Posted: November 13th, 2022

Developing Tolerant and Healthy Communities

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“Ironically and tragically, the Covid-19 pandemic has brought the world together to combat a shared enemy. Pope Francis has called for a “global ceasefire” among historical adversaries. Nations share medical data with each other in an effort to save innocent lives. It’s like a science-fiction movie where the world is threatened by an asteroid, or aliens, or Godzilla.

Kenji Yoshino, in his essay “The New Civil Rights,” and Kwame Appiah, in “Making Conversation and the Primacy of Practice,” are interested in those dynamics that drive people dangerously apart, and both authors offer strategies for bridging social and cultural divides in ways a bit healthier than a global pandemic. How might these strategies apply to your own life? You are welcome to consider how Yoshino’s “liberty paradigm” might apply to your own life, and experiences you’ve had with “covering.” Perhaps your focus will be more on Appiah’s concept of “habits of coexistence: conversation in its older meaning, of living together, association,” and how these habits are key to tolerant and healthy communities. The key here is to find ways to use your own experiences, lived and observed, to make a claim that illuminates, expands upon, and helps the reader to better understand the topic. In the course of your essay you will borrow from both authors for support and evidence.”
Search for a topic in which you are invested, something you are passionate about, or with which you have significant personal experience. As you research and write, narrowing your focus ,search for controlling idea that gives early drafts direction. Your research will be graded on the quality of your essay ideas, its organization and development , its clarity and style and how well you have integrated sources material. Follow standard MLA citation formats for documentation , including in text citation and list of works cited. Good Luck!
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Developing Tolerant and Healthy Communities
Racism is one of the most predominant social injustices affecting the American society as well as the global environment as a whole. It entails the discrimination, prejudice, and antagonism that is focused towards a specific group of people or an individual on the basis of their respective affiliation with a particular ethnic group that is most likely one which is marginalized. Amid the current Covid-19 pandemic that has substantially affected the world based on its economic, social, political, and cultural contexts, racism has been prevalent especially against the African Americans across some of the states in the US. This has led to a significant measure of attention from the public across all contexts especially due to the availability of social media and digital technology that allows such cases of social injustice to be projected towards the whole world. As a form of retaliation, the affected minority groups have embarked on marching to the streets through peaceful demonstrations that at times turn out to be violent thereby fueling the tension between the members of the society. In this regard, it is imperative to adopt and implement effective measures that are geared towards bridging the current social and cultural divides to facilitate the development of more tolerant and healthier communities that embrace diversity in such a way that the world is brought together to combat a shared enemy.
COMBATING THE SHARED ENEMY OF RACISM
Racism is often associated with the inhumane acts of harassment or abuse. Although it does not necessarily mean that there has to be intimidating or violent behavior name-calling and insensitive jokes fuel the malpractice throughout the society as it has been seen through the past few months as the world joins efforts towards combating Covid-19. In some situations, people are excluded or under-represented based on the color of their skin which shows that racism is more of an attitude than it is an act. As such, it entails all the societal barriers that have been put in place with the aim of preventing a certain group of individuals from enjoying their rights as well as dignity and equality because they belong to a race that is considered to be a member of the minority groups (Matache & Bhabha 379). Therefore, it is imperative to apply the strategies and measures that promote competence and effectiveness in the development of healthier communities by bridging the cultural and social divides.
There are different approaches towards the effective management of the cultural and social divides that promote racism. One of these approaches is the creation of global awareness that is geared towards the significant reduction of bigotry and the encouragement of tolerance. Such educational measures have to be well-thought and established through contemporary research. This can be achieved through the development of a clear understanding of the complex nature of racism as well as the respective contexts in which they operate. The anti-racist education is also geared towards establishing a direct engagement with racism through the exposure of the cultural frameworks of the society as well as the approaches used towards creating awareness.
The other approach is the use of cultural awareness training in which the issue of cultural differences is laid out bluntly to expose the consequent misunderstanding that makes up the predominant issue while embracing different cultures to promote diversity. The governments and authoritative institutions are also obliged to ensure that they implement laws and legislations that are geared towards promoting diversity. Such laws could impose strict consequences in terms of jail terms and fines for the culprits found promoting racism. As a result, this would facilitate the increased approach towards mitigating the spread of such a social injustice by making others with a similar intention to scare from participating in its practice (Jones 231). Such measures have to be emphasized on to develop power relations that are embedded in the dominant societal processes and structures.
