There are racist in every race. Racism is a learned trait. Humans are very competitive and if we can find fault with someone else then we make that a gain for why we are better. This does not stop with race, it could be religion, sex, height, weight, eye or hair color,.. the list is never-ending....

Sometimes people get scared of stuff they don't understand and find ways of coving up their fear, in this case being racist. It's not always clear why people are racist though, I hate to say this sweetness but sometimes people are just racist out of spite! It's a very contraversal matter though, and there is always going to be that one idiotic person who shouts out racist comments. When I was growing up in Essex I heard alot of racist comments from people, generally people in gangs to look good in front of their mates. Again this is very idiotic and unessasary. That's the best way I could explain it baby hope it helps ya!

A prejudice is normally developed in a similar way to a phobia, and learned during childhood. Most often it will be learned from the attitudes of parents or other adults. Occasionally a bad experience with one person, or a small group of people, from a specific race may cause someone to become racist against that group, although they may not be concious of the origin of the feeling of fear and mistrust. Often people will become racist against a group they feel threatened by. In bad economic situations a group who appears to be doing well financially (such as the Jews in post WW1 Germany) can become a scapegoat for the misfortune of others. Here in the UK there is a lot of racist feeling amongst the poorer classes towards immigrants (particularly those from eastern Europe, which appears to be routed in the fact that because non British citizens are not subject to minimum wage requirements they are often hired in preference to British workers for manual and unskilled jobs, as they represent cheap labour. Hence the feeling that they have come here to "steal our jobs". An element of jealousy and suspicion about asylum seekers is also rife- (highly exagerated) rumours are spread about bogus asylum seekers claiming benefits and being given luxury housing. The result has been that "asylum seeker" (genuine or not) has now become a racist term of abuse, with all trace of its original meaning lost- many foreigners are dubbed "asylum seekers" with intention to offend, even where the abuser has no knowledge of the background of the person concerned. So there can be many reasons, but generally it comes down to fear or insecurity in one form or another.

People are racist because thye wont to be... why do you think... everyone is racist in a differnet kind of way..... I mean would you dare date a 300 pound woman?? Hell no you wouldn't... there for that would make you a racist against fat woman... Think about the kinds of people you dont like... and then answer the question yourself...

Human nature.

Ignorance and lack of insight. It is truely amazing to me, racism, being a petty and pointless waste of time, is one of the biggest issues of our day and age. I'm amazed at how something that goes against rational thinking anf common sense can play such a huge role is our society.

ditto to all that everyone has said. it's normal, and it's functional but that doesn't mean it's right(as John Dovidio would say). we have to really work consciously at NOT being racist. for many years now, I work with people who are very different than me (although I have since realized that the similarities are really more numerous than diffs). I didn't think I was racist until I started realizing I really was! it has been a long and painful road, and I'm sure I still have the racism virus in me, but i work consciously every day not to be. i think that most people don't want to think that they're racist must all actively work to not be racist, otherwise, we will fall to our natural tendencies. dovido calls this aversive racism (when you don't intend to be, but end up being anyway).

