In our culture, racialism is a topic of the present, not just the past. There are many different views of racialism, some right and some wrong. According to the Oxford English Dictionary racialism is the belief in the superiority of a particular race leading to prejudice and antagonism towards people of other races, especially those in close proximity that may be felt as a threat to one's cultural and racial integrity or economic well being. Some related words are discrimination, favoritism, and racial profiling. With the definition of the word and some related words, you should have a good understanding of what, in essence, the word means. .
Most people in the United States relate the word racialism with the prejudices that the White Americans showed toward the African Americans before, during, and after the Civil war. Don't get me wrong, yes; it has a lot of connections to this period of time, but the word itself means so much more than just that. People have a tendency to relate definitions of words with personal things that happen to them. Unfortunately, this "understanding" of the word is carried over into many other cultures. When you go to another country, you will find that they have the same views. These Views are that racialism has to do with the discrimination of the African Americans. What a lot of people fail to realize is that there have been many cases of racialism in the past of the United States. We showed racialism toward the Chinese during WWI, the Mexicans, the Irish, and the Dutch; but the list does not end there. We, in the United States have discriminated against every culture that is different from our own.
Now take what you have learned about racialism, is there any cases of racialism going on in America today? I"m willing to bet that 90% of people would say no. In our culture we have a tendency to turn our backs to these things, but they do exist. Do you think a Mexican American that just came from Mexico has an equal chance of getting a job as a white male? Do you think that a 70-year-old man has the same chances of getting a stressful job as a 21-year-old? These are all forms of Racialism.