On the other hand, the anti-racist strategies may also be integrated with the positive representation as well as information-giving that are structured around the acquisition of a comprehensive cultural transformation. This may include re-engineering of organizations as well as institutions in such a way that they promote cultural inclusivity and equity instead of focusing on the transformation of attitudes. By focusing on these processes and structures instead of investing a significant amount of effort, time, and resources to identifying the ignorant, the anti-racist strategies are bound to provide detailed responses that could easily bring forth more fundamental transformations with time. These changes are not vigilant on individual behavior but on the overall intervention of the community. Such an approach can be considered as the inclusion of non-racist values within the day-to-day practices of a particular institution or organization to support the individuals that value and embrace diversity. The approach also facilitates an increased efficiency in the identification of failures that have been encountered while combating racism across the structures of an institution as well as within the contexts of individual behavior.
KENJI YOSHINO’S APPROACH
Kenji Yoshino provides an article titled, ‘The new civil rights’ that explores the dynamics in which the society could implement relevant measures to promote diversity as a way of developing a healthier community. The author suggests the liberty paradigm as an effective approach towards the development of tolerant and healthy communities. As such, the a leadership organization that puts more emphasis on liberty over equality is more productive as it tends to offer principled reasons for the decisions made which means that they are institutionally incompetent to choose among groups as this is the basis of equality (Yoshino 454). As such, the courts receive pressure that emanates from universal liberty claims following the increased proliferation of American groups. Such an approach is relatively effective in combating the issue of racism as it tends to create a platform in which diversity among all individuals within the society is prioritized. The approach also offers detailed explanations for the decisions made towards inclusivity and cultural interaction across the institutional context which means that every involved individual is eligible to their liberal rights while also being responsible for those of their counterparts.
KWAME APPIAH’S APPROACH
In pursuit of exploring the strategies necessary for promoting healthy and tolerant communities, Apppiah focuses on the habits of coexistence through the development of a meaningful conversation that promotes harmonious living and association. As such, the author establishes his approach around the aspect of cosmopolitanism to address universality and social differences. It is imperative to embrace universal morality that promotes peace and harmony between the particular place in which an individual is and their part of being a broader human community (Appiah 38). As such, to combat the issue of racism, people have to realize that their individual actions not only affect them or those around them but they also define the course of humanity as it is known to adapt to the changes in time. This approach is relatively effective in the promotion of diversity and inclusivity across the community, thereby mitigating the increasingly alarming cases of racism across the society.
CONCLUSION
The adoption and implementation of effective measures that are geared towards bridging the current social and cultural divides is crucial towards facilitating the development of more tolerant and healthier communities that embrace diversity in such a way that the world is brought together to combat a shared enemy. This is crucial in ensuring that all the societal barriers that have been put in place with the aim of preventing a certain group of individuals from enjoying their rights as well as dignity and equality because they belong to a race that is considered to be a member of the minority groups have been eradicated and the society is transformed to one that revolves around harmony, love, and diversity. Combating the issue of racism has to be structured around increasing efficiency in the identification of failures that have been encountered while combating racism across the structures of an institution as well as within the contexts of individual behavior. One of the most appropriate measures is the creation of global awareness that is geared towards the significant reduction of bigotry and the encouragement of tolerance. Such educational measures have to be well-thought and established through contemporary research. In this regard, by focusing on the institutionalized processes and structures instead of investing a significant amount of effort, time, and resources to identifying the ignorant, the anti-racist strategies are bound to provide detailed responses that could easily bring forth more fundamental transformations with time.

Works Cited
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “Making conversation and the primacy of practice.” Emerging: contemporary readings for writers. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s (2016): 44-58.
Jones, Camara Phyllis. “Toward the science and practice of anti-racism: launching a National Campaign against Racism.” Ethnicity & disease 28.Suppl 1 (2018): 231.
Matache, Margareta, and Jacqueline Bhabha. “Anti-Roma Racism is Spiraling During COVID-19 Pandemic.” Health and Human Rights Journal (2020).
Yoshino, Kenji. Covering: The hidden assault on our civil rights. Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2007.

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