A learned behavior.

Racism is one of the most evil forces in the world. There, we've declared our bias up front. That said, we have to confront the reality that there are very few people who are completely free of all traces of racism.

The vast majority of people are revolted when they hear about skinheads setting fire to immigrant hostels in Germany. However, those same people might chuckle at a joke that makes fun of some characteristic that all members of an ethnic group are supposed to have. Most people are disgusted when antiSemites spray-paint swastikas on gravestones in Jewish cemeteries. Those same people might be a tiny bit uncomfortable if their daughter announces she is going to marry someone of a different race.

Amused by a joke with racial overtones? Uncomfortable about an inter-racial marriage? These are not the kinds of things that will land someone in court, but they are examples of what the Canadian Human Rights Commission calls "soft prejudice." The more obvious types of racism are easier to define.

Discrimination means acting and behaving in a negative way toward members of some distinct group for the sole reason that they belong to that group. This might include refusing to hire someone for a job or rent them an apartment because of the colour of their skin.

Prejudice means having negative feelings and attitudes toward a distinct group. Literally, it means "pre judging" such people; not liking them because they are different without knowing anything about them personally.

Racism means holding beliefs that people from one distinct group are somehow superior to people in another distinct group.

These things tend to go hand-in-hand. Negative beliefs lead to negative attitudes; this leads to negative behaviour, w-hich leads to domination and inequality; this leads to negative beliefs, and so on.

In this circle of inequality, the effects of all these things on the minority group reinforce the problem. For example, in our society blacks and Native people have been discriminated against and deprived of opportunities. This has often made it very difficult for members of these groups to become high achievers in education and social position. Racists use this lack of achievement as "evidence" that members of the groups are inferior.

Such situations and problems have social causes. They stem from certain social conditions and experiences. In some cases, it is an economic matter. Discrimination has developed as a way of taking economic advantage of a particular group.

A good example of this is the enslaving of blacks in the Americas. Landowners sought to make profits from plantations of sugar and cotton. So, they imported vast numbers of slaves from Africa. The physical appearance of the Africans was very different from that of the white landowners; this made it possible for the whole slavery system to work. The whites defined the Africans as inferior and subhuman. By convincing themselves that their slaves were animals they could be treated like animals with a clear conscience.

In other cases, racism may develop because of certain problems and frustrations in a society. Racism becomes a convenient way of relieving those problems. For example, after Germany lost World War I it was made to suffer great hardships and humiliations. This produced a bitter and aggressive nationalism which needed and sought an outlet. The Nazis were able to exploit the feeling that many Germans had that they were being unfairly dumped on by everybody else. Through clever propaganda, the Nazis persuaded those who saw themselves as victims that one group in particular, the Jews, was responsible. Having stirred up enough hatred against this group, it became acceptable to persecute its members. In this case, the Nazis went further than most by murdering six million Jews.

This idea that problems and frustrations in life tend to produce aggression is known as the frustration-aggression theory. The aggression is taken out on some distinct group, which is innocent and, usually, weak and defenceless. Racist attacks on Asians and blacks in many Canadian cities may fall into this category. People who are having a tough time economically find it easy to blame immigrants for taking away their jobs or driving down wages.

Prejudice, racism, and discrimination may also be caused by psychological factors. Loveless and harsh childhoods may sometimes produce a certain type of angry and unloving personality. This kind of person is intolerant of differences between people and is inclined to try to dominate others. These qualities attract this personality to racism, because of the way racism neatly divides the world into superior and inferior groups. A division which makes the unloving way of life seem natural and justified.

Another trigger for racism is change. Most people don't like a lot of change; they feel comfortable around the familiar. Adults who have been raised in one culture, find it very difficult to adapt to a new one. This is one reason for rising racial tension in Vancouver.

Since 1987, Chinese immigrants from Hong Kong have been settling in British Columbia's biggest city as never before. In 1995, 253,000 Chinese Canadians called Vancouver home, an increase of 23% over the previous year. This Chinese immigrant influx has brought about a lot of changes; changes many of the long-established white residents don't like and find it tough to adapt to. In two decades, the suburb of Richmond went from having one in 20 of its residents of Chinese extraction to one in three.

The pace of change was too much for many who moved out leaving behind comments such as one that turned up in a VancouverSun column "People are leaving to find an English-speaking street for their kids." Some have gone further and spray-painted racist slogans on the sides of cars owned by Chinese-Canadians.

But, no matter how it's expressed, studies show that racism is not something we are born with --it's a learned behaviour.

In pre-school life, parents play the leading role in a child's development and the values it learns. Adults pass on to children their own attitudes toward groups and individuals. They might say: "I see an Oriental family has moved in down the street," or, "Why don't you make friends with Helen, her parents go to our church?" Deliberately, or subconsciously, those two comments tell the children that they belong to a special group and that other groups are different. They give Jeff or Jennifer a sense of identity within their group and set the limits for that group. The child starts to become aware of contrasts.

Then, come school days. Life expands to include many new contacts. Classmates begin to reinforce the idea of group differences. To belong is to be a member of the "in-group."

All of us tend to feel more comfortable among members of our own group. And, because of this feeling of group identification, we also tend to believe that the group to which we belong is the best group--that's normal. The trouble begins when we seek to boost our group's standing by trashing members of other groups. Different then becomes bad in our minds instead of just different.

By adulthood, we have learned to generalize about other groups. We might find ourselves accepting the notion that all Chinese students are whizzes at math and science; or, that all blacks are great dancers and athletes.

Applying generalized characteristics to an entire group in this way is called stereotyping. In the wrong hands, those stereotypes become slurs and insults. Scots may be admired for being "thrifty and ambitious." But, those same stereotypes may be used by racists to describe Jews as "greedy and pushy."

Most stereotypes contrIbute to racial discrimination. The effect of negative labels is easy to figure out, but even positive labels can cause trouble. If blacks are stereotyped as "good in sports or music," they may find they have limits set around them that make it difficult for them to be taken seriously In any other field of endeavour.

Silence is something else that contributes to racism. Most people are reluctant to speak out against racists. Understandably, they don't want to invite an attack upon themselves. But, Ervin Staub, a psychologist at the University of Massachusetts, says this silence only encourages racists to move on from voicing their hatred to outright violence. They assume that if they don't hear strong condemnation of their views then the silent majority must approve.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. For the first time in history, the 1996 census asks Canadians "What race are you?" The government argues it needs the data to ensure that employment equity laws work fairly. Simon Fraser University sociology professor Heribert Adam says that "If we entrench racial categories in government policy, we can expect never to have a colour-blind society." Discuss whether it's appropriate for the government to be collecting race-based statistics.

2. In the spring of 1994, a Toronto police officer was shot and killed while on duty. At about the same time, hockey fans in Vancouver celebrated losing the Stanley Cup by starting a riot that left one man dead and caused $500,000 in property damage. In news reports, the Toronto police killer was unfailingly described as a black Jamaican, while not one news report described Vancouver rioters as young, white males. Would you classify this as media racism? Discuss.

RELATED ARTICLE: FACT FILE

In 1912, American immigration officials began using IQtests, The tests "proved" that 80% of all Jews, Italians, and Hungarians, and 90% of all Russians were "feeble minded."