Eliminating Racial Discrimination

SUMMARY: What a wonderful world it would be without racial discrimination bearing such a shameful position in our lives! Most say they'd like to be rid of it but how many of us are working to accomplish the dismantling of this dreaded sickness?
Everyone agrees that discrimination against races is wrong and the world would be an ideal place without it. Many cruel acts are done that express deliberate malice towards others. However, there are also subtle habits and actions stemming from learned behavior that contribute to racial discrimination in a more insidious way than that which results from outright malicious provocation. Unfortunately, this learned behavior has been practiced by a large population of people.
Consider two typical cases:

A cop who is a Caucasian shoot a teenager who is of the Black race in what appears to be a wrongful shooting. This type of scenario is almost immediately described as a shooting by a “white cop” of a “black kid”. This description instantly rouses feelings of rage among most people of the Black race against Caucasian policemen and people of the Caucasian race. What’s more important than viewing this as “white against black” is to view it as right versus wrong. If after investigation, it’s found that this policeman acted wrongfully, then he should be brought to justice. If on the other hand, it's concluded that the teenager was in the wrong and the policeman was justified in the shooting, then the law should deal with the teenager accordingly. In either case, race shouldn’t be a primary issue at all.

A person or group of people who are of Arab descent proclaiming the Muslim religion carry out a plot to blow up a shopping center killing hundreds of innocent people. The culprits are immediately described as ”Arab Muslims” setting up an abominable picture of all people of Arab descent as well as of all those from the countries that practice the Muslim religion. But the wrongdoing here was not that of an “Arab person (or persons) of Muslim descent” but rather of a person (or persons) who chose to commit a heinous crime against his fellow man. Again, race shouldn’t be the initial focus.

The point is one of the imperceptibly harmful ways we contribute to furthering racial discrimination is by labeling perpetrators according to their races instead of seeing them for what they are: individuals or groups of people who choose to commit atrocious crimes against their fellow citizens and communities. When this is done, it wrongfully provokes malevolent feelings toward entire races, cultures, and groups of people while at the same time pitting folks against each other. This continues to further racial discrimination and it blocks the possibility of people learning first to approach each other with respect and without prejudices.
Another way that racial discrimination is promoted is the slang terms used to describe specific races that have become acceptable and are used freely among certain groups of people. Terms such as “niggers”, “chinks” and “rednecks” are all terms that are used so widely that there’s no need to even explain what races they represent. While many uses these terms in a deliberately vicious manner, others may say they only use these terms in a “fun and understanding way” among a select group of people. However no matter how these terms are used, these, and other terms I may not be aware of that are also used as slang terms for other races, are all derogatory in nature. They were originally developed and used for the sole purpose of denigrating a person down to the lowest level of life so they feel worthless. Therefore, it would be best if we endeavored to permanently remove these words from the English language.
Allow me to suggest that we try changing bad learned behavior into a well-learned behavior. Respect is the key: having respect for ourselves, for the people we share this magnificent earth with and lastly, respect for life itself.
Finally, there’s an ultimate reason for discussing this subject. We must come to realize that we are all part of the same race: the human race. Our Father ingeniously incorporated all of our differences into His Creation to provide variety, spice, and uniqueness in this world. Regardless of our differences, we are all brothers and sisters in our Father’s coming to New World, a world we can only gain access to through our Father’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Although some of us may find this to be a distasteful conclusion, it’s not going to change the truth.