Racism is the incitation of discrimination, hatred or violence towards a person or a group of persons because of their origin or their belonging, or not belonging, to a specific ethnic group or race. Such discrimination, hatred and violence are directed against minority groups. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/racism
https://www.undp.org/blog/be-inspired-remain-humble-undps-mission-tackle-racism-development-programming
Between 1525 and 1866, 12.5 million people were kidnapped from Africa and sent to the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade. Around 2 million slaves didn’t survive the 2 month journey.
In August of 1619, the first enslaved Africans arrived to the English colonies in the Americas. Kidnapped by Portuguese slave traders, more than 20 Angolans were sold to English colonists in Jamestown. This marked the beginning of 246 years of continuous enslavement in what will become the United States.
https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/aamc-releases-framework-address-and-eliminate-racism
Throughout the 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to enslaved Africans as a cheaper, more plentiful labor source than indentured servants. In the 17th and 18th centuries, enslaved Africans worked mainly on the tobacco, rice and indigo plantations of the southern coast.
After the American Revolution, many colonists, particularly in the North, where slavery was relatively unimportant to the agricultural economy - linked the oppression of enslaved Africans to their own oppression by the British, and called for slavery’s abolition.
But after the Revolutionary War, the new U.S. Constitution tacitly acknowledged the institution of slavery, counting each enslaved individual as three-fifths of a person.
Between 1774 and 1804, most of the northern states abolished slavery or started the process to abolish slavery, but the institution of slavery remained vital to the South.
Though the U.S. Congress outlawed the African slave trade in 1808, the domestic trade flourished, and the enslaved population in the United States nearly tripled over the next 50 years. By 1860 it had reached nearly 4 million, with more than half living in the cotton-producing states of the South.
On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation proclamation, and on January 1, 1863, he made it official that “slaves within any State, or designated part of a State…in rebellion,…shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
Almost a century later, resistance to the lingering racism and discrimination in America that began during the slavery era led to the civil rights movement of the 1960s, which achieved the greatest political and social gains for Black Americans since Reconstruction.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery
The civil rights movement was a struggle for social justice that took place mainly during the 1950s and 1960s for Black Americans to gain equal rights under the law in the United States. The Civil War had officially abolished slavery, but it didn’t end discrimination against Black people, they continued to endure the devastating effects of racism, especially in the South. By the mid-20th century, Black Americans had had more than enough prejudice and violence against them. They, along with many white Americans, mobilized and began an unprecedented fight for equality that spanned two decades.
Even though all Americans had gained the right to vote, many southern states made it difficult for Black citizens. They often required prospective voters of color to take literacy tests that were confusing, misleading and nearly impossible to pass.
On September 9, 1957, President Eisenhower signed the Civil Rights Act of 1957 into law, the first major civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. It allowed federal prosecution of anyone who tried to prevent someone from voting.
The civil rights movement had tragic consequences for two of its leaders in the late 1960s. On February 21, 1965, former Nation of Islam leader and Organization of Afro-American Unity founder Malcolm X was assassinated at a rally.
On April 4, 1968, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on his hotel room's balcony. Emotionally-charged looting and riots followed, putting even more pressure on the Johnson administration to push through additional civil rights laws.
The civil rights movement was an empowering yet precarious time for Black Americans. The efforts of civil rights activists and countless protesters of all races brought about legislation to end segregation, Black voter suppression and discriminatory employment and housing practices.
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/civil-rights-movement
One way to start ending racism would be starting a group of all people willing to help fight the rage of racist people and put an end to racism. The group would start by just calling out all racist jokes and comments and make that person feel dumb for saying that to the point where they will not do it anymore. Another way would be to get rid of anything that focuses on racism on the news.