The series of recent remarks by Donald Trump can only serve to deepen the division in the US. Racist prejudice or racist behaviour continues to trouble relations between people and humanity at large. As a result of this, public opinion is increasingly incensed and our moral conscience can by no means accept it.
Racism exists everywhere and continues to reappear in different forms on a daily basis. It is a wound in our society that mysteriously remains open. Racism is an evil, irrational and a morally shameful doctrine. With that in mind, a nation that is unaware, ignorant or oblivious of this fact can never hope to wrestle its culture away from the patent evil that is racism. Racism is a corrosion that has bitten into the fibre and attacked the whole structure of the American society.
In order to fight racial hatred, we must urgently acquire a shift in our perception. However, the main concern is that we continue to recognise the fact that racism is our greatest threat — the maximum of hatred for a minimum of reason, the maximum of cruelty for a minimum of thinking.
It exists in all societies in one way or another but mostly under the guise of other motives. It works to manifest in the tendency to stereotype and marginalise a segment of society, whose presence is already perceived as a threat.
While there is no way to completely wipe it out, we can impose various laws and regulations on all forms of racism in order to send a clear message to anyone that might hold such thoughts.
— The reader is a South African based in Johannesburg