Racial prejudice,... Is a pre-formed personal opinion about individuals on the basis of their race... wikipedia.com has some excellent research for you based on the logical and critical. I included the link below, but, in my personal opinion, and through my own experience with Neo-Nazi's the only reason why people become racist is to place somekind of meaning to their lives... for some reason they feel they have to apply some great cause to their lives to give it meaning, sadly our causes are nothing but self destructive. It is nothing more than nostalgia for a failed ideal, that drives us. It can be political, religious faith, or even driven by anti-science. This retarted and out moded concept of perfect design is totally destructive and non-beneficial to mankind as a whole... their is no such thing as a perfect race, it is utter fantasy. The sad thing is that it is ultimately mankinds greatest weakness, it is the greatest challenge for mankind to overcome, our brains are continually subject to instinctive nature, and that nature is to attack and destroy that which we do not understand, or that which does not fit into the false ideal of a perfect race of humankind. What if today you woke up, got a cup of coffee and turned on the news and a special report came on the news announcing that aliens have contacted our government wanting to arrange a peace treaty and trade agreement? How would the general population of the world react? I can tell you the majority would react instinctively to fear, because it is our fear of what we do not understand that makes us racists. Humans would react instinctively to the scientifically proven fight or flight nature that is evolutionarily related to the animal kingdom. We would find somekind of meaning or ideal to hate the aliens and war with them... we are not as intelligent as we think we are. We are very barbaric unto this day even with our primitive technological advancements. We have yet to realize as a collective... that their is no feasible victory in war, that is beneficial to mankind...and until we come to this great evolutionary realization, we will wallow in our own ignorance like a pig wallows through mud. And you wonder why the great galactic collective has yet to make contact with us? Compare the intellect of a two million year old alien society to our feeble onehundred thousand year old human society and do the math on that one yourself, we have a long, long, way to go. We are the Klingons of the universe, warlike, suicidal, and selfish to think we are the omnipotent of the entire universe. Because we suffer from our own self inflicted grave error, our human error to destroy and kill one another for our own races selfish ideal and religious belief system. We are all one in the same, and all equally capable of idiocracy. We have far to evolve. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racist

FEAR: Racism is often caused by fear. Everybody wants to feel safe and secure and to be in control. You lose control when you are confronted with a situation that you don’t know, because you don’t know exactly how to handle it. This lack of control causes people to be afraid of the unknown. People get scared in the dark because they don’t know what might happen to them. The dark makes people feel defenseless from the unknown and makes them imagine terrible things, for no reason at all. It is the same thing that happens to some people when they encounter a person that they don’t know, they get scared, and they start to imagine terrible things about him or her. This can be seen in the way many people look at immigrants. Many people don’t like them, because they are afraid that they will "steal" their jobs, live on social security and ruin their country. These allegations are very far from the truth, as a matter of fact migrant workers often get the jobs that no other people would do, and the ones that receive welfare often receives it because they cannot get a job because of their color or cultural background. SUPERIORITY/INFERIORITY: The feeling of superiority or inferiority. Many racist people claim that their "race" or culture is superior to others. It might sound a bit strange, but often this belief in superiority is actually caused by fear or even the feeling of inferiority. As written above many people are afraid of people that are different from themselves, and in order to reassure themselves, many people imagine that they are superior to who they are afraid of, so that they don’t have to be afraid anymore.

Fear and ignorance (and some also by learning it from their parents growing up and not learning to then think for themselves as adults).

People feel a need for group identity, and once a person associates with a particular group, that person will work to further the interests in that group and protect that group. Racists quite often feel threatened. They also seem to be substituting a feeling of superiority for a logical argument on their positions and healthy self-esteem.

People are racist, because they were either brought up that way or they just have alot of fear, and hate issues. In their heart of hearts they know it's wrong. In God's eyes we are all equal.

People just seem to need someone to hate...... some people just need a scapegoat, they just... Some people are sick.... just sick.

Unfortunately it appears to be a fact of life for many. Personally i am not a racist and i hold no prejudice against others.

Usually Ignorance

Human nature my aunt Fanny. Nobody is born with hate in their heart. It's learned; learned ignorance. One of the biggest fears racists have is that if everybody hooked up (sexually) and made it impossible to distinguish between races, they (racists) wouldn't have anywhere to dump their garbage.

Because they refuse to open their minds to anything outside of what they know.(or think they know) :)

Sometimes its the way people are raised, sometimes racism can come out because of an event in your life. I think where you live, or were raised has a lot to do with recism. some people are just to ignorant to accept other people that are different in any way.

why don't cows in the wild say hey I would like to go hang out with that zebra? cause there different all people are afraid of things that are different but some just handle it worse than others cause they think if it's different then them it has to be wrong. it's the same reason that we have wars.....

Fear. They hate what they don't understand.

