A police officer had held his knee over Floyd's throat for over eight minutes, suffocating him, despite his various pleads that they stop. This led to much controversy and sparked many protests, both violent and peaceful, all around the United States. Additionally, using racial slurs and offensive language is a form of overt racism, and can cause much emotional harm to those targeted.
Covert racism, on the other hand, is a very subtle form of both racism and discrimination. It is hardly noticeable, but still there, discreetly hidden in the depths of society. In fact, covert racism is deeply instilled in society that it has almost become an unconscious practice in many people today. It is used a ton in the modern day, present nearly everywhere around the US. This mainly consists of people in denial of racism, implying that the victims' complaints are not worth their attention. Other examples of covert racism could be demonstrated at public areas, such as restaurants. If a family of color arrives first, but the waiter at the restaurant deliberately chooses to serve someone else who arrived later that wasn't a person of color, this would be an act of covert racism. It is not explicit, but the same racist beliefs are conveyed.
We are all aware of racism targeted towards children. But most of us, and even more disappointingly, countless adults, turn a blind eye to it. Numerous children are put down due to their families' beliefs, the country that they come from, or their skin color. It is necessary that children know the devastating impact mere words can have. Racism and discrimination can utterly damage children's emotional health as well, which is why it is crucial to help children grow and develop in a racism and discrimination-free environment.
Additionally, being discriminated by other children can result in low self-esteem. Many children, refusing to accept their mistakes, provide excuses for their actions, most of them being "It was just a joke!" or "I was just having some fun!". Though some claim that racist remarks could just be a joke, a child would take it much more personally. Perhaps they would even start to believe that they look 'wrong' or that their beliefs and customs are 'stupid'. Much bullying, especially in teens, involve discrimination. If we were to eradicate racism, how many children would be saved from suffering through depression and anxiety?
Not only can experiencing discrimination impact a child negatively, but viewing it as well, especially if it includes violence. It causes stress for children, not to mention the bad influence it creates. If living in a less diverse society where people of color are not welcome, the child may start to embrace those beliefs, which can be harmful for their social life. This would cause old prejudices to be passed down, infiltrating children's brains, and eventually, preventing them from making their own non-racist decisions. If children are taught that diversity is a good thing, and it should be valued, not detested, several racial dilemmas could be solved and ended once and for all.
Discrimination based on religion is not too common in the United States, due to the first amendment of the Constitution which grants to all citizens the freedom to follow any religion. Of course, this law does not guarantee complete protection from religious discrimination; there still have been many shootings in places of worship. However, in the modern day, religious racism appears mostly in covert forms. An example would be to cut someone in line just because they are wearing a headscarf, which is associated with Muslim faith. In fact, discrimination occurs towards Muslims so much, that there even is a name for it: Islamophobia.
In a study conducted by the Pew Research center, roughly 82% of American citizens believed that Muslims faced at least some, if not large amounts of discrimination. One of the main reasons add text