Racism means treating someone poorly because of their skin colour, ethnicity or where they come from. It includes all the barriers that prevent people from enjoying dignity and equality because of their race.

It can happen at work/in a public place/in a sports field/etc.

Racism usually comes in form of jokes or comments, but it can also involve violence, abuse and intimidating behavior.

Racism doesn’t just hurt communities of color, but it hurts all of us. Despite the fact that nowadays everyone is talking about postracism society, racism never went away. It is very important to recognize that fact.

Racism causes serious impacts on people, including anxiety, depression, low self-steem, higher suicidal rates and even has physical impacts such as high blood pressure.

It also can result in further prejudgment and discrimination and lead other to form wrong opinions on certain groups of people.

Racism is something you are NOT born with. Racism is

learned.

Sometimes racism is related to people feeling the threat posed by another group to their community or national identity.

It can also occur when people need to identify with their own group.

Sometimes, racism occurs due to ignorance, when people don`t realize an impact their words or actions may have on others.

Finally, there is a minority of people who still believe that some races are superior to others. However, today most of the people accept the diversity and take their part in eradicating racism.

People of different groups experience racism.

Some groups experience more racism than the others. For example, people who are already experiencing discrimination due to the group they belong (LGBTQIA+, Women, Disabled, Immigrants, etc.).

Usually, racism is experienced by people with skin colour other than white. (Sometimes racism can be experienced by immigrants of any color with nonnative speaking backgrounds).

Sometimes racism is not very obvious. For example, an employer decides not to interview some people because of their foreign names or surnames. Or for example an African guy is being asked by aguard to show his bag in the shop.

Invisible racism is hard to track and address and it involves prejudgment.

Everyday racism usually comes in a form of inappropriate jokes or comments. Sometimes with no intent to cause harm.

However, racism is not about a person who is commenting or joking, it is about a person being harmed.

Sometimes it can come in a form of people assuming something about the others. For example, a person assuming another person like particular things due to where he comes from, which sometimes can be offensive.

Sometimes racism goes further and comes in a form of bullying, name-calling and physical abuse.

It occurs when practices and policies in organizations or governments result in unfair treatment of some groups.

One form, which is called institutional racism, appears when inside the organization racism is established as normal behavior. For example, there are unwritten rules regarding which person can be hired or promoted based on their belonging to a certain group.

The other form – structural racism refers to excluding some groups of people in the societies. For example, people of some groups are not equally represented in fields like politics, media, legal occupations, etc. which results in further development of inequalities.

First of all, it starts with ourselves. Be considerate and be mindful of what you say and do and how it can impact other people’s feelings and lives.

If you hear a racist comment or joke – don`t stay silent. Explain a person why it is inappropriate and how it impacts the others. Also, you can ask a racist person to put him/her-self on the place of whom the racist joke/comment was addressed.

If it happens online – send the link to this guide.

You can wear one of our Voice Pins. It will give you a chance to start a conversation with others about racism. For example, you can answer the questions about why are you wearing this pin and why is it important to fight against racism. You can also point out to your friends/family/colleagues/etc. that you are wearing a Voice Pins to educate them on the existing problems and encourage them to take part as well.

There are some groups of people who will ask you to provide them evidence that racism actually exists. You can get all the facts here, here or here