Racism The mere mention of the topic usually results in quiet muttering as people either pretend to ignore the discussion or it turns into an argument that leaves the whole room angry . To some extent, these are understandable reactions. Racism has always been a sore nerve around the world, but particularly in America, the land of immigrants. For most people, talking about racism is like tiptoeing through a minefield, but some are totally fine with discussing the topic, but rarely get the chance and often fall into a religious zeal that would put Hitler's aural talents to shame; which often makes people fall back into the first category, terrified of incurring wrath for being "racist" or having a bad mentality. Why have we given such power to a little two-syllable word? History has given us many reasons to fear this word, with the long list of atrocities attributed to race; but by failing to have open discussions without fear of the topic, are we not just allowing another trail of tears or holocaust to occur? The functionalist perspective believes that the solution to the social problem of race is assimilation in which an ethnic minority loses its cultural belonging. identity to join the dominant group. Which, they argue, is consistent with the image of America as a melting pot; According to them, assimilation allows a society to maintain its balance if all members of the society, regardless of their racial or ethnic identity, adopt a dominant culture. When I hear functionalist perspective theory, all that comes to mind is the word cult. The idea of ​​a group being forced to abandon their cultural identity to conform to the norm is not the America I know and love. America without its diversity without its countless b...... middle of paper ......rts at the smallest link in the chain. It starts with us, it starts with tackling these problems head on, understanding them and integrating small-scale solutions into our daily lives. Too often, when faced with social problems, we think that the only power for change lies in government, but as Obama said in a speech to Congress, "our predecessors understood that government cannot and should not not solve all the problems. This is a lesson we have lost. but we must recover if we hope to progress as a society. Humans often think of society as a single point in time, but in reality it is a long line stretching from the first human beings into an unpredictable future and in our hands we have the possibility to transform the point on the line that we occupy into a high or low point. indicate. Progress is slow and difficult, but every progress we make today makes life easier for the next generation..