The Negative Effects Of Racism

Many of us have experienced racism in some way, whether that may be racism expressed towards us personally, witnessed some form of it, or perhaps even partook in it. We are all living through this time in which racism is in play, and we experience and observe the effects of it. It has numerous negative effects including those towards mental health. A few of those are stress, PTSD, depression, and anxiety (APA). Racism stems largely from fear, but also from stereotypes and psychological reasons like past experiences, or feelings of inferiority and blame.

Racism is a word that encompasses various negative beliefs and behaviours towards different ethnic groups. It creates a barrier where there need not be, and creates antagonistic feelings between

An issue present all over the world, racism comes in many shapes and forms of varying offending degrees. Some may be jokes, but others can be harsh words delivered, quiet whispers behind others’ backs, or some may be straight out bullying or physical violence.

We keep the fire of racism burning bright through stereotypes that are constantly being passed around from parents to children, classmates to classmates, and friends to friends. Many of them, especially ones passed through children, are as jokes. Ethnic jokes are typically seen as simple and ordinary humour (NCBI). However, this makes light of the negative connotations that come along with them, and kids would deem it acceptable since “everyone says it” and “it’s just a joke.” Yet, it is a significant problem because the stereotypes are getting passed around and allows people to make generalizations about others, ignoring the differences between individuals (McLeod). It may also influence those who weren’t particularly racist in any way to become racist just to follow what the majority is doing. The Asch

Xenophobia can be used to describe an irrational fear of foreigners. People would do many things out of fear, whether for their safety, self-esteem, or otherwise, and racism could be used as a form of self-defense (Abrams). However, fears that grow into racism may also come from a, or a few, distressing past experience. Some people may also have experienced some sort of childhood trauma associated with a particular race, and could then hate or fear those from that specific race. This psychological problem is one that is widespread as it doesn’t only include first-hand experiences. Parents or older relatives may have experienced bad things in the past, and would pass negative thoughts or stories that may scare children. An acquaintance of mine had a few bad experiences in the past with African Americans, and would always try to warn everybody about how dangerous African Americans are, and to stay away from them. It is an obviously biased conclusion, though perhaps reasonably obtained, considering their experience, but this would lead to uneasiness in the child, and with the things that they’ve heard, more assumptions may be added until a hateful fear of that race is