In the USA, a racist remark was made by a white police officer. He said, “Remember, we only kill black people. Yeah. We only kill black people, right?” That incident shows that some white people still have blatant discrimination against black people. Moreover, the conflict has become more serious. For a long time, racial discrimination by whites occurred continuously, which created deep conflicts between blacks and whites. It has registered as a major social problem recently. According to a recent survey by Pew Research, 58% of Americans accept racism as a major social problem, and it more than doubled compared with 28% in 2011.
  What is the reason for the racial discrimination in the USA? Edward T. Chang, a professor of Ethnic Studies at UC Riverside, said, “The white supremacists believe that whites are better than other races, so they assert that African-Americans and Asians should be targets of taunts. White supremacy, which is a chronic problem of American society, has been deeply rooted since the foundation of the USA, so it doesn’t seem to have an easy solution. The attitude that ‘Whites are superior to blacks’ became a commonly held belief during the time when white people sold blacks into slavery. That’s the main reason for the racial conflicts now.”
  Recently, racism by white supremacists has been causing serious conflicts, making American society fall into chaos. The most recent incident occurred in Charlottesville, Virginia. The local government in Virginia had decided to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who is a symbol of white supremacy, from a public park. Because of this, members of a white supremacist group called Unite the Right started to protest everywhere in Virginia. In turn, a member of a black civil rights group named Black Lives Matter(BLM) held a protest against them. In the process, a racist murdered a young civil rights activist and injured thirty others by ramming into them with his vehicle.
  American society is well known for its various characteristics, also known as the melting pot, so it developed as such politically, economically and culturally. However, some white people still have thoughts of serious discrimination. Edward T. Chang also said, “American society constantly has been making an effort of resolving and prohibiting racism with laws since the 1960s. However, racial discrimination can’t disappear easily because white supremacy is deeply rooted  in American white people’s minds, whether they are aware of it or not. Therefore, even if the government just prohibits racism with laws, it won’t be useful unless the idea of racism itself goes away.”
  Bang Seong-geon(’16, Dept. of Industrial Plant Science & Technology) said, “BLM, the black civil rights movement, looks like a fight for all people  being discriminated against, not just black people. As an Asian myself, I feel strongly that we are living in social inequality caused by prejudice and we can experience racial discrimination anywhere and anytime. Therefore, we have to pay more attention to antagonism between blacks and whites as well as the rights movements of USA, even if they aren’t happening to us.” Racism doesn’t vanish suddenly. I think that the world will change step by step rather than suddenly. Smallchanges will cause a big change in the end. Then, racial discrimination and conflicts will disappear.

By Kim Chae-hyeon
ch38@cbnu.ac.kr