How racism is normalized and sustained in subtle, everyday ways
In a digitzed world where people are “too sensitive” or are “overreacting” about harmul behaviors and acts, racism hides behind humor, denial, and media. Those who excuse these actions help normalize prejudice in everyday life and downplay the harm it inflicts on others. These patterns illustrate how racism is not only maintained through acts of hate, but also through silent systems that shape one’s beliefs and mindset.
ON THIS PAGE YOU’LL DISCOVER:
– Why do people sometimes excuse racist behavior as “just a joke,” and what harm does that cause?
– Why does racism often go unchallenged in places where people say “everyone is equal here”?
– How does social media spread both awareness and misinformation about racism?
Why do people sometimes excuse racist behavior as “just a joke,” and what harm does that cause?
Written by Morgan Leung
Casual racism and racist jokes have become something of a commonality. One of the main reasons for casual racism is the use of justification as an excuse. When an excuse is attached to a racist viewpoint, it reduces social stigma and the culprit is judged less harshly. In addition to this, social media has played a direct role in increasing socially stigmatized behavior. Shorts, reels, tiktoks–they can all inherently promote racist behaviour and bias, whether intentional or not. And which generations have the most exposure to social media? Adolescents.
Like adults, many adolescents and students don’t perceive racist jokes to always be harmful. In fact, most of them believe that joking about ethnicity or race in friend groups is completely harmless. However, these remarks can have a deeper effect than one may believe. It was found that teenagers who are directed racist and ethnic jokes experience higher anxiety, often carrying into several days. Low self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and lower academic results can also follow. After three weeks, it was found that there were about 3.49 racist incidents within friend groups. In an era where kids are constantly exposed to the internet, they are starting to use social media much sooner, affecting their perception of things, ideas, or people.
As for the effects of these jokes, developing teenagers grow to believe racist ideas and negative stereotypes as socially acceptable. Not only this, but the frequency of these comments can be desensitizing. Research shows that adolescents tend to internalize racist comments differently from adults, as they associate these comments to personal views about an ethnic group. Peer discrimination was found to have a higher impact on mental health, as the feedback and acceptance of peers is emphasized during developmental stages.
An online survey taken by The Standard shows that 69% of students overhear racist jokes in passing. In a series of interviews with students, many reported that racist jokes became normalized over time, and the line between harmful racism and a joke became even more unclear. It was also stated that many times students don’t realize they’re being racist or offensive, because it’s something that’s seen as normal. Students reported feeling social pressure to conform and laugh along with the joke, not wanting to ruin the fun of other people.
It is apparent that in order to stop the normalization of racism we must first stop normalizing it ourselves. Staying silent, laughing along, or quietly enduring a friend’s racist comment can justify it and inadvertently allow and encourage others to also make these jokes as well. And while it can be much more difficult to speak up against a friend than just laugh along, many students don’t even realize the severity and impact of their words and the long-lasting effects. In order to discourage racist jokes, we must first take action ourselves.
Why does racism often go unchallenged in places where people say “everyone is equal here”?
Written by Ashlee Yeong-Cha
In the year of 2025 where diversity efforts are applauded, mentions of still prevalent racism can make many feel like they have been falsely accused. The act of defensiveness is an unconscious bias of a response over self-reflection and discussion, thus hindering actual progress from being made as the claim that everyone regardless of race denies the ongoing and never-ending existence of prejudice.
It’s no doubt that a large number of people believe that their community has made ‘more than enough’ progress to combat racism. It also doesn’t take much effort to recognize milestones signifying the acknowledgement and condemnation of minority’s representation both in real life and in media. This, unfortunately, can lead to complacency amongst many.
Some may be disillusioned by the fact that racism is not just unique to America. However, with media and pop culture playing a huge role in further emphasizing the racial discrimination in the United States, many non-Americans often use the country as a way of saying, “at least you don’t see international news about us shooting other races with a gun where we live!”. Results from a poll conducted by Guardian shows that more than half of British adults believed that minorities faced the same amount of even less discrimination compared to White people (Guardian, 2025). Referencing Jacob Taylor’s remark on how “If we only see racism as some export from abroad, then we end up ignoring and overlooking issues happening in our own backyard — right now” (Shout Out UK, 2020), we can see how it’s easy to assume that racism is simply an overt hatred that’s demonstrated through extreme acts of violence that many only see occurring through the un-rose colored lenses that the United States have lent the rest of the world without realizing that racism can persist in even the most subtle manners as well.
