There is no denying it; we all are prejudice, some more than others. Just imagine yourself walking through an airport terminal. There is a Middle-Eastern man sitting, waiting to get on the same plane that you happen to be boarding. Due to recent events over the past decade, many Americans have a feeling that this man is a terrorist and is going to blow up the plane. Although this is not the truth, this is how most people think. People obtain these prejudices from family, friends and events. When you are growing up your personality, beliefs and lifestyles are formed. Prejudice does not just come out through skin color, but about other qualities such as physical and mental disabilities. Throughout this course we have discussed many different types of prejudices. We learned about Mike Rose, Majora Carter, the Fugees, Jo Goodwin Parker, Lars Eighner, Jane Elliot and others. Each story told another form a prejudice, each equally wrong and powerful. The most common form of prejudice is racism. See this form displayed in Majora Carter’s “Greening the Ghetto”, the Fugees story and Jane Elliot’s “A Class Divided”. Majora Carter is a young educated African American woman who grew up in the ghettos in the South Bronx. During the time of her childhood many of the buildings in her neighborhood were abandoned; landlords were burning their buildings to collect the insurance; light manufacturing industries were moving out and waste facilities were moving in to take their place. Ghettos are known for housing low-income minorities. Most of the residents never make it out of these living areas, but the few who do, such as Majora go on to do great things. Prejudices were placed on her not giving her a chance to reach her full potential. The next story is about a group of Refugee soccer players from war-ridden countries around the world, such as Afghanistan, Bosnia, Burundi, Congo, Gambia, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, Somalia and Sudan. The players range from ages 9-17 and are divided among 3 teams. The story is not only about external prejudice on the players and coach, who happens to be a female, but internally. The external prejudices resides within the community and the mayor, who does not approve of them playing. The internal problems were that the team did not approve of there coach being a woman. Although she had much experience she was not looked upon as equal until she proved to them by shooting on goal in nothing but her bare feet. This showed them that she does not need equipment like them and also that she is equal. The final story is about a teacher named Jane Elliot, who wanted to teach her third grade students about prejudices because of the recent assassination of Martin Luther king Jr. She wanted to teach her students about prejudice even though they are young and are believed to be not able to understand the situation. Her idea was to split the class in two groups the blue and brown eyes. It would be over a two-day period. One day the brown-eyed students would be the “better than” the blue eyed and the next day their roles would reverse. Over the next two days the students turned from “little angels” to “little demons”. The students then reflected the following day and came to realize what the current setting of the country was. We look at prejudice as only racism, but there are obviously different types. Now we take a look at non-racial prejudice through the stories of Mike Rose and Lars Eighner. Mike Rose who now is a highly regarded teacher and writer, but his educational background started in the vocational education programs. He shows that students that are given the short end of the stick should not be undermined. His story shows how the “slower” students are not always slower. Mike went on to become a graduate of UCLA, a highly regarded school, receive his PH.D and become very successful. The next lesson to be learned is from the story of Lars Eighner. Lars Eighner is a “dumpster diver”, someone who goes through dumpsters searching for wants and needs. Lars was a man who would only go for needs. He would get food and clothes from them. People would look at him as someone below them, because he is homeless. The story goes on to tell how he has dealt with the situation and made the best of it.
The final segment of this topic is my personal experience with prejudice. Day in and day out people unknowingly make a comment; it may not be on purpose, but it happens because it is apart of our culture. We as a country take racism lightly and harshly; it just depends on whom it is referencing. If you make a racial slur to your “own kind” then it is not frowned upon; normally it is a joke. When someone outside the race makes the slur, it is then uncalled for and racist.
We view others differently because of simple physical, mental and social differences. As little kids we are more accepting and everyone is the same, but as time passes normally so does this stage in our life. We all want to say that we are not prejudice, but the fact is that we are. My real life examples of how prejudice effects me is mainly being Jewish. Many people make jokes saying that Jews are rich and that they have big noses and that they have horns. Although I can tolerate a joke here and there, as most people can, prejudices are very offensive to anyone. My biggest peeve with religion is during the holiday season. One of the most annoying, ignorant things is when people assume that you are a certain religion, normally Christian or Catholic. Even though it is a simply pleasant gesture to wish someone a Merry Christmas; a simple Happy Holidays would be a more appropriate gesture. Prejudices are not fun and they’re offensive. We as a society cannot do anything about it because it is not something you can fix with a law, but it is something that can be changed over time due to personal desires.