The entire concept of humans being broken up into separate sub-species is flawed. The idea that there are different races of human is a social construct. You see, we can tell the difference between someone with black and white skin, and we therefore say that there is a white 'race' and a black 'race'. Our genes are too alike to be viewed as different 'races'... but if you want to separate people, it is convenient to apply labels to them. There are all sorts of causes to 'racism'. Here are a few: # Hate. # (Apparent) Rational thinking. # Power. I will just go into the second point with a little more detail: RATIONAL THINKING Using phony science some people can be led to believe that there are different human races. That is, some 'race' of humans are genetically inferior or superior to another 'race'. When you get to this point people can become racist and think that they are simply speaking scientific facts. Are Black people genetically better at athletics than white people? Are white more 'intelligent'? Forget being politically correct, but the answer is still a resounding NO. http://www.hirhome.com/rr/rrcontents.htm

Because some people belong to a different culture or race, people they treat them unfairly or differently, maybe because they are afraid or feel threatened,and they often attack in the ways of verbal threats, insults, and abuse.

If people are racist, then that might mean they are afraid of people that are a different colour or race etc.

Some people don't realize that.

As far as I am concerned, racism is a mental illness.

Everyone is racist.

Too bad we aren't all the same - that is, Colorblind.

You are so right...you can be a jerk or a nice person ...race has nothing to do with it.

That is true, however...even if those people who are racist realized that, I'm sure they would start discriminating your insides instead!

Cause they are taught by their parents to be that way. There is a song in the movie "South Pacific" called "You have to be taught to learn how to hate" It has a lot of meaning to it. Cause people are NOT born to hate other people who are different then them.

one reason only...they're close minded idiots that were raise by the same type of idiot!!!!!

A lot of black vs. white racism started with when western cultures visited say Africa and saw that they lived different. Obviously Europe considered themselves more "sophisticated" since they had more supplies and were to what most of us would call more modern. Since to THEM the tribes seemed primitive they then assumed the people were BELOW them. This is obviously not right. Just because you are in a different culture and do different things, does not mean the PERSON you are is any greater or any less than you are. In fact, to be a racist, is one of the lowest forms of life. =)

Try this: In many, many cities the overwhelming majority of dangerous felonies are not committed by white people. You can't argue with facts. What you can do is call doing so, racist.

Everyone is different and has different ethics and beliefs and it really has nothing to do with skin colour or ethnicity. Hatred is normally born out of ignorance, and most racialism is from people that do not really KNOW people of different backgrounds and colours, as people just as groups of people..

It is really sad that racism so strongly exists in 2007 after all the killing and destruction of the early days, especially in the South toward Blacks. But some people will always be racist because it was instilled in them thru their parents or caretakers as children. I agree with some of the other answers: insecurity, ignorance and fear all play a part in racism. I can only hope that I will live to see the day that people will love each other without class or race distinctions, though I am not sure that is really possible.

Because they are ignorant!

Maybe racists feel threatened; they feel like their culture or identity is at risk of being squashed and that they will be assimilated into the folds of other groups. I AM NOT RACIST, but here is an example: I live in Vancouver, BC, and there are a lot of Asians living here. That doesnt bother me, I grew up seeing people of different colors my whole life, but there are lots of people who don't like them. My idea why is they think they might be overrun by Chinese or something. Lots of people speak mandarin here and you see signs and notices in alot of places. They might be scared; fearing that in the future Asian culture, influence and language will replace everything else, and the racists are afraid they will become the underdogs to the Asians and looked down upon by them. I got nothing against Asians and I do appreciate what they share here.

Change and acceptance. People find it hard to adapt and step out of their comfort zone. People also find it hard to accept others who are different from themselves.

Why ask why? "You can't make sense out of nonsense" explains it all.

