Racism and Some Campaigns Against It…
Racism And Some Campaigns Against It..
One of the most notorious social ills throughout the history of societies is undoubtedly racism. The recurrence of racism throughout all times, as well as its high versatility, which allows it to adapt and renew itself in each new era, has given much to talk about in literature. But perhaps because of the great complexity of this phenomenon, the energy of scholars seems to have been consumed in the exploration of its nature. Its nature has focused our efforts in an area where it shouldn’t have been. Or perhaps we should say the urgency to establish systematic forms and mechanisms to eradicate it have been neglected.
Certainly, almost all literature dealing with racism highlights the importance of fighting against it. Moreover, there have been proposals to counteract it and to prevent it. But these proposals (some of a philosophical nature, others of a legal nature and some of an educational nature) have not been formulated in an articulated manner. Hence, these proposals have not been systematic so far, and as a result, their outcomes have not been fully effective either. Meanwhile, the ravages that this social evil continues to provoke do not allow further delay in the construction of an articulated and systematic alternative to fight it.
In order to help fight it, there have been quite a few campaigns launched by different groups around the globe. Let us have a look at some of these campaigns that have made a real difference.
Music vs. discrimination
To address the issue of the global refugee crisis Stay in School created a music video with the help of Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA and the musical duo PARISI for ROLI.
The video shows a group of people moving through a misty landscape that could be anywhere. The group begins a dance, alternating the endless and seemingly hopeless movement of people displaced from their homes.
The producers, Ben Strebel de Sovage and Feh Tarty, decided to share their experiences and those of their family and to capture them forever in a clip that has the capacity to change the lives of many refugee families.
The racism keyboard
Just as Stay in School turned to music to share a powerful message, the agency Dentsu Webchutney developed a keyboard that demonstrates the effects of racism.
According to the agency, this special construction keyboard stood as a symbol against the threat of racism and was released by the world’s fastest pianist; it is an attempt to create a world free of racism by instilling right values in our children.
Some seeds vs. racial discordance
This campaign was created by Barcelona Football Club, and in it, we can find figures such as Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and other athletes who decided to join racism by means of some seeds.
An exposition…
The Musée de l’homme, located in Paris, decided to denounce racism with an exhibition called “NOUS ET LES AUTRES: Des préjuges au racisme” (We and Them: From Prejudice to Racism) whose objective is to shed light on the scientific factors behind the racist behavior.
To do this, they developed an application called CHROMA that has the ability to detect and capture the skin color of the person. This museum also designed custom posters for people.
“Users can also share their own personalized posters on social networks to promote the exhibition and take a stand against racism,” says the museum team.
With such campaigns, maybe one day we can put an end to this disease of fear based ignorance and manage to eradicate it through love, education and understanding before it becomes the fatal flaw that limits humanities’ freedom to be it’s full self.