By: Camila Zambrano (Translated by Elizabeth Pakravan)
Respect
COLOR DOES NOT REPRESENT YOU: WE ARE ALL HUMAN
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of their skin. People learn to hate. We can also be taught to love. Love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite.”
Nelson Mandela, human rights defender.
BACKGROUND
This day was marked in history due to the tragic event that occurred in Sharpeville, South Africa in 1960 during a peaceful demonstration against apartheid, where the police shot 69 people. In this way, due to the sensitive event that occurred, the General Assembly reiterated at the international level its efforts to raise awareness of racial discrimination.
The results of the program proposed by the General Assembly have achieved the dismantling of the apartheid system in South Africa. Likewise, racist laws and practices have decreased in many countries, as they are guided by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, in order to show solidarity with the communities and societies that still suffer from this type of discrimination. and injustice.
EVOLUTION OF RACISM
Despite all the efforts made by countless organizations, racism is still palpable today in different social spheres and has even evolved with the development of new technological means of communication, as technology has become a tool to point people out.
Consequently, this attracts emotional problems, since people are more susceptible to receiving negative comments directly, affecting all types of people regardless of their origin.
On the other hand, technological media and applications have also been useful in promoting different awareness campaigns, protesting, and even denouncing acts of racial discrimination anywhere in the world, making them public knowledge.
Living in the 21st century with modern society has helped people to question past events where slavery, mistreatment, discrimination, and rejection of those who called themselves “different” are condemned.
Likewise, the application of human rights in many countries has managed to protect and provide better living conditions and opportunities to people who have been vulnerable within any ethnic group.
WE ARE THE HUMAN RACE
Currently talking about race is irrelevant. Understanding, comprehending, and embracing differences at the ethnic or cultural level is part of building a fair world that provides the same opportunities regardless of color or place of origin, since we are all HUMAN and we have the same value.
It’s time to feed our thoughts and actions with empathy, break past patterns and act with an open mind.
Ending racial discrimination in all its forms is everyone’s commitment and is the only way for all of us to equally enjoy our civil, political, social, cultural, and economic rights.
Let’s not forget that there is only one race and it is human, and we all belong to it.
Do not be afraid to break schemes and paradigms, it is time to stop classifying people and fight for a more inclusive and better future.
