All throughout history, there have been countless incidents where a certain person defined themselves as part of the superior race. For example, Adolf Hitler, the fascist dictator, believed that the Aryan race was the supreme race and that all other races belonged to the bottom rungs of humanity. He saw Jews as a poisonous race that lived off of other races. After he took power of Germany in 1934, he decreed that teachers apply the principles of racial science. These applications determined whether a student belonged to the Aryan race or not based on their physical features. Another similar example is the KKK (Ku Klux Klan). This group of white supremacists used to lynch African-Americans that would try to increase black political activity. Like Hitler, the KKK was known to be anti-semitic and they also lynched Jews.
Going more back in time, another figure that was known for his views on race was William Walker. Walker was most known for being a notorious filibuster as well as taking control of Nicaragua during the time of its civil war and declaring himself president of Nicaragua in 1856. After becoming president, he reinstated slavery, which he later also recasted his campaign with. This proves how he was racist because he wanted the idea of black slavery to spread beyond the Southern region of the United States.
Another more well-known figure that was undoubtedly a racist was the seventh U.S. president, Andrew Jackson. His Indian Removal Act of 1830 forced several Native American populations to relocate from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to areas west of the Mississippi River. This movement became widely known as the Trail of Tears and was one of the most devastating acts against Native Americans in U.S. history. Along with his supporters, he also implemented a “gag rule”, which put a stop to all anti-slavery petitions from going into Congress. These two examples demonstrate how far Jackson went to remove any chance of the Native Americans and African Americans to have any say in what would be their fate while being in the U.S. These two acts took away their freedom as well as their voice.
A more current and well-known example of a racist is current president of the U.S., Donald Trump. The first of many racial incidents that Trump created occurred before he even officially declared his campaign to run for the 2016 presidential election. It was when he questioned President Obama’s religion and place of birth. Trump claimed that Obama was a Muslim and that he was not born in the U.S. These doubts were extremely racist because had Obama not been African-American, Trump would most likely not have made any of those accusations. Furthermore, Trump initiated his campaign with his unforgettable remarks about Mexicans. He called them drug dealers, criminals, and rapists. This far-stretched accusation proves how racist Trump is. He went even further afterwards by saying that he will build a wall to keep Mexican immigrants out of the U.S., and that he was going to have Mexico pay for it. This shows how he views the Mexicans as inferior and that he thinks they do not belong in the U.S. A couple months into his campaign, Trump made another unbelievable statement against another “race”, the Muslims. He said that he would ban all Muslims from coming into the U.S., which he actually tried to implement when he became president. This proves that he views all Muslims as terrorists, which is why he does not want any to come to the U.S.
The Races of Empires 