In Response to Sarah Part II

My dear friend Sarah needs more help on her writing project. Her questions to me are:

Do  think passing judgment on someone has an element of racism or discrimination to it? Why or why not?

 

I’ve mulled over the question for the last day and half and decided the answer could be either way.  I’m inclined to believe that it truly depends on the context in which judgment is passed.

I see racism as a combination of  two components; emotion and belief. Since it is the belief component that defines racism, simply passing judgment on someone does not necessarily mean that the person doing the judging is racist. The judgment that  is being  passed has to be based upon a belief or beliefs that certain physical characteristics (behavior/speech/personality etc.) correlates to a specific race, which is the main element/component that creates racism. I think it is safe to say that a person is racist if their discrimination is not obviously towards race, but their belief/perception may be.

However, considering the emotional element that contributes to racism is hatred, it can be said that “passing judgment” has a similar element of racism without the “belief” component.  In saying this, I truly believe that the emotional element of passing judgment, needs to be considered within the context of every situation. Not every incident of “passing judgment” consists of the belief element, but more so the emotional element.