Intercultural Communication

Discrimination in Colombia

     Discrimination can be seen in many ways, one of them is to judge and treat in a different way because of the color of people`s skin and it is most commonly known as racism.  This kind of discrimination has prevailed in our society for a long time ago. There still be the belief that Afro-Colombian people are the ones that only can do the hard work and only for little money, the ones that cannot have privilege and education because they only were born to work as slaves.

     Firstly, Colombia is the home of the third largest population of Afro-descendants after Brazil and the U.S. Unfortunately, that fact does not count for us to be more respectful to Afro-people. Contrary, we still are skeptical about this issue of racism. To give an illustration, in 2014 on a famous Colombian newspaper in the classification section was found the next sentence “A female surgeon doctor with college degree Internship in Clinic Inscription. 25-30 years old, of white skin. Needed, a personal interview Dr. Guarín, next July, 22nd, 10 A.m.”. This is just one of the many more examples we can find in Colombia.

     Secondly, it is very sad that darker-skinned people work for low-paying jobs and the socio-economic state of the country is very telling of how Afro-Colombians are prioritized in society tension where suddenly just being black or African-American becomes rare or inadequate.

     To sum up, Colombia is a diverse country full of different people with different customs and ways of dressing, living and think, we should be more tolerant and human with any kind of racism. All of us have the same rights and duties even Afro-Colombians, in that way we should avoid this horrible habit of stereotyping and judging people just because they are different to us.