Racism

Racism Racism is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial difference produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. These primary determinants affect everyone, everyday of their lives. I realized this when my family moved from southern California to Oklahoma in the summer of 1989. African-Americans had lived around and beside me the whole time I lived in California and I never thought anything about it. Yet when I moved to Oklahoma I discovered that many of the small towns around me were segregated. The color of a person skin determined how they were treated in society. My first experience with racism is when I traveled to Henryetta, Oklahoma with my grandfather. We where traveling down the old highway when we came up to a sign that said "Niger's out by sun down." "What is a Niger'" I asked my granddad. He explained to me that a Niger was a person with black skin, someone that was a descendent of the African-Americans that were slaves in the 1800's and early 1900's. He also explained to me that Oklahoma was a southern state and people, person, trouble, said, just, racism, black, white, understand, thought, out, oklahoma, every, asked, african-americans, southern, skin, race, one, explained, carrie, california, become, around, about, traits, think, summer, started, racial, primary, niger, nation, moved, lived