I agree there is a price to be payed for racism, and its a price we can no longer afford. The world we live in today must find a way to eliminate or reduce racism or else we will face an extinction brough on by ourselves.

There will always need to be programs to teach tolerance, a good place to study this is here:
http://www.tolerance.org/teach/magazine/index.jsp

Racism has always been a part of human history. There are those who try and pick some culture and say it did not used to be this way but they are fooling themselves and in the end, even with good intentions, hinder doing what is necessary and possible to stop racism. Racism has always been with humans, and we need to constantly teach our children NOT to be racists through our behaviour and examples and with the material we educate them with. AND - we need to be honest and transparent.

Racism is a subset of Xenophobia, the dislike of the other or of those outside ones group. Skin color is just a very easy way to differentiate one from another unless one is raised to overlook or value.

Xenophobia is believed if not proved to have been necessary for the human evolution. It is present in all animal species to some degree. Xenophobia provides for a breeding population and when combine with the desire to pick a mate similar to ones self, makes adaption and change possible. Not all follow these drives and there are enough whose natural tempermant is to find difference interesting to assure the carrying of traits among breeding populations.

The animal world has all the good things and all the bad things we humans have and do, we are after all animals. What does differentiate us as animals is the ability to make up stories about our behaviour and build machines in our minds that can do good as well as distroy. Love is as much of a part of animal nature and the natural world as is xenophobia. Breeding population size does matter for evolutionary adaption and change.

Not everyone is a racist at birth, but it is the default state for most humans.

We must overcome Xenophobia now because humans have proved so sucessful at reproduction and manipulation of the material world that we are now in the Sixth and Largest Extinction that has greeted earth's life.

http://www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/eldredge2.html

As the matrix one movie said after Neo awoke from his energy pod, was delivered, and was being educated in the Nebakanezer:
Welcome to the Real World!

So It Goes -

Posted at April 3, 2008 5:30 PM in response to What Is the Human Cost of Racism?