Cultural Competence Concepts (G2281)

Contemporary racism refers to the subtle and sometimes implicit negative beliefs about others based solely on their race or ethnic background. Whereas “traditional” forms of racism tended to be visible through a person’s blatant discriminatory words, actions, and opposition to policies that may have brought about equality, contemporary racism is not as obvious and is often expressed in publicly acceptable ways. Because of its subtle forms, it is easy to think that racism no longer exists. Nonetheless, modern racism can have many serious repercussions and thus it is important to understand this concept and learn how to address it in our daily lives.