A future free of racism, where all races see each other as equals, have something to adore and respect about each other and build bridges towards a better non racial society is very possible, but a lot will be required to accomplish that. It will take diminishing inequalities between all races, decimating feelings of inferiority and superiority, ending separation of races, implementing harsher laws to deal with racism and a lot more to establish a future free of racism, and I believe that even though that may be difficult to implement, with sacrifice and compromise, we can do it.

It is said that, “All racism is wrong, and denying that it exists does not make it go away “, so the first step that we need to take towards destroying racism is acknowledging it’s existence and identifying areas where it is most visible and effective. Once that has been accomplished, is when we can begin to make mincemeat of racism.

The next step that we need to take towards establishing a future free of racism is to destroy all inequalities between all races. Financial, social and environmental inequalities must be destroyed, because there is no way we can get through racism as long as we have one race being more rich and privileged than others, or while one race is living in a better place than others. We have to learn to share resources and other vital things that can help empower all races, without being forced like land expropriation without compensation is doing, so that we can be even stevens, which I believe that is the second step towards ending racism, because no one will feel better than the other, which I believe is the root of racism.

Another thing that people need to do to overcome racism is to change their mentality and perception. There are still some people who feel that whites are more superior than all races and other races are inferior, therefore have to submit to whites and that further creates separation and unnecessary anger. We have witnessed it and still continue to witness it as some whites look down on blacks, refuse to share service with them, as seen with Penny Sparrow in 2015 and also refuse to acknowledge them as their equals as seen with Vicki Momberg who insulted a police officer who was only trying to assist her and used the K-word 48 times. There are also those who continue to insinuate that where there is no whites, there will be disaster, hence some even go as far as refusing jobs where they will be employed by blacks. We definitely have to work towards proving all those theories wrong to establish a future free of racism, diminishing inequalities will definitely destroy half of those theories, so to further destroy them we will need programmes that will teach all races of their capabilities and that skin colour can never limit their capabilities. We should also give blacks roles that are supposedly for whites and vice versa to transform that wrong mentality and perception, because “racism springs from ignorance”.

As Bobby Seale once said, “You don’t fight racism with racism, the best way to fight racism is with solidarity “, so there will never be progress in diminishing racism, as long as we have white and black areas, and on top of that have one race live in fancy areas associated with wealth while another race lives in an ordinary area associated with poverty. We therefore have to destroy separation, we should not mark urban areas as a place for whites and Townships for blacks. May it be townships or urban areas, all races need to live together, so that they can observe each other’s lifestyle closely, which will prove some theories about each other wrong and help them realize that they have a lot in common than they realize. Living together will also make them familiar to each other’s norms that they may have regarded as bad, and stop developing hate and anger towards them.

Another big issue is the issue of a lot of racism cases that are dismissed every day or perpetrators being sentenced to lighter sentences because as Cate Blanchett once said, “Violence and racism are bad. Whenever they occur are to be condemned and we should not turn a blind eye on them.” A better and constructive way of dealing with racism should be established, the judge may be harsh with the sentence, so that the perpetrator may have time to think, while in jail, but another problem that may rise is that the racist might develop more anger towards other races, especially if the judge was of different race, so we could consider a better way of rehabilitating racists. A better way of rehabilitating racists can depend on one’s race,  without condoning racism, we can send white racists to villages, to live with Africans that practice true Ubuntu and live through culture, then send blacks to a community of whites free of feelings of superiority, and trying to empower blacks, to change their perspectives of other races.

Another major issue contributing to racism and it’s growth is stereotype, some people still associates coloureds with gangs and violence, whites with intelligence and leadership and blacks with mediocre. As a result, we should try to diminish those stereotypes from a very young age, we should find ways to stop the “black and white” mentality, but then how do we do it? Simple, we can do it through compromise, we should try to minimize the “black stuff” and “white stuff”, as a matter of fact, we should teach people to feel shame for saying that something is for whites or blacks only, but first we have to make it a reality, yet how? The solution is also simple, we have to make sure that we partake in those activities that are supposedly for a certain race only, as a whole, to break stereotypes and work towards diversity.

I believe that we can all agree that it will take sacrifices, a lot of them, to achieve a future free of racism.We have to start a lot of anti racism movements, and have all races speak out against  racism, working together, regardless of skin colour. All races working together will definitely send a vivid message that will create feelings of equality, as it will prove that we all have a lot in common, and anything is possible when we all work towards a common goal.

Another huge issue that contributes to the growth of racism is use of language. English has suddenly become a measure of intelligence in townships, so we also need to destroy that mentality. As much as African learners are forced to learn the language of English, white learners should also be forced to take certain African languages, so that we avoid giving the future generation the impression that English is of superiority and other languages do not matter, because that is also a major factor contributing to the growth of racism.

One last thing that needs to be done to break the chains of racism is to talk. Different races could talk about their perceptions of each other in the open and tell them what they wish they could adjust to establish peace and unity, then all races could make compromises to accommodate other races, and live happily together.

A future free of racism is indeed possible and will happen one day, once separation and inequalities have been destroyed and compromises and sacrifices have been made, skin colour will not matter nor be a factor to anything, we will see each other as equals and live as if we are colour blind in that future.

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