Racism does not occur as a result of any inbuilt genetic preference to one's race, rather, as a result of personal experiences, miseducation or an illogical and bias study of the differences between races. Some people hold racist views because they are a minority in any geographical area and feel their cultural needs are under not nourished by the community at large. Others are racist because of physical or verbal abuse suffered at the hands of other races, where the victim has found neither solace nor justice provided by the local authourities. The most ridiculous form of racism exists in communities which are fully or almost entirely of one particular ethnicity, this is where racism is bred via ignorance. I, as everybody else, have had racist thoughts, it is only through treating eachother as equals until we are subjected to racist abuse that we can overcome this. People must understand that even those who oppose racism sometimes hold racist views, it is the fear of what we do not understand, perpetuated by violence or discrimination that leads to severe and long lasting forms of racism. I believe that individuals within mixed race couples often hold racist views, as I say, this is not genetic, rather the result of experiences. That the individuals within mixed race relationships are able to overcome these thoughts and remain in love, shows that individuality is all that counts. If people base racist views upon cultural differences, accept it and ignore it. Even cultural and ethnicity based genocide are instigated by wayward politicians, not individuals whose voices are shrouded. Sometimes, the people who you consider to be your best friends, and are of a different race, mutter to themselves, grievances against your race. There is no one culture, no one race, we are all different. Ethnicity based racism is futile, cultural based racism is not, by eliminating the worst aspects of each culture we will sooner notice that we are the same. Eradicate your cultural ills and your common humanity will prevail. We are all human, some pitbulls will bite you, some will not, whether they have black or white fur has no impact. The pitbull has a lot of bad apples, so does the human race. For the sake of your sanity,......... realise. Love to all, from London, u.k

They aren't its just minorities with thin skin

I am not a racist, and I try to never judge people, but I know people that are, and it is usually because of the way they were raised, or just not understanding what they don't know. Thankfully I was not raised and taught to hate others, but it happens. And there are those who are ignorant of other cultures and races and just make their own assumption up about it.

Racism exists because of the age-old beliefs that one's own culture, nation, religion, etc., is superior to any other. Some of the earliest examples of these beliefs are the Brahmin Caste system in India and ancient Egyptians. These beliefs set the foundation for later racial discrimination. It exists because one group of privileged people wants to maintain power, and because anyone who is "different" is viewed as inferior. Ideally, yes, all human beings should be treated equally, but, in America at least, there is debate as to whether those people who have lived their entire lives poor, black, etc., need more help obtaining the elusive "American Dream" than those who were born into middle-class or wealthier families, had access to better education, are not people of color, etc. In other words, attempts to equal the playing field is often (incorrectly) viewed as giving the poor and people of color "hand outs" that are not deserved or necessary.

All people SHOULD be equal. Unfortunately isn't that so. I think that racists can't really help the fact that they believe certain things. It's their parents and surrounders 'fault' that they believe their values are right. Ofcourse it is wrong to think that you are better than someone else, but you mustn't forget that if you are indoctrinated that way all your life, that that's the truth for you. I don't have the answer to how to solve this problem, any suggestions ?

Sounds good to me :) They are not any higher than us are any lower.. We all should be epual..

The primary cause is ignorance. I have never heard of a racist who had even a basic understanding of racial differences or basic genetics. White racists who claim to be Christians would be surprised if they were to meet Christ, they'd find a dark skinned Semitic man, not a Norwegian blond. And blacks, asians, hispanics and other groups are not exempt, they are equally likely (or unlikely) to be racists.

It's human nature to develop an "Us vs. Them" mentality, whether it's nationalism, sexism, racism or just about any other ism you can think of.

