In a perfect world, racism would be a thing of the past, something that we as “civilized people” conquered long ago.

In the real world, racism still exists and will always exist for many reasons; it is taught by those who want to promote it. It is learned through stereotypes and it is impossible to understand all of the various cultures in this world.

Just flip through a local paper or browse an Internet site such as worldracism.com and you’ll see that racism is alive and well. Though, like electricity, it may change its form, at the core it is still racism.

In 2001, The United States was supposed to participate in the World Conference Against Racism in South Africa, but Secretary of State Colin Powell ordered the U.S. representatives to return home after discovering that the conference was promoting a different version of racism. It is impossible to defeat racism by using racism as a solution.

We must first accept that we are all racist against something or someone. Racism is an issue that has existed for years and it is unreasonable to believe that we can eradicate it just like that. Racism has taken a subtler role in modern society, since it is looked down upon to be openly racist. This does not mean, however, that people do not still act upon their racist feelings.

Many people justify their feelings of racism by rationalizing why they dislike that person besides race. Often these people don’t even consider themselves racist.

There is a lot of confusion about the difference between being racist and being prejudiced, which adds to this problem.

To be prejudiced means to pass a judgment onto someone or something without examining of the facts.

To be racist is to have a belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.

As long as there is anger and resentment toward events that people can’t control, they will search out a scapegoat to blame.

They will search out the minority and the people whose culture is the least like their own.

We see this happening with Muslims in America. Some people are afraid and angry and want to lash out because they have no control over the situation.

Racism continues to exist because people believe that their reasons of being racists are valid.

If we realize that we are racist, we will be able to break the cycle for ourselves and perhaps others as well, but that will not end racism.

The only way to change racism is to try to understand other cultures enough to respect them no matter how different we are. Racism still exists and will continue to do so as long as there are people willing to teach it and people willing to accept it.