Racist Jokes Gone Too Far

BARRY CHEUNG
Staff Writer

Have you ever witnessed someone being called an offensive name just because of his or her race? Racism is utilized throughout today’s society, either for humorous or offensive matters. Some are oblivious to the fact that they have made a racist comment, since such comments are used so commonly. However, racism needs to end now because it harms our society physically and mentally, even if it is simply used as humor.

A majority of the people who use racist jokes do not understand that they could impact someone emotionally, even though they are just “joking” around. Telling an African American to “steal” or telling an Asian that they cannot drive is not funny. These harsh, offensive jokes are not funny at all, but just plain cruel and shows support for racism.

The racial jokes that people are told can cause serious damage to them. According to George Davey Smith, a professor of social medicine at Bristol University, racism is considered to be a variable in research on the difference of health between different races. His study revealed that racism could cause a difference of health between people of different races. This is due to the stress people have from being made fun of. It affects those people mentally by causing them to have depression. People have even committed suicide, because of the depression held in after constantly being told an offensive stereotypical statement about his or her race.

For racism to end, racial jokes need to disappear as well. They are not funny if people are hurt and physically dying because of them. The only thing that racial jokes do is portray our ignorance and obliviousness we have towards each other.