racism has always existed

Racism Has Always Existed — What Makes Us Think We Can Stop It Now?

It’s a common refrain: “Racism has always existed. Why would it end now?” The implication is that bigotry is so deeply woven into human nature that efforts to dismantle it are naïve at best. But history—and reality—tell a more complicated story.

The “Always” Argument Is Flawed

Yes, forms of prejudice have existed for as long as humans have formed groups. Skin color, religion, language, and nationality have all been used as dividing lines. But permanence in the past does not guarantee permanence in the future. Slavery, for example, existed for thousands of years and in every corner of the world—until abolition movements dismantled it in many nations within the last two centuries. Women were denied the right to vote for millennia, and yet suffrage movements overturned that reality in less than a lifetime. “Always” is not the same as “forever.”

Why Racism Persists

Racism survives not because it is inevitable, but because it is profitable—for some. It justifies economic exploitation, political power grabs, and cultural dominance. Systems that benefit from division have every incentive to keep racial hierarchies alive. This means that racism’s roots are not simply in human hearts, but in laws, policies, and institutions that have been deliberately designed and maintained.

Why We Can Change It Now

There are three major reasons to believe racism can be challenged more effectively now than in the past:

Global Visibility – In previous centuries, racial atrocities could be hidden from the broader public. Today, a video recorded on a phone can spark global outrage within hours. This visibility forces conversations that were once avoided or denied.
Legal and Structural Precedent – While racism still exists in our systems, there is a legal framework—civil rights laws, anti-discrimination acts—that can be strengthened and enforced. Past generations fought for these tools; our job is to use them.
Shifts in Public Morality – Not all hearts change at the same speed, but we’ve reached a point where explicit racial slurs and openly segregationist policies are condemned by the majority. This creates more social pressure against blatant racism, even as we wrestle with the subtler forms.

The Real Question: Will We Do the Work?

The fact that racism has existed for centuries is not a reason to accept it—it’s a reason to keep fighting it. Ending racism won’t happen by accident, and it won’t happen in a single generation. But every major social change in history—from ending child labor to granting women the right to own property—began with a group of people refusing to accept “that’s just the way it is.”

We may never erase every trace of prejudice from the human mind. But we can dismantle the systems that allow prejudice to harm, kill, and limit people’s lives. That is not idealism—it is the same practical determination that has fueled every step forward in human rights.

Racism has always existed. That’s exactly why we can’t leave it to the next generation to solve. The work starts—and continues—with us.

Racism Has Always Existed