Racism is a certain type of prejudice, based on faulty reasoning and inflexible generalizations towards a specific group. The word prejudice comes from the Latin noun prejudicial, meaning judgment based on previous decisions formed before the facts were known. If a person allows their prejudices to block another person's progress, it is discrimination. Those who exclude others from certain types of jobs, housing, political rights, educational opportunities, or social interactions are guilty of racial discrimination. Stereotyping, the prejudice of others based on race, color, sex and religion, is also another of the many forms of racism. In fact, stereotypes are probably the most subtle and misunderstood form of racism. This is partly because many people don't understand exactly what stereotypes are and how badly they affect others. Racism is no longer simply one race hating another. It has enveloped almost every aspect of our society. Many people today live their lives unaware of what is happening in the world around them, often trying to convince themselves that racism is not a problem in their world. Others know all about the problem, but don't realize that they themselves could be contributing to the problem by discriminating against someone else's human rights while at the same time going around saying how open-minded they are. One of the main The problem of racism is that many people live in racist conditions, without even seeing it. It often happens at school, in the workplace, in the community or even in their own homes. People often tell jokes with racial slurs, and while we know not to laugh at jokes about black people, jokes about other races like Chinese and Hispanics seem to be okay. We tell ourselves they are just jokes, but not to those they are ridiculing. We are all responsible for this and usually consider these types of jokes to be harmless. They may be harmless and maybe sometimes we even think they are funny, but they are also harmful and degrading. Some of the biggest racists are those who don't even know they are racists and even say they aren't racists. These people are racist because they can't understand what's going on and don't realize that what they're saying is racist. As long as they don't face this problem, no problem exists in their mind.