Changing Racism through Political and Legal Processes

Changing Racism through Political and Legal Processes

It is important to note that the law has a direct connection with political and social issues, which means that when one has to make a social change, the law will have to be involved since it is the maker of rules and social changes that need rules that govern them. Political tools also have a connection with social changes considering that many social changes occur due to certain reasons that could be politically driven, especially during political campaigns. One social change I would love to make using legal and political processes is racism, which affects many minority groups. Considering that legal processes involve creating rules, this would be effective and political processes search as using political leaders to campaign against it (Green, 2006).

One best legal process that can effectively change racism is judicial rulings, where laws that are against racism are made, and punishment for violation is provided so that people would reconsider before committing it. Laws that advocate for equal human rights would be effective in ensuring that every person has rights to liberty, irrespective of race or color. People learn to respect the law and if there were no law on a certain issue, for instance, no law was there for racism, people would not mind if they are racists or not since nothing suggests that it is wrong or right. When a rule such as ‘first come first served’, is put into place, no one except those who like breaking the rules would go against this. For instance, if a white man was brought to court because he refused to let a black man enter his hotel without any reason except color, a judicial ruling would effectively rule it as racial. In order to change this, a rule is made that all people irrespective of color have the right to visit the places they like without discrimination (Halberstadt, Sherman & Sherman, 2011)

Political processes such as coalitions among political leaders would be very effective in changing racism in communities. If two political leaders from the different races merged, this would encourage those below them to appreciate that racism can be done away with. One rule that would make political processes effective in changing racism to unity would be to advocate for political leaders to join irrespective of race to ensure that all races feel represented. Since politicians are the major role models in the society, many would embrace their idea, which would further change racism to unity and peaceful coexistence without hate for each other (Sills & Dijke, 2009).

Using the political and legal processes, a concrete action that would ensure further change against racism could be campaigning against hate crimes, which are on the rise in America. This can be done effectively by the political processes, which are better placed at influencing people’s decisions. This would further increase awareness on the effects of racism that causes hate crimes. On the legal processes, ensuring that hate crimes are reported and the perpetrators of such crimes punished accordingly, would serve to ensure that racism would reduce tremendously, further changing the situation.

In this processes, there are ethical implications that might be crossed either politically of legally by the people involved. For instance, if I am punished for a hate crime that I committed, rather than changing for the better, this could increase my hatred for the other race, and later, I might want to seek vengeance. This could be prevented by talking among the races involved by the political leaders or through imprisonment, though it would create enmity between the families involved. Biasness among politicians who would want their views to hold, and this could act further to aggravate the situation (West-Newman, 2004).

Social changes may not be effective if legal processes that make the rules under which such changes would occur are ignored. Legal processes play a role of enforcing the desired change, while political processes will influence people towards the desired change due to the influential nature of the politicians. Racism can be fought using this method, as long as the decisions made involve everybody who is supposed to be involved, such as representative from all the races. Care should be taken to avoid negative implications that might occur.

References

Green, J. (January 01, 2006). From Stonechild to Social Cohesion: Anti-Racist Challenges for Saskatchewan. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 39, 3, 507-527

Halberstadt, J., Sherman, S., & Sherman, J. (January 01, 2011). Why Barack Obama Is Black: A Cognitive Account of Hypodescent. Psychological Science, 22, 1, 29-33.

Sills, J., & Dijker, A. J. M. (May 01, 2009). Confronting Racism. Science, 324, 5927, 590.

West-Newman, C. L. (February 01, 2004). Anger, Ethnicity, and Claiming Rights. Ethnicities, 4, 1, 27-52.