By Carol Naidu from India,

I always knew what is racism all about but I never knew the exact meaning, the meaning of racism is much deeper, I never realised it until now, I was in my interim seminar in Frankfurt which was organised by DIZ (Deutsch Indische Zusammenarbeit) from 2/03/2020 till 5/03/2020. This is a seminar in which all the volunteers need to participate, it takes place after 6 months, it is like a mid-term seminar.

I was together with other Indian volunteers who work in different places in Germany. We were together 4 volunteers. We had different workshops in which we discussed and prepared projects. We also exchanged with each other, a lot of thoughts, our experiences, knowledge, information, etc about Germany.

We had an entire day, where we spoke and discussed about one of the most important and delicate matters „RACISM“. I am sure everyone is aware about this term and if not, then also it is fine. I will be talking about how racism takes place. A Guest speaker named „Harpreet Cholia“ was invited during our seminar by the organisation, she is the CEO of the Hessischer Flüchtlingsrat, head of Diversity and Democracy at the GFFB and advisor to Response Hessen, amongst other roles.

To understand racism, we need to understand that how does racism takes place? There are 2 steps which lead to racism:

 

PREJUDICE + DISCRIMINATION = RACISM

 

  • Prejudice (first step): preconceived opinion that is not based on reasons or actual experience, an unreasonable dislike of a particular group of people or things, preference for one group of people or things over another is the meaning of prejudice, which leads to the second step, called as “discrimination”.

 

  • Discrimination (second step): treatment or consideration based on class, religion, category, race, colour, gender, actions or policies based on prejudice or partiality is called as discrimination, which leads to the final step, called as “Racism”

 

  • Racism (the result): Racism is the belief that people of some races are inferior to others and the behaviour which is the result of this belief, or the unfair treatment of someone because of his/her race.

 

This is how I got to know the exact meaning of racism and its two steps, which lead to racism.

I wasn’t aware about it. I am just wondering is it just me or even you didn’t know the exact meaning of racism.

 

Were you aware about the two steps, which lead to racism? Let me know in the comment below about your thoughts and view about this topic.