Ignorance

It's because white people want to survive. That's what it's always been about. White identity. White identity. get it? Like asian identity, african identity, arab identity, indian identity, native american identity. White people, whom came from europe, want to remain looking white. We have a very low birth rate, that's why everyone's immigrating to the west, so our rich white people can remain rich. They are willing to sacrifice our identity for their own personal fleeting gain. This is irrisponsible because it's clear that white people like being white and we don't want the world that we have worked so hard to build to be destroyed. Sure other races will take over and they'll do an ok job. However other cultures also threaten to comsume our society. This effects all our children. Islam is threatening to overtake the world. They are the most dominateing organised religion. White people are going to be all gone in 200 years, all of our genes will probably be wiped out in 300-400 years. Meanwhile the rest of the races of the world will probably survive for thousands of years before they mix together. That's a long time lived without white people. Do you want that for your children? This is what racism has always been about, we've been fighting against ourselves to boot all forgeiners out our countries since the beginning. Because we want a place to live just like the asians and africans and everyone else has. I understand that now we've made friends with many of you, so now that seems all but impossible for you all to just go away. So ofcourse, you stay here. We will all mix together eventuly, but the reason i'm concerned about it is because of the way white people look. Is it disgusting to say that we are beautiful? Because physical love is one of humanitys most powerful tools to modivate ourselves. The value of it, to beat damning pleasures, vice and addiction is strong. We will mix together but atleast give us some more time so we can have more white couples. Is that disgusting to you? Well you should know better, it was you who stepped over the line. You knew. You saw and you knew. Don't blame us for rubbing it in your face.

It's because white people want to survive. That's what it's always been about. White identity. White identity. get it? Like asian identity, african identity, arab identity, indian identity, native american identity. White people, whom came from europe, want to remain looking white. We have a very low birth rate, that's why everyone's immigrating to the west, so our rich white people can remain rich. They are willing to sacrifice our identity for their own personal fleeting gain. This is irrisponsible because it's clear that white people like being white and we don't want the world that we have worked so hard to build to be destroyed. Sure other races will take over and they'll do an ok job. However other cultures also threaten to comsume our society. This effects all our children. Islam is threatening to overtake the world. They are the most dominateing organised religion. White people are going to be all gone in 200 years, all of our genes will probably be wiped out in 300-400 years. Meanwhile the rest of the races of the world will probably survive for thousands of years before they mix together. That's a long time lived without white people. Do you want that for your children? This is what racism has always been about, we've been fighting against ourselves to boot all forgeiners out our countries since the beginning. Because we want a place to live just like the asians and africans and everyone else has. I understand that now we've made friends with many of you, so now that seems all but impossible for you all to just go away. So ofcourse, you stay here. We will all mix together eventuly, but the reason i'm concerned about it is because of the way white people look. Is it disgusting to say that we are beautiful? Because physical love is one of humanitys most powerful tools to modivate ourselves. The value of it, to beat damning pleasures, vice and addiction is strong. We will mix together but atleast give us some more time so we can have more white couples. Is that disgusting to you? Well you should know better, it was you who stepped over the line. You knew. You saw and you knew. Don't blame us for rubbing it in your face.

human nature and pride.

When two or more people live in the same area they have to adopt some rules about who does what to whom. Any such rule is called a more, pronounced "mor-ay". The adjective form is moral, and the habit of following mores is morality. Mores do not have to be right, only accepted. Another group on the other side of the river might have very different mores. The collection of mores followed by people in one area is called "culture". Racism requires two things: differing cultures, and visually identifiable people. Black skin means nothing in Great Britain because everybody has pretty much the same culture. In America, black culture is matriarchal while white culture is patriarchal, so the conflict is extreme and unavoidable.

They hate without any reason.

Racists believe

We are usually more comfortable with people who are more like us - that is natural. But if we exclude or devalue other people just because they are not like us, or we think they are not like us, then we become racist.

I won't know since I never met one personally.

Racism is genetic. Even babies are racist. Look at the studies done

I don't know. Maybe they don't like soul music.

People are different in many ways, as much as we may see that as bad, there are people who are okay with it.

I really don't know why people are like that but I think maybe it's because of the environment where they grew up or maybe because of their own perspective in life. Kindly check my question about constellation of stars... I really need an answer now ..Thank you ..I would really appreciate it if you answer it.. Your answer will be a great help..

Because their stupid and ignorant.

Also, all hatred stems from fear.