Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.
By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.
What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.
Racism, especially in America, is a thorny and divisive topic. Someone I know told me about a song, “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist,” from the Broadway musical “Avenue Q.” It goes:
Everyone’s a little bit
Racist, sometimes.
Doesn’t mean we go around committing
Hate crimes.
Look around and
You will find,
No one’s really
Color-blind.
Maybe it’s a fact
We all should face.
Everyone makes
Judgments…
Based on race.
So my provocative question this week is simply this.
Do you believe that racism is an inherent human trait or is it learned? Either way, are there actions that society can take to eliminate, or at least diminish, racism? Or will racism always exist no matter what we do?
If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.
This, That, and the Other 
Clearly it’s learned. Children don’t give it a second thought.
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I agree!
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My take on nature vs nurture is not whether something is learned, but rather whether it can be “not learned”.
If it cannot be “not learned”, then to all intents, it is nature.
I’m not sure racism can be “not learned”. Does that make any sense?
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My father was a racist and I “unlearned” racism.
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Here’s my contribution: http://sparksfromacombustiblemind.com/2020/08/05/fandangos-provocative-81-8-5-2020/
What a great series of questions today! I hope YOU feel moved to answer them too, Fandango. That would be well worth a read! 🙂
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I may just do that, Melanie.
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https://paperkutzs.com/2020/08/05/fandangos-provocative-question-81/
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Put a bunch of pre school kids in a room, all different shades and sizes and leave them alone. They will talk, play and interact. It is the parents that teach racism.
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
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I agree.
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It’s the hot issue today. Tomorrow morning, mine will be up.
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Ya got to be taught to hate. Coincidentally, my post today deals with this issue in terms of medical decision-making.
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I’ve heard about avenue Q, but don’t really know anything about it. Have some positive association, but don’t remember why.
Racism is taught.
I will add this. If a child has been around people who mostly look the same, said child might be confused and make an odd statement when encountering a person with a different look. Don’t panic.
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I was very surprised, one day, as my oldest (age 3) child said something worried about a picture of a Chinese family. I don’t remember what he said or what I said; I know I said something right then. And he just relaxed and moved on.
My next son had about the roundest eyes anyone ever had, and blue. They were so bright and big that when we first took him to a mall, with a baby blue and white striped outfit, barely sitting in his stroller, a couple people actually laughed pleasantly.
Cut to something like two years later, we were at a sugar plantation in Hawaii and sat on an old open-air train in a seat across the aisle from two lovely Chinese ladies. They kept looking at him and smiling. They gave him a pretty paper fan they had been holding.
I doubt he had any clear memory of that, but he later took Chinese in college during his senior year of high school and earned an award. His teacher, too, was so sweet. I learned, years later, that there is something of a negative view of round eyes.
I recently ran across pictures from that occasion, plus pictures from his fifth birthday and some other pictures; sent him copies. I’m pretty sure they went up on his Facebook page. Don’t know for sure, I don’t EVER look at Facebook.
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It is most definitely taught. Kids will follow their parents or other family members lead. Especially if it is repeated often.
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