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, which refers to a judgment based on previous decisions formed before the facts were known. If one person allows their prejudices to block another's progress, that is discrimination. Those who exclude others from certain types of employment, housing, political rights, educational opportunities, or social interactions are guilty of racial discrimination. Stereotyping, that is, prejudice against others based on their race, color, gender and religion, also constitutes another form of racism. In fact, stereotyping is probably the most subtle and misunderstood form of racism. This is partly because many people don't understand exactly what stereotypes are and how much they affect others. Racism is no longer just one race hating another. It has affected almost every aspect of our society. Today, many people live indifferent to what is happening in the world around them, often trying to convince themselves that racism is not a problem in their world. Others know the whole problem, but don't really realize that they themselves could be making the problem worse by discriminating against the human rights of others and at the same time saying how open-minded they are. The problem with racism is that many people live in racist conditions without even realizing it. Often this happens at school, in their workplace, in their community or even in their own home. People often tell jokes with racial slurs, and while we know not to laugh at jokes about black people, it seems that jokes about other races like Chinese and Hispanics are acceptable. We tell ourselves that these are just jokes, but not for those they ridicule. We are all the perpetrators and we generally think that these types of jokes are harmless. They can be harmless and sometimes we even think they are funny, but they are also hurtful and degrading. Some of the biggest racists are those who don't even know they are racist, and even say they aren't. These people are racist because they can't understand what is happening and don't realize that what they are saying is racist. Until they solve this problem, in their minds, there won't be a problem..