Take an incident that occurs in numerous countries: sneaking pictures of foreign travellers. I once came across a TikTok video on my FYP of a Black man standing in line when he was visiting China, and expressed discomfort in the caption of his video which shows a young Chinese girl discreetly whipping out her phone to take a picture of him while pointing at him. It’s no secret that the appearance of a person in a homogenous society especially in countries like Japan will spark curiosity, and thus it may be seen as being overly sensitive if whomever is taking a picture of you simply because they’re not used to seeing such a person in their entire lives.
While it is easy to excuse locals by reasoning that not all have malicious intent and just wanted to take a photo for their own keep’s sake, it’s also without a doubt an uncomfortable experience that many foreigners have voiced out made them feel ‘alien’. I’ve scrolled through a large number of article comments that touch upon this topic, and the most popular consensus is that travellers wouldn’t mind having their photo taken if the locals had just politely asked.
Furthermore, a recent EU data shows that in many European countries, 47% of Black people have faced racial discrimination at least once in the past five years. Additionally, a whopping 91% of Black people in France have reported experiencing racism in their everyday lives, based on a study conducted by the Representative Council of Black Associations (Anadolu Agency, 2024). Incidents like this is a reality check that reminds everyone that racism is a global issue that is rising at fast speed. Focusing attention on just the effects of racism in America would have led people outside to believe that racism is not up for concern in their own countries.
Let’s circle back to America itself. Tokenism is the symbiotic inclusion of hiring or employing people of a minority group to instill the idea that a company or organization values diversity. Ever watched South Park? The only black child character, Token Black, is a satirical figure in the show to symbolize tokenism.
In workplaces that practice tokenism, it’s often the case that there’s only one or two Persons of Color hired as a means of company’s effort to address diversity concerns on a surface level without actually delving into the actual systematic harm that minorities face everyday. This act of perpetual exclusion harms everybody involved in the long run – minorities are given a burden to shoulder as they are often seen as the face of their entire ethnic group, while the majority group continue to be less encouraged to implement actual changes to demonstrate inclusive practices that actually benefits the minorities. In the end, tokenism is just a method for just the diversity box on the check list, leading to more prejudice towards People of Color.
Furthermore, racial ‘colorblindness’ has been on the rise for the past decade. Although many believe the ideology that one is treating people of all races equally by ignoring their skin color, this actually can lead to even more damage by allowing those with racist privilege to get away scot free without addressing the real, harsh impacts of racism. They are dismissed from acknowledging the effects a person’s race has on how a racist society treats them, thus reinforcing denial and subtle discrimination.
Oftentimes bringing up the topic of diversity and systematic racism in these settings where equality is emphasized could lead to People of Color being seen as a threat for challenging the status quo and those in power. This only drives a larger wedge between White people and People of Color as minorities can be ostracized for bringing up their personal experiences with racism, hence they are deemed as overly sensitive or political. As such, many minorities are peer pressured into keeping silent over racial issues to avoid verbal and emotional altercations.
Racism, the ideology and concept itself, despite having increasing awareness amongst our society in the past years, continues to remain and even grow rampant at an alarming rate. This can be inferred from data extracted from the Paw Research Centre in 2024, as Aktaş states that 8 in 10 African-Americans and 58% of Asian-Americans say they have experienced discrimination (Anadolu Agency, 2024). As such, work and progress to confront the uncomfortable and ugly truths of racism.
Racism is, unfortunately, not going anywhere anytime soon. That’s the harsh reality that we have to face of our own accord. Perhaps that’s why numerous people try to pretend that it’s not a topic in need of discussion or scrutinization. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Except it’s even harder to deny racism when the majority of a population experiences it. In fact, according to a survey, 89% of young people aged 13-17 have experienced or witnessed racism occurring, of which this most commonly happens either at school or online (Australian Human Rights Commission), further proving how dire and present racism still is.
In today’s world, often being ‘woke’ is known as acting annoying or overly dramatic over what is perpetually perceived by many as a shrinking issue due to ‘efforts’ being made to make everybody in a room feel equal. The main question that everyone should be asking themselves, however, is if it is better to be woke, or ignorant?
How does social media spread both awareness and misinformation about racism?
