Through out the history of the whole world racism has been a big part of everything. But, we know that its taught, not born. Depending on where you come from your parents may tell you to look at different skin colors a different way. “You see that man over there? Dont go near him”. “That guys a creep be careful”. Children cant do anything about it either as they see parents as the smartest or best. Basically our whole lives are based on what we learn in childhood. Unless we change. But, it seems for a lot of people that change is a threat.

During WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt issued order 9066 which said that anyone on the west coast that were deemed a threat would be relocated inland. Now in actuality this meant any one with Japanese heritage would be relocated. It didn’t matter if they were born in Japan, their parents were born in Japan, or they were born in America. Anyone deemed Japanese was taken away. Their whole reason was because the Japanese empire bombed Pearl harbor so they believed that anyone associated with them was dangerous. Dumb, right? So, people that had absolutely nothing to do with the bombing had to leave their homes and give away their belongings, all because they were Japanese. In the graphic novel “They Called Us Enemy”, we see the experience of George Takei’s in the Japanese camps as a kid. His childhood was taken away and was forced into a camp. Later on in the novel we learn about the achievements of George and how he made a good change to his life. Other prisoners of the camp were sent home but by this time they had no money, no home, and no belongings. This novel allows us to see that they are no different from anyone. So why were they treated different?

source: “They Called Us Enemy”

But, like I said in the beginning its been through out history, this wasn’t a one time thing. Recent events have revealed that horrors of racism in todays life. Before about 2020, racism was very overlooked. During 2020 though, George Floyd a black man, was killed due to the color of his skin. This was by the police, the people meant to protect us. This was the first of many police incidents and racial incidents that were reported. This caused a outburst of reports of racist actions that weren’t ever seen before. New and existing cases rose to the surface.

Credit: WTAE

In the photo seen above we can see a teen boy proposing to a girl to homecoming. It refers to African American slaves in history where they were forced to pick cotton. Now, teens make mistakes, and are dumb a lot. But, this is inexcusable , and by the girls reaction it seems like she liked it. This is what racism is today, they make fun of the pain that past generations had to go through for a laugh. In the news article it states that the news station tried to reach out to the parents but were unable to do so. To me, this means that either the parents were too embarrassed to talk about it, or they just didn’t care. Either way they are both bad, since they both don’t do anything about the actions. School and social media has allowed kids to believe that if they are funny with friends they can be racist.

This is our future that are in these kids hands. If things go on and they are allowed to act this way, then the future is more or less doomed. If, for example, these type of people become manager or bosses and treat colored people differently then skilled workers can be loss. This will affect not only people of different ethnic groups but everyone in the whole world. So, parents do better, teach your kids that they should treat people how they want to be treated. Teach them that skin doesn’t matter. Parents teach the next generation.