashed" - particularly by President Trump. He noted the president did not explicitly condemn the hate groups that organized the Charlottesville rally until two days after it was held.

"The fetters are coming off," Knowles said. "When you have a president who won't specifically signal out Nazis and white supremacists for opprobrium that communicates something to people with racial resentment. ... That's a powerful message that these feelings you've been having, these racial and ethnic fears that are inside of you are, okay to express."

Can you teach people not to be racists?

"The only way to change bias is to change culture," Richeson said. "You have to change what is acceptable in society. People today complain about politically correct culture, but what that does is provide a check on people's outward attitude, which in turn influences how we think about ourselves internally. Everything we're exposed to gives us messages about who is good and bad."

Knowles agreed that norms can serve as a check on expression of violent racism. But to challenge the deep-seated prejudices that shape our behavior, to unlearn our implicit biases, "we need contact," he said.

"It's absolutely the opposite of what white nationalists want, which is a segregated society," he said. " We need an integrated society, and at the same time need to create as much socioeconomic fairness as we can, so what relationships people have across group lines are egalitarian relationships. ... That's the one thing that can create trust between people on each side of an us-them divide, and the only thing in the long term I would put my money on to reduce prejudices."

Will racism disappear over time? Aren't older people more racists and younger generations more progressive?

"It's a myth that our country will somehow become more progressive. And it's equally a myth to think that our children will save us," Richeson said. Most of alt-right activists who sparked violence in Charlottesville, she pointed out, were young white men.

"There's data that shows young groups like millennials are more progressive and egalitarian. But that's usually on issues like climate change or gay marriage, usually not in their level of implicit bias," Richeson said.

In fact, Richeson in recent years has been studying how white people react to the fact that America is shifting into a majority minority country (where minorities make up more than 50 percent of the population). In those studies, young white subjects responded just as strongly as older white ones with anxiety and uncertainty, expressing more negative explicit and implicit racial bias in tests.

After reading about the coming demographic change, for example, white subjects, including college students, were more likely to agree with statements like "I would rather work alongside people of my same ethnic origin."

Richeson said, "Yes, there have been gains in policy like allowing interracial marriage and discrimination laws, but when it comes to our interpersonal biases, it's simply not true that we just need to wait for the few old racist men left in the South to die off and then we'll be fine. The rhetoric for racism is still in place. The environment for racism is still there. Unless we change that, we can't lessen racism."

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Why are people still racist? What science says about America's race problem.

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Torch-bearing white supremacists shouting racist and anti-Semitic slogans. Protesters and counter protesters colliding with violence and chaos. A car driven by a known Nazi sympathizer mowing down a crowd of activists. Many Americans responded to this weekend's violence in Charlottesville with disbelieving horror. How could this happen in America, in 2017?

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A woman of color, from Maine, writes about sending children off to school for the first time, and the recognition that they will face racism at some point or another. The children haven't even made it to school yet and racism is already expected. This is horrible and goes to show that it is very present in today's society. She talks about how most children get their school clothes and supplies and happily go off to school, but this is not the case in her household and many colored households throughout the nation. Their concern is not what to pack for lunch that day, but rather that their child will be safe at school and is in a comfortable environment. I find it concerning that in today's day and age people have to worry about sending their FIVE OR SIX year old to school, in hopes that they will not get treated any different because of the color of their skin.

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It's There Whether You Recognize It Or Not

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It's There Whether You Recognize It Or Not

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This TIMES article describes the complicated definition of "racism". Ever noticed how white men smashing windows, overturning cars, and battling police after a big event are “revelers,” however a group of mostly African Americans who do the same things in response to a black man dying in police custody are dangerous “thugs.” This in itself is racism. I feel that people are in denial that it is around them, or that they are racist themselves. It has traveled it's way from generation to generation and most definitely exists in today's world. I think these types of situations cause people to act differently around different groups of people, which is just unknowingly (or not) promoting the idea of racism.

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"Unfair racial stereotypes have taken root in the hearts of people"

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Huckleberry Finn is based in a time where black people aren't seen as human. You should never help them, feel bad for them, or treat them as you would a white person. Some believe that we have not come far from that in today's society. Today, black men are taken into custody or shot just for reaching for the window in their car or for their license in their pocket. The fact that a father fears for his son to play with water guns in the streets is horrific. A child is being taught as he grows up to survive in a white culture, instead of being an actual child. Some may say that it is not a white culture, but the real question is, who believes they have/has superiority over the other. I believe that in some parts of America, white men believe that they have superiority over the black men and it is shown in these police cases. As shown in the TED Talk, there is a presence of irrational fear of a black man and this contributes to all of the police brutality and power struggles in today's world.

