Prejudice
Written by: Ashleigh Paige Stephenson
“What does it matter, if we’re black or white? What clothes we wear and if our shoes are on right? What does it matter whether we are young or old? We are all somewhat the same because we all have a soul.”
–Ashleigh Stephenson
There are many prejudices in the world. We all know that, we see it everyday. But that doesn’t mean we have to continue to prejudge people that are different than us. Prejudism is no longer only about white vs. black, but it is still a big deal to some people who believe that blacks do not belong in the world. We also need to know that Prejudism has been around pretty much forever, and that we can never get rid of prejudice all together, however we can work together to lessen Prejudism and begin to accept everyone around us.
To begin, we all know that there is a plethora amount of Prejudism out there in the world today. It has always been around. In the 18th century and 19th century white people were against black people, and even into the 20th century. Based on the book by Harper Lee To Kill a Mockingbird. Prejudism against blacks (or Negros if you prefer) was around well into the 1900s. The civil war had taken place approximately 35 years before, but people continued to dislike the Negro race. The book describes a young girl’s experience living in a racist southern town in the 1900s. Scout (the main character as well as the narrator) defines what a small innocent child sees. She also shows how children see everybody as people but many times children change as they mature and how they are raised determines how they would see the world.
To include, everyone is prejudice one time or another in their life. You may not be racist, but you can still be prejudice based on the way you look at or see the people around you. There is a cliché: “Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Or the old saying, “It’s not what is on the outside; it’s what is on the inside”. They are both true, but not everyone has this mentality. The youth and adults of our time and past time has prejudged and continued to prejudge people every day. I interviewed my pastor, Rev. Dr. Miriam Laureano, and asked her what was her opinion about Prejudism.
“Prejudism is when you refuse to accept people for who they are and what they are to become. It is also a lack of understanding that we are all individuals, uniquely created for different purposes. For me there is no white collar or blue collar people because everyone that strives to do their very best with the tools they have been given, and does it to the best of their ability is a professional in their field.” She replied. In addition, there is some pretty weird ways to be prejudice. I read an article about one of these ways by Aya Katz. Aya Katz a writer states that there is not only racial prejudism, there can be Prejudism of Gender, or most commonly known as a person who is sexist. This is her story. “In my life, I have often been startled by the prejudices that I’ve encountered. I’m sure I have plenty of prejudices of my own, but until they are brought to our attention, most of us are unaware of our misconceptions. It is not so much people’s misconceptions that puzzle me as the inability to revise an opinion once new evidence is brought to light. When I was eleven, my family moved to Grand Prairie, Texas. The process of assimilating to this new environment was difficult, but I did manage to make a friend during my first year there.
She was a girl in my class, who like me enjoyed poetry and playing dolls. One day, she made the following offhand observation: “Guys don’t write poetry.”I was startled. I said: “Why do you think that?””Well, they don’t even like poetry. Poetry is something girls like.””But some of the most famous poets in the world were men!” I said. “Shakespeare was a man. And Wordsworth was a man. And Byron was a man. And Kipling. I mean real men,” she said. I always get confused when people use that qualifier. “Real men” — as opposed to false men? Was my friend trying to imply that Shakespeare was really a woman? Or that Wordsworth was a chimpanzee? Or that Lord Byron had his poetry generated for him by a computer? No. She was not questioning the facts that I presented. She was trying to let me know that these counterexamples were irrelevant. Those were all Englishmen, which I cited. (I could have cited non-English poets, but I thought she might not have heard of those.) And they were all dead. And so they didn’t count.”No man I’ve ever met likes poetry,” she explained.”That’s not true,” I said.
“You’ve met my father. And he likes poetry. He even writes it.””Oh,” she said. “Well, okay. But… that doesn’t count.”What I find puzzling is not my friend’s initial hypothesis that men don’t like poetry, but the fact that nothing I could say or do — no evidence that I could present — would ever change her mind. Was it because she doubted the veracity of my claims? I don’t think so. Was it because she didn’t mean “all men” but “most men”? Or was it because she used some sort of algorithm for statistical analysis that required her to dump outliers? My friend was not sufficiently articulate to explain her reasoning, and I remain in the dark to this very day.”
Lastly, you probably think that everyone believes that Prejudism is bad. Right? Wrong. On the contrary, not everyone believes Prejudism is all that bad. In fact they probably think it’s better than not being prejudice. Paul Landkamer actually practices Prejudism. This was his comment. “Yeah, I exercise prejudice. To some extent, we all draw conclusions on things based on their first sensual appeal. I’m not ashamed of my prejudice. It helps keep me safe, physically, psychologically and even spiritually –guilty until proven otherwise, when it comes to many areas. Prejudice works most of the time. And it should, however, be your full-time practice.” See not everyone dislikes prejudice. But there is still a significant amount that does. Many sociologists and psychologists say that some of the emotionality in prejudice begins from subconscious attitudes that cause a person to ward off any feelings of being insecure (most of the time with themselves) by projecting them into a target group. It is almost the same as bullying, except prejudice is more personal.
In conclusion, prejudism is a cruel way of looking at people. If we just be compassionate and accepts people for who they are, we can change the way people, even ourselves think about us and those around us. So what does it matter if we are tall or short, fat or skiny, boy or girl (well, that does matter, but you know what I mean).
If we put aside our differences we may be able to prevent people from becoming depressed, violent, or even suicidal. I have heard this from a very wonderful, compassionate, and friendly young woman, whose life ended short, because her peers were mean and prejudice against two smart young men since they didn’t fit in. Her name is Rachel Joy Scott. She said “If we just remember the first, second, or third impressions, then nobody would have any friends. If we start to get to know others for who they are inside we may stop todays wars. Who knows, we may even start a CHAIN REACTION.” Before I end my speech I just want to ask one question that we probably all heard once or twice in our life. “How would you feel if someone didn’t like you or didn’t give you a chance because of the color of your skin?” Thank you.