Written by Nandita Dighe
Social media is a space where information and opinions are instantly accessible. Users can engage with short-form or long-form content, follow world affairs from different countries, and connect with strangers who share common interests. Memes, cultural trends, and ideologies spread rapidly across platforms, influencing how people think and validating their beliefs, both positively and negatively. With only a screen and an internet connection, individuals gain access to a global network of voices and perspectives. Things like toxic Red pill content are apparent, and Body postevyty is there. There is no sort of moderation to see what’s morally right or wrong, as all opinions in one way or another are right.
In 2013, a hashtag was circulating on social media #BlackLivesMatter, founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi (3 African American women), when Trayvon Martin, an unarmed, regular teenage boy, was shot (2012). Then, in 2014 was the shooting of Michael Brown, an 18-year-old boy who was shot by the police. This brought more eyes to the movement. More people and users internationally realised the scarcity of this problem, the normalisation of racism against people with different skin and origins. In 2020, the murder of George Floyd is when it renewed attention to police brutality and systemic racism. The BLM movement took over intransitionally, causing protests and social media campaigns. Its central focus was to advocate civil rights, criminal justice reform, and police accountability. It caused major changes in the legal and job market system, for eg. The police force put up new and stricter laws of misconduct, giving them less leeway to get away with police brutality, and they also gave increased accountability, where most Police officers who had harmed would get repercussions. It also caused a corporate shift where some schools, for eg. Wales made black history mandatory.
During COVID-19, Asian hate, particularly against Eastern and Southeast Asian communities, (the reason heightened because the virus had allegedly stemmed from those regions). There was an increase in verbal and physical abuse, people shunned and avoided them, proprietors, business owners, and cars of Asian owners were vandalised. There was also a large demographic using cyberbullying and propaganda posts like #Chinesevirus or #KungFlue, directed not just at Asian Americans but also at K-pop idols. They used Asian people as scapegoats for COVID-19 and just amplified their hate and harassment as time went on. People started sharing #StopAsianHate to raise awareness and organise events. K-pop stans and other celebrities brought light to this issue by using their voices, and they reported the violence and discriminatory acts to the police. They used art, for eg, in NYC, they appointed a large wall art piece saying “I yet believe in our people” in efforts to reduce anti-Asian hate. Following the movement, the U.S. government passed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act in May 2021, which aimed to improve hate crime reporting and facilitate reviews of COVID-19-related hate crimes. (Also proposing to support the AAPI — the foundation that helped with anti-Asian hate and represents the Asian community).
However,
Social media has also been one of the biggest causes of racism increase globally. As people have the liberty to post anything with little to no repercussions in real life, racism becomes more blatant and upfront. People in comment sections make fun of content creators for their accent or ethnicity. Cyberbullying increased as anonymous, untraceable accounts send hate messages directly to users. Not just racism increased, but so did sexism, paedophilia, and bullying. As everyone had access to everyone, content creators shared or influenced their followers into thinking a specific way about a race. One popular discussion was how travel vloggers come to developing countries like India or Thailand and only show the poverty and uncleanliness of the country, and claim and talk about how “mad” it is. An example would be “Brayen Jonsen”; he had flown all the way to India and showed up in a mask — when asked about it, he complained about the air quality. Mid-interview, he got up and walked out, again complaining about the air quality (he was indoors in an AC room). This particular incident went on to national and international news. It made the country look bad, but he gained immense following and popularity through that. Online, it is normalised to make comments about someone’s wealth depending on where they are from, for eg, it was a widespread joke about how Africans didn’t come from money or how Filipino people “won the worst genetic lottery” (as they have a darker skin tone than normal north-east Asian people). These “jokes” were way too normalised and affected international students and the mentality of some people.
In conclusion, social media can do good, but users have to be responsible. The main intent of social media was to connect and have fun, and it still has that possibility. Normalising and realising even a small post that you think won’t do harm, will do harm to some people, and they can take it seriously and continue to spread the hate. Users need to realise they reap what they sow, and even if it only reaches 100 people, it only takes one to do something awful. Social media is a double-edged sword, and we must be careful with what we put and consume.
Bibliography
Kids, race and dangerous jokes | OUPblog
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4659767/ Not ‘just a joke:’ Confronting racist humor culture in school community – The Standard
https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/education/where-does-racism-happen
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/jan/18/keon-west-science-of-racism-book-extract
https://www.shoutoutuk.org/2020/12/04/racism-in-america-what-about-the-netherlands
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Lives-Matter
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/02/aapi-hate-study