How to Stop Making Racist Comments

Comments you make and the way you respond to others on a daily basis who are different from you impacts the type of world you live in. While racism is considered politically incorrect in public, people still make racist comments when they're with close friends or in private.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

1. Consider how hurtful it is when someone makes a mean or rude comment about you. The same way those comments make you feel angry, hurt or embarrassed is the same way your racist comments make someone of that race feel.

2. Think before you speak. Take two to five seconds to consider how someone might take your words offensively before you say something. This brief pause can give you the time to word your thoughts in a considerate way. This can be the difference between saying a racist comment and opening a positive dialog between different races.

3. Choose good friends. The old saying, "birds of a feather flock together," is quite true. If all of your friends are constantly making racist comments, this will influence your thoughts and behavior. Try talking to your friends about why it's harmful to make racist comments, but, if they continue, it may be time to find different friends.

4. Get some history books and read about the long-term consequences of racism. Hatred and discrimination against people simply due to the color of their skin or their ethnic origin has been the cause of great poverty, wars and even death. Whether one is the oppressor or the oppressed, there are grave consequences that both sides eventually have to deal with because of the hatred.

5. Stop stereotyping people based on their race. Every person is an individual and does not fit into one category simply because their skin looks the same. If someone of your race committed a murder, you wouldn't want to be convicted of their crime simply because their skin matched yours. When you stereotype based on race it's just like convicting someone of a crime they didn't commit.

6. Know that all races--Hispanic, African-American, Asian or Caucasian have good and bad people. Every race has people who have suffered due to racism and every race has people who are racist. There is no superior race and all people are created equal. Base your judgments of others on their character and behavior, not their race.

7. Learn about other cultures. Often, it is ignorance of other cultures or a person's upbringing that causes him to make racist comments. Once you begin to realize that everyone is an individual and should not be defined by their race, you will learn to appreciate these differences. As you start to look at people of other races as someone's mother, father or sister who struggles, cries and has dreams just like you, you might even find a new best friend of a different race.

Resources

• Read some solutions to racism at The Urban Alternative.