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As kids, we all get advice from parents and teachers that seems strange, even confusing. This was crystallized one night for a young Clint Smith, who was playing with water guns in a dark parking lot with his white friends. In a heartfelt piece, the poet paints the scene of his father’s furious and fearful response.

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A serious problem in today's modern America is the stereotyping of Asians. We, as a society, have come to group all Asians into one category and managed to believe that they all look the same, speak the same, and do the same things. For example;  bad driving, math abilities, Kung-Fu, etc. By doing such things, people have insulted not only the person but their culture. It's almost funny how Americans seem to think they know everything about another persons culture or lifestyle and they don't even know the person. Alex Dang talks about how it tears his individuality from him and how he feels shame of his own race, just because someone had to go and group him with ALL other Asians and assume they know. It is truly sad.

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Alex Dang (Ft. Alex Dang) - What Kind of Asian are You?

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So he said to me: "What kind of Asian are you?" / And I said back: / That's a loaded question. / What kind of Asian do you EXPECT me to be? / Because any way you slice that egg

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In Joyner Lucas' song, "I'm Not A Racist", he touches on the subject of having no pity for black people. He talks about how they can't say what they say about slavery because they didn't actually live it, and how he praises the culture of people like Albert Einstein while black people only care about rap and "being ratchet or stuntin" which is the "nigga" inside of them. We have a white man dissing black people for their culture and views, when he has never experienced this in his life so therefore, has no right to because he has no idea what he is countering. This first verse represents the white people of America. The second verse is just the opposite. It talks about black people and how their life is. I find this song very interesting because it talks about both sides of the story and shows the discrimination between two races. I also like how it shows what is truly happening in the world today, and the issues at hand when it comes to racism.

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"I'm Not Racist" is about the disconnect between white and black people in the United States. Joyner attempts to rap from both sides of the political climate between conservative and liberal.

There are many arguments laid out from both sides in both verses as Joyner puts forward his opinion of America's current state, whilst keeping the message that he wants everyone to be accepting of each other and not violent, angry and volatile at each other. This is shown the best with the phrase at the end of the video for this song:

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"I'm Not Racist" is about the disconnect between white and black people in the United States. Joyner attempts to rap from both sides of the political climate between conservative and liberal.

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Toni Morrison talks about fear and alarm when reading the novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for the first time, and each encounter after. When the novel was published, it was removed from libraries and from required reading lists of public schools. The main reason being, the use of the term "nigger" and it's offense. In my other source,  "Is the N-Word Okay to Use in Today's Culture" , it talks about how people use it all the time in today's culture but yet many people are uncomfortable when it is spoken. here seems to be a difference between when people say the word with a hard "r". In my opinion, I don't think that the book should be banned and I feel it should be read  by high school students. By censoring kids from the word, it never teaches them that it is not okay to use. As shown in the book, the word is used toward a slave and said only to bring him down. By lettings kids read this and see how derogatory it is, it may help society teach kids/teenagers that the word should not be used, no matter the case.

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Unknowingly neighborhoods become discriminative.  If you look around today there are many White neighborhoods, Black neighborhoods, Mexican neighborhoods, and so on. Some may say it is solely based on comfort and familiarity. I think it is obvious that different races have different cultures. However, that does not mean that they can not be mixed. This has been going on for years, as shown in the article, the Red-lining that surfaced in 1934-1968 destroyed any possibility for people to invest in an area around black people. Each group is categorized by a color. This leads to racial segregation in communities across America. These housing policies led to the cliché racial neighborhoods of today's society.

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TNC focuses in on North Lawndale, a neighborhood in Chicago, to make his point. But it's a similar story across the country.

North Lawndale is an extreme portrait of the trends that ail black Chicago. Such is the magnitude of these ailments that it can be said that blacks and whites do not inhabit the same city. The average per capita income of Chicago's white neighborhoods is almost three times that of its black neighborhoods. When the Harvard sociologist Robert J. Sampson examined incarceration rates in Chicago in his 2012 book, Great American City, he found that a black neighborhood with one of the highest incarceration rates (West Garfield Park) had a rate more than 40 times as high as the white neighborhood with the highest rate (Clearing). "This is a staggering differential, even for community-level comparisons," Sampson writes. "A difference of kind, not degree." ...

Black people with upper-middle-class incomes do not generally live in upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Sharkey's research shows that black families making $100,000 typically live in the kinds of neighborhoods inhabited by white families making $30,000. "Blacks and whites inhabit such different neighborhoods," Sharkey writes, "that it is not possible to compare the economic outcomes of black and white children."

