Racism: Its for everyone, but luckily something we can combat

Racism is something that anyone who’s ever taken a history class knows has been apparent in the United States for hundreds of years. However, what most people don’t know is that profound racism has been a problem in every part of the world for a long time, and that our neighbors to the north and south are no exception. In Canada, many of the textbook cases of racism against blacks, jews, and other minorities have taken place over the centuries. On top of that, there has been much tension at given times between Anglo-Canadians and French Canadians, since both groups are very prominent in the country yet in some ways very ethnically and culturally different from each other. In Mexico, racism against the indigenous Mexicans was of course prominent when the whites first arrived (in fact, all three countries have long histories of terrible treatment of indigenous people) and later the tables turned and whites were discriminated against. To some extent, racism still exists in these countries, much stronger in some places than others. What can be done to extinguish racism or to a greater extent hatred of certain groups on our continent?

First off, this is not going to be a “pick on whitey” post. African Americans in certain communities in the US are well known for racial tensions with Latin American. Asian people in some places are known for tensions with African Americans. Don’t even get me started on Jews and Muslims from the Middle EAst. The fact is, since there are so many walks of life to be had in North America, racism exists to some degree in all of them. So what can be done if anything? Personally, I think the answer lies in education. I’m not just talking about education on race; I’m talking general, traditional education. I do not believe it is a coincidence that the parts of the country with the worst education systems (regardless of the racial majority in that area) have the most racist groups. States that rank higher in education such as the New England states typically do very well, and the number of hate groups in those states is usually less than 10. States in the Deep South which typically do poorly have dozens of groups of this type. There is a lot to be said for the fact that people who are simply more educated have less of a chance of being racist. Personally, I believe it has to do with the byproducts of a good education. You’re taught to examine things, think for yourself without following blindly, and research things (or people) for yourself before passing judgment. Also, I believe in tolerance programs. I believe that funding should be given to all schools for them and I believe that we need to step them up a bit. It’s easy to talk about loving everyone and not stereotyping when you’re living in an area where everyone is the same race as you. Should urban and suburban schools combine these programs? I don’t know, just a thought. 

Irrelevant: Thoughts on Fracking I think we should all be able to agree on

During our studies over the course of this week about hydraulic fracturing, we discussed even more pro’s and con’s than I had originally realized. I did not know that the gas they’re extracting burns cleaner and coal, however I also didn’t know what a massive amount of water is needed for the fracking process. In a Huffington Post Article, good and bad things about this process are laid out, and left for people to make their own decisions about. Personally, the negatives frightened me much more than the positives swayed me.

After reading this article, we watched the documentary “Gasland” about a man who went around to residential areas close to fracking sites and observed the impacts, mostly the fact that they’re water had been polluted with dangerous chemicals and toxins. The worst part of it was, many of the companies involved would not cooperate with any sort of investigation, would not claim responsibility, and found ways around any attempt these people made to prove it. People were stuck with nothing more than their contaminated water, water so polluted in some places that it would actually catch on fire.

Personally, I don’t believe fracking is worth the environmental devastation that it creates. However, I’m a realist in the sense that I believe that some businessmen aren’t just going to allow their operations to be shut down and the fact is that we probably won’t stop it as long as theres money to be made. So I propose this very simple solution. You want to use fracking? Fine. But you need to play by a reasonable set of guidelines, not ones you make up. You must disclose what you’re pumping into the ground for starters; people have a right to know. I don’t care what the most cost effective method is, you must do all you can do to use methods that will not contaminate the surrounding areas. If you contaminate someone’s water supply, guess what, you just bought them a lifetime supply of water or a way to fix it. You can’t just go around destroying people’s livelihood and not be held responsible for it, that is not an acceptable way to conduct business. No matter what your views on fracking, allowing companies to behave in such a (in my opinion) despicable manner is not something anyone should be okay with or support.