Presentation on racism for my online class at Georgian College.

1. By: Joshua Martella

2. Racism in Our World Today
 I chose to do problems of inequality and power for my
presentation and to focus on racism in our world today
and talk about how it is evident in our society,
workplace, and in the media.

3. History of Racism
 The history of Racism goes back to the early stages
when there were slaves, the Americans owned African
Americans and made them do everything for them.
African Americans weren’t seen as equal to the white
people, so they were discriminated, called racial names
and basically treated like animals. Over the years
racism has slowly gone down, and to the present day is
nowhere near as bad as it was in the early stages.

4. How Racism is Evident in our
Society
 Racism has been going on in our society ever since we
can remember. It is evident in our society today mainly
through social media, and in politics. Racial slurs are
thrown around on social media everyday whether we
notice it or not. In politics it is evident in the US with
the first African American president being elected a
couple years ago. Everyone doubted Barack Obama,
saying it is wrong to have an African American
president, and he would ruin their economy.

5. Labelling Theory
 The theory on labelling ties in well with Racism,
because it has to do with classifying someone or
judging them based on a stereotype or their skin
colour, gender, etc. A big part of racism has to do with
labelling and stereotyping, if we could eliminate that, I
think racism would go down tremendously in our
society today.

6. Trayvon Martin Case
 Last year a 17 year old boy in Florida was shot and
killed because he looked “suspicious” for walking
down the street at night in his black hoodie. The man
who shot him was George Zimmerman the
neighbourhood watch for that area, he was told not to
get out of his car and approach the boy, but he took
matters into his own hands and killed Trayvon as “self
defense” the case was never looked at until this year
when it was all over the news and George Zimmerman
was found not guilty.

7. Trayvon Martin cont’d…
 This case is a simple example as to how racism is
evident in our society today, a 17 year old African
American boy was killed because he looked
“suspicious” walking through his neighbourhood at
night. Obviously there are still people who
discriminate against other races, but to take it to that
level is just absurd.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AK6jOeEl4
(video after the verdict, talking about “racial divide”

8. Racism/Gender Inequality in the
Workplace
 Another way racism and gender inequality is displayed
is in the workplace. Women don’t get paid as much as
men to do the same jobs, examples being mechanics,
engineers. The first African American president was
elected, and a lot of people hated on him for the first
little while. Oprah Winfrey came out a few days ago
stating that Barack Obama is “disrespected because
he’s black” on BBC. She thinks that racism is still
evident in our world today and it is displayed through
Barack Obama, although he may not notice it or we
may not, he is treated differently then other presidents
and viewed differently on certain topics.

10. Racism in Politics cont’d..
 This picture below was made after Barack Obama was
re-elected for a 2nd term in office. It shows that many
people take it as a joke he is president still. It is a spin
off of the famous rapper “2 chainz” album with Obama
in the picture holding up two fingers and it showing “2
termz” underneath it. Although it is a joke, many
people take it as a form of racism.

11. Solutions to this Problem
 There are many different ways you can try to stop
racism from happening in our world today, but I think
one of the best ones would be to start teaching kids
about racism at a young age, make them aware of the
situation so that when they become older they will
know what is right from wrong and they can teach
others.

12. Solutions cont’d…
 Another solution would be to have “racism workshops”
in workplaces, so that people can become aware of
different forms of racism, not only racial
discrimination but gender inequality as well. This will
then make people realize what they are doing and
hopefully put a stop to it once and for all in the
workplace. The more you know about a situation or
problem, the better you can do to resolve it.

13. Conclusion
 I think racism is still a huge issue in our society today,
although it’s not nearly as bad as it was in the early
stages before we were born. I think it is still evident,
kids these days throw around racial slurs like it’s
nothing and people in the workplace are treated
differently because of their looks, race or gender. The
more we can make people aware of the situation and
help put a stop to it, the more we will see improvement
in racism slowly diminishing.

14. APA References
 George Zimmerman Verdict: Trayvon Martin Shooting Brings up Question of Race
[Video file].(2013, July 14). Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AK6jOeEl4
 Mooney, Holmes, Knox, Schacht (2013). Understanding Social Problems Custom Edition.
Toronto, Canada: Nelson Education.
 Oprah Winfrey: President Barack Obama is disrespected because he’s black - NY Daily
News.Retrieved November 11, 2013, from
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/oprah winfrey-presidentobamadisrespected-black-article-1.1518299
 Racism — Global Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved November 18, 2013, from
http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism
 Trayvon Martin Shooting Fast Facts - CNN.com. Retrieved November 18, 2013, from
http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/05/us/trayvon-martin-shooting-fast-facts/

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