Introduction
Racism and discrimination are among the social issues that have affected the peaceful co-existence among members of society. Racism is prejudice towards people with certain skin colors; seeing them as inferiors. In this case, the racist see their race to be superior to any other and thus they tend to mistreat the one they term as inferior. Similarly, discrimination refers to the unfair treatment of people because of their varying characteristics. People may be discriminated based on their religion, age, sex political affiliation and race among others. Therefore, racism and discrimination have a negative impact on the peace and development of a society.
Firstly, racism and discrimination increase cases of conflict in society. People from a different race would severally be confronted and mistreated by others who feel that they are superiors (Healey, Stepnick and O'Brien 6). Such instances may make members of the race seen as inferior to react demanding that they should be respected and treated equally. For instance, African Americans may sometimes fight with the whites because of being mistreated for having a black skin color. Similarly, discrimination based on religion, age, sex, political affiliation and educational background among others may trigger anger. The fury may cause conflict and to some extent may even cause death. These conflicts cause tension in society and this affects the peaceful co-existence among the people living there.
Secondly, racism and discrimination limit economic development is the societies where they are practiced (Tool 24). Racism makes people in the society to purchase goods or services from people belonging to their race. Additionally, people varying races cannot do business together and this leads to delay and wastage of very many business chances. Furthermore, discrimination of people in business makes them avoid doing business with such an individual in the future. For example, a white person may be given a priority to be served first in a restaurant where a black person may have arrived prior to him or her. Such instances may make the black man avoid visiting the restaurant in the future. Therefore, increased cases of discrimination may lead to reduced sales and consequently slow economic development.
Thirdly, discrimination and racism cause stress among members of society who are unfairly treated. The feeling of segregation and being treated as inferior may make some members of society suffer from stress (Franklin 45). It is also hard to cope with an environment where one feels unwanted or treated as if he or she is not supposed to be part of the population. For example, black students in schools where racism exists may suffer from stress caused by mistreatment by their white colleagues. The students may be seen as inferior thus segregated to use low-quality facilities such as the old washroom while the whites use the newly constructed. These instances may make the student suffer from stress. The same case applies to adults who live in places or visit where they feel unwanted.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that racism and discrimination have a negative impact on peace and development in society. The two social issues cause conflict in society as the two groups with varying characteristics to confront each other. They also lead to low economic development since people from a certain group cannot purchase commodities from others with different characteristics. Finally, racism and discrimination cause stress to segregation and limitation to access certain facilities.
