by Adam Mcculley

Created on: November 02, 2010

To understand and define racism clearly and concisely, one must wear many hats; studying human social evolution, psychology, economics, and the effects of popular culture, and media as they seek to race ahead of society and define a new reality.

The concept of racism, stems from eons old tribalism, that is, communities of varied size, sharing a popularly conceded identity, and their quest to protect limited resources. Put another way, it is the "This is our turf" syndrome. Tribalism was an accepted and necessary way of life for thousands of years of human development. It's roots are not in greed, but survival. Primitive man had very little to hold on to in the way of resources, so a fertile field, or good hunting ground was not just a luxury, it was a necessity. And, primitive man would not think twice about killing, or dying for it. This is the genesis of defined boundries; be they topographical, or cultural. These were the first men who said to a newcomer; "You are not one of us, you don't belong here."

Over centuries, groups became tribes, tribes became city-states, city-states became nations, nations became empires. All sharing the common goal of wanting wealth and security for their own people. All making use of the notion of destroying, robbing, and oppressing other groups of perceived foreigners. Tribalism graduated to nationalism, then on to racism. Working from this model it can be argued that all humans are programmed on an instinctive level to accept a racist mentality. We see lower animals, acting on territorial instinct, warring and killing for the right to breed, to hunt, but rarely connect such behavior to our enlightened race. The result of overlooking such proven scientifically indesputable data is a complete and total failure to grasp, and attempt to solve the spectre of racist behavior. When a society attributes racism to "ignorance" or "eletism", when they try to simplify the issue as a bad idea, passed from one generation to the next, said society loses the point.

In America, there is an overwhelming mentality attuned towards stomping out racism. (Some of you may disagree, but having travelled the world, this author can say that A: There are almost no other nations that share our incredible diversity  B: Many nations still war, still fight and kill based on tribalist ideology (Ex: The Rwanden genocide, Bosnian, and Kosovar ethnic cleansing by Serbian nationalists, the endless Sunni and Shiite warfar on the Arabian peninsula to name

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