Junior Year English Journal #16

What is your definition of racism? What are the origins of racism? Recount any personal experience with racism.

My definition of racism is a belief that one's own race is superior to any other race. Usually I think of people who are racists as loons, I consider all their racist beliefs to be irrational and as hopefully most people in the world feel, I do not believe that any race of humans is superior to any other race humans. I believe that racism probably began in prehistoric times a some sort of survival mechanism, if one group thought themselves as superior to another group, then they would make sure to outwork that other group in all of their endeavors, thereby insuring their survival through competition. Of course, this does not mean that racism ever has been an acceptable option for encouraging competition for survival, there are surely other options. As for any personal experience with racism, I am thankful to say that I have not had any aside from hearing a racist joke from other people every once in a while, which I do not feel is a big deal as long as I do not respond to the joke at all.