Introduction
The society has a very narrow and limited perspective of racism. People in most instances confuse racism and racialization. While racism refers to the perpetuation of avoidable unfair profiling of persons on grounds of race, ethnicity, and culture, racialization, on the other hand means appreciating the diversity of human race and its meaningfulness in different social aspect (Priest et. al 2016). An activity does not have to be an express act or utterance to qualify as a racist one. Subtle actions and comments can imply a racist perspective, as in a contradictory fashion, an express utterance would not necessarily reflect a racist intent or opinion.
Drawing from this with regards to Antony’s situation I would advise him to come from an emotive and non-substantiated perspective and judgment. Instead, he should approach his advisor’s comments with open-mindedness and an analytic insight. It is comprehensible that he becomes upset following these utterances, but in another light, it is possible that he could be perceived to be a racist as opposed to his advisor. In the defense of the advisor’s comment, someone may argue that he was being kind to Antony. The fact that Antony is so sensitive to the mention of wonton soup and perceives it as a racist comment would mean that he has a racist mind state and that is why he is very sensitive to racism.
In the contemporary “post racial” America and in many other nations, the normative of racism still prevail beneath the veil and façade of a non-racist society. Racial profiling is still a monstrous vice in societies with racial comments and acts coming even from prominent public figures at public platforms, albeit, hugely unattended to or assumed. In this age-the post racial age, the society is in the cocoon of escapism from the reality of racism. Instead, there is a wide held perspective that racism is an antediluvian act and the society is assuming an idea that racism and the existent racist characters and behaviors are reserved for those persons with imbalances and limited or no education. Rather than combating its realities with pragmatism, it seems now the society is focused on fighting the vulnerability of a racial discriminator being caught in the public light committing the act. A classic example would be the fashion with which Donald Sterling was handled in the wake of his racial comments (Lentin, 2016).
The complexities in dealing with racism present a fair share of challenge. Racism and racist attitudes are birthed via complex ethnic-racial socialization process. This process has the effect of molding a racial bias in persons at an early age. Pieces of evidence have revealed that racial prejudice is conceived in children as early as three years of age (Priest et. al 2016). Looking at this complexity it is imperative that people view racism from a different lens; understand its origin, and the repercussion that comes with engaging it from a misinformed perspective. As quoted by Adamson et al, (2009), sometimes victims of racial abuse turn to offenders in attempt to defend themselves, their families, or property from racial abusers.
Conclusion
In sum, coming from the social perspective of racism today, misconception of racial abuse, and the repercussion of combating racial abuse from a misinformed angle, I believe my advice to Antony is the best. This is because he needs to have a wider picture of racial oppression as a vice and understand the impact of engaging it from an ignorant point of view.