Even here in California, where sometimes we like to imagine maybe things were different.

A few years ago, I came across an academic project to take the old redlining maps and lay them over the cities as they are today in Google Maps. It was run by an interdisciplinary group out of the University of North Carolina. They created a site called T-RACES, or Testbed for for the Redlining Archives of California's Exclusionary Spaces.

I stared and stared at the map of the East Bay because I could see the marks of this discrimination all over the city. My little neighborhood sits right next to a block of red, in a yellow strip, and near a swath of blue. It was an in-between zone, and it still feels that way. Go a few blocks west (downhill) and the neighborhoods are primarily black. Go a few blocks east (into the hills) and the neighborhoods are almost exclusively white.

T-RACES was meant to be a demonstration project, and it looks that way. The maps are difficult to navigate and just have a clunky feel. When I tweeted about them, a data artist named Josh Begley took it upon himself to recode the maps with new technology. And then-after Google broke the way he was doing it-he recoded the maps again for this post.

There are maps for the Bay, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno and Stockton. I've included Los Angeles here, too, but the rest are available at his site.

The point is: the racist policies TNC explores in Chicago were everywhere.

Here are the codes for the maps:

"Green areas are " hot spots"; they are not yet fully built up. In nearly all instances they are the new well planned sections of the city, and almost synonymous with the areas where good mortgage lenders with available funds are willing to make their maximum loans to be amortized over a 10-15-year period -- perhaps up to 75-80% of the appraisal. They are homogeneous; in demand as residential locations in "good time" or "bad"; hence on the upgrade".

"Blue areas, as a rule, are completely developed. They are like a 1935 automobile still good, but not what the people are buying today who can afford a new one. They are the neighborhoods where good mortgage lenders will have a tendency to hold loan commitments 10-15% under the limit."

"Yellow areas are characterized by age, obsolescence, and change of style; expiring restrictions or lack of them; infiltration of a lower grade population; the presence of influences which increase sales resistance such as inadequate transportation, insufficient utilities, perhaps heavy tax burdens, poor maintenance of homes, etc. "Jerry" built areas are included, as well as neighborhoods lacking homogeneity. Generally, these areas have reached the transition period. Good mortgage lenders are more conservative in the Yellow areas and hold loan commitments under the lending ratio for the Green and Blue areas.

"Red areas represent those neighborhoods in which the things that are now taking place in the Yellow neighborhoods, have already happened. They are characterized by detrimental influences in a pronounced degree, undesirable population or infiltration of it. Low percentage of home ownership, very poor maintenance and often vandalism prevail. Unstable incomes of the people and difficult collections are usually prevalent. The areas are broader than the so-called slum districts. Some mortgage lenders may refuse to make loans in these neighborhoods and other will lend only on a conservative basis."

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

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The Racist Housing Policy That Made Your Neighborhood

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TNC focuses in on North Lawndale, a neighborhood in Chicago, to make his point. But it's a similar story across the country. North Lawndale is an extreme portrait of the trends that ail black Chicago. Such is the magnitude of these ailments that it can be said that blacks and whites do not inhabit the same city.

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Is the N-Word Okay to Use in           Today's Culture 

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Is the N-Word Okay to Use in           Today's Culture 

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In today's world you hear the n-word all the time. Whether it be the hard "r" or not. However, the two seem to have different meanings and intentions. In almost every rap/hip-hop song, you will hear the world multiple times. I think it is horrible but people have almost become completely desensitized to it. People don't even think twice when they hear it in the song they are listening to. It is almost like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the word is used over and over again. However, I don't believe that in today's culture it is necessarily used in the same sense as it was in Huckleberry Finn. I don't feel that in today's culture it is used as an insult. It has become to mean "friend" or "homie". However, I do know that there are people who use it to insult someone. Overall, I feel that there is a difference between using the word in a derogatory way and people using it as a word that means no harm.

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Explore perspectives.
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Start your own conversation

Add a question or use one of the submitted questions to start a conversation with your social network. (Note: The n-word has not been filtered from submissions.)

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n-word; donte stallworth; neal brennan; dave chappelle show; nfl; national football leagues bans nword; nfl bans the nword; nigger; nigga; nigger vs nigga; kkk; ku klux klan; jay z; oprah;

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The n-word: An interactive project exploring a singular word

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After the National Football League made the controversial decision to ban the n-word on the field this year, a team of Washington Post journalists explored the history of the word, its evolution and its place in American vernacular today.