Racism is something that has unfortunately been around for centuries. However, with the new breath of the modern-age, it has been argued by many that racism is “no longer a problem”. What so many fail to realize is that racism is embedded in so many things, ranging from popular phrases, to the developments of entire practices of medicine. Because of this, it is impossible to fully remove it, no matter how much of a progressive society we present ourselves to be.

Much like what Linda Alcoff wrote “Race is always politically salient and always the most important element of identity.”

HOA’s began as a way to indirectly segregate and keep neighborhoods “pure” (aka White). The idea of grandfathering people into policies came from the Jim Crow era where people could avoid literacy tests if their grandfathers were able to vote, which inherently meant mainly white people. Food deserts are a form to limit and are a large factor in the higher rates of weight and/or diet related health conditions for people of color, but more specifically, Black people in America, as there are fewer grocery stores and access to fresh food, fruits, and vegetables.

Gynecology as a practice was built off of the pain and suffering of Black women, as they were experimented on and used as practice for aiding the ailments of White women. This led to Black women enduring a variety of extremely painful procedures with no anesthetic or attempts at alleviation.

Children’s songs also often have racist backgrounds, most famously, “Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed”, in which artwork and original lyrics for it contain a variety of derogatory digs at Black people. There was also a remake of this song called “5 Little Indians” which was a dig at Native Americans.

SATs and standardized testing as a whole have been used as barriers to limit the amount of students of color getting into university, as due to the wealth inequities and the very obvious differences in culture, it led to students of color being consistently disadvantaged and scoring lower than their White counterparts.