Training to Defeat Racism

Training to Defeat Racism

07/05/2010

Back in 1992 25% of the U.S. population was composed of people of color, including 12% African American, 9% Hispanic, 3% Asian/Pacific Islander, and 1% Native American. (Walker, 1993). If those growth patterns continue, by the year 2050, whites will constitute approximately 53% of the U.S. population, Hispanics 21%, African Americans 16% Asian/Pacific Islanders 11% and Native Americans 1%. Unless we teach our educate or children from an early age or train employees in the workforce neither will be prepared for life in an increasingly diverse society. While racism remains a problem in America, it can be reduced or potentially eliminated through the effective implementation of diversity training programs in our children's schools.

The way we as society views a social problem will affect the way we devise a solution. If we have an incomplete definition of a problem, then we will envision a limited solution.

Sign for "colored" waiting room at a Greyhound bus...

Opposition poster for the 1866 election. Geary's o...

English: A racist drawing of blacks in the 1890s, ...

If the problem of racism is larger than our limited definition, then our solution will be insufficient.

I recall watching a daytime talk show on which the topic was interracial relationships. On this particular show, the father of a white woman did not approve of his daughter's engagement to a black man. When the audience call him a racist, he objected. From his point of view he was not racist because although he did not like black people, he would not use the "n" word. His definition of a racist was a person who used racial insults and since he did not use these types of word, he was not a racist. His limited definition of racist, using racial insults led to a limited solution, not using racial insults. He was blind to the pain that his attitude cause both his daughter and the...