Prejudices: Challenging Level Prejudice

In today’s society, we face prejudice every day in many forms. Most people in today’s society have either been victims of prejudice or are guilty of exhibiting prejudice towards others.

It has been thoroughly thought over what current topic or issue that people experience in most environments today, at both a micro and macro level that would be able to be examined and have come to the decision of looking at the most widely discussed subject, prejudice. All people are affected by prejudice in one way or another and it can impact on people's lives depending on what form it has taken. Also to be able to acknowledge that all people can be prejudices and see this is the first step to overcoming it.. The question that has been decided upon is that of “What types of prejudice do we see commonly today and how do they affect an individual at a micro and macro level?”

Prejudice is when we have a preconceived opinion about someone or a group of people that is formed without knowledge, or even a real understanding about them.

Children and young people can experience prejudice and discrimination from their earliest social encounters with others. Prejudice is an unreasonable or unfair dislike or preconceived negative view of individuals belonging to a particular group. Discrimination is the bigoted behaviour of singling out a particular person or group for different treatment than the others. Both of these unacceptable responses usually arise as a result of ignorance of the benefits of diversity and a primal impulse of ‘group mentality’.

“Recent research suggest that racial/ethnic discrimination is a common experience for adolescents of color in schools and other public settings given the overabundance of negative stereotypes that situate Black and Brown youth as dangerous and threatening to society (Nicholas et al, 2008; Rose, 1994).” (Hope, Skoog, Jagers, 2014)

Prejudice is an opinion in which is not based on any reasoning, and may cause harm. Prejudice can be seen just about anywhere, and it affects our daily lives. There are many different ways a person can show prejudice beliefs, but why do they believe things they have never experience? Some may say it’s something personal with one’s self that causes prejudice thoughts, or some may think it their surroundings contribute as a motive.

Prejudice is “an adverse opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or before sufficient knowledge” (Merriam); according to Lystra Moore Richardson of Yale University: “prejudice… was part of the very fiber of Southern life [during the Great Depression].” With these two pieces of information, it is derived that people formed judgments and opinions of a person without just

“No one is born hating another person because the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Nelson Mandela. In today’s society, minorities deal with racial issues such as racial profiling, racial bullying in institutions, and because of these racial attitudes, groups and movements have formed due to these acts. To this day, society is still burdened with many people who do not fully grasp the concept of equality; because of this, outdated racial attitudes are still an ongoing issue in modern society.

Studs Terkel (1980) relates C. P. Ellis' story about how his experiences organizing a union opened his eyes about how corporations treat minorities, and resulted in a new understanding of the people around him even though he was a former Klansman. I have never been in the Klan or organized a union, but a similar turning point for me came for me when I saw the movie "The Eye of the Storm," about Jane Elliot's experiment with white schoolchildren in Riceville, Iowa. This experiment demonstrated to me how children respond to cultural cues first from their parents and family members, but then through the institutions they are forced to participate in like school; the church; other families and supervisory agencies. If even white children can be taught to discriminate against other white children on something as arbitrary and insubstantial as eye color, then how easy it must be to train them to respond in denigrating ways to people with different skin color, body shapes or language for example, I realized. This changed my perspective on racism and ethnicity and while I have since done much research and believe education is the secret, the way I have decided to implement change in my own life, is to speak out when I hear someone making a denigrating comment.

Given a choice between being seen as an adult and hate for no reason or never become an adult, many young adults were forced to learn to become “proper” in their parents eyes. The parents are the ones who teach young adults everything they know while they are young and mold-able to words. Stories of racism and bigotry have been passed down through generations and are treated as jokes. Children are melded into thinking that all of these “jokes” are what is right for society and don't care for consequences later because of how they were raised. This show how influential a young mind can be especially when it is from the

Prejudices are most difficult to eradicate from the heart whose soil has never been loosened or fertilized by education: they grow there, firm as weeds among stones.

In this paper I will discuss what happens when we allow biases and prejudice to affect our actions toward others. I will then conclude my paper with what we can do to prevent or eliminate discrimination.

Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible. (Maya Angelou) By definition prejudice is a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. Prejudice to others is hate, judgement, and evil. The effects of prejudice are shown in the novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, the play The Merchant of Venice, and the tragedy known as the Holocaust. Prejudice affected all people differently, but one thing is true for all; prejudice is crippling and disables those who experience it from being who they truly are and doing as they please.

5. What are the effects of education on prejudice levels and what is the reason for these effects?

Prejudice, a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or personal experience. The amount of prejudice differs from person to person, but no one is free from it. In the film, American History X, Derek is a great example of how prejudice someone can be. Derek agrees with the white power movement because he feels victimized and threatened by everyone who is not white, but in prison he learns his stereotypes are full of holes; from the film I learned there is no reason to hate one another based on race or stereotypes. Life is too short to live a life based on hate.