Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Discrimination Act
I am very aware of the amount of discrimination that occurs in the United States. We abolished slavery after the Civil War. It is very unfortunate that those learned behaviors and ignorant belief ideals still exist today. I have personally experienced many acts of discrimination against a citizen. Some not so big and some not so small. But isn't any act of discrimination against an individual a big deal? I believe it is! I believe this because it sends the wrong messages to the youth and those visiting our country. the little pecks can lead too a punch if it happens enough. Of course a murder, beating, or a job dismissal are percieved as some of the worst acts of discrimination. From a personal stand point, what appals me the most is when a group pokes fun at an individual whom is disabled. I have witnessed this on several occasions: the first being in high school when a fellow cross country runner teammate of mine was made fun of because he was in the slow(is this a prejudice comment as well? )class. People on our team would make slurs towards him and play tricks on him. he was (slow) enough that he thought it was funny, as well. Our coach did nothing about it and neither did anyone else step forward. I guess as part of our learned behavior we simply did what we were taught and saw and went along with the crowd. I learned alot from this individual, as watching him take the abuse and go on his Junior and Senior years too qualify for the state meet was unbelievable. He certainly didn't get picked on anymore and we all learned alot from the situation. It just takes one person to have the courage to step forward and back an individual or a belief. Unfortunately it takes something really bad to happen before a change is made or a personal tragedy in the abusers life. On another occasion I witnessed a man in a wheelchair, whom was flailing his hands around and talking with a slur outloud being made fun of by a group of high school youth. It was sad to watch this occuring and the events really pissed me off. I turned towards the kids and told them too shut the -------- up now or they would be in big trouble. Then I told them a story: I recall stating that if that were your mother, father, sister, or brother sitting there Would you be acting as stupid as you are now? I also pointed out that they were the ones who appeared disabled and that the man in the wheelchair had more strenghth than any of them did, as he had to deal with the daily routine of having to live with a handicap. I believe they got the message because they didn't say another word the rest of the bus ride. Learned behaviors can be unlearned, if a person has to face the music! I takes courage to face the music. This is how we stop the ignorant ones.
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Since I am a biracial person I would never encourage discrimination. For simple reasons such as it would make my own life more difficult than it already is. But some of the stereotypes we create are for own good. Some are survival skills we have accumulated from past years. You get an idea by appearance and the way people carry themselves as to how they may react in a situation. All though cruel to say, we need some of this for the theory of survival of the fittest. I think if we were all identical in appearance, there would still be discrimination. It’s a part of life and is not going anywhere.
ReplyDeleteOf course any type of discrimination is a big deal. I don't think everyone thinks that, but I sure as hell do. I can't agree with you more about the disability discrimination. I can't stand when people poke fun at people with disabilities because they can't help it. Also, do you know how hard a disabled person's life already is? They last thing they need is people making fun of them. I think we need to start teaching kids from a young age that discrimination is not okay. To be honest, I can't remember when I was taught that this is not okay. I think our schools need to teach why poking fun at others or discriminating based on stereotypes is not okay.
ReplyDeleteThe discrimination of people with disabilities is probably one if the worst in my opinion. A lot of the time these individuals have no control over the things they do and they cannot defend themselves. On another note it generally only takes one person to get a group to behave in a certain way. A lot of people feel uncomfortable in a situation in which they are put with someone with a disability for the simple fact they don’t know how to behave because they have most likely had little exposure to that. I almost guarantee you that the group of kids behaving this way started with one person, that usually all it takes, and then the rest conform to that behavior because it is comfortable. I am not saying this is right because it isn’t, but I doubt that most of the kids would have behaved that way if they were alone. This is a perfect example of how we learn from society. If you are sheltered and not exposed to different types of situations then when you are uncomfortable most tend to play follow the leader, but for those that are close minded then it doesn’t matter how much they are expose to because they wont absorb anything. As for teaching this I mentioned in class that it is not acceptable to try and instill character in students. All a teacher can do is give facts and try to provide guidance. Obviously if the discrimination is occurring on school grounds or within school jurisdiction then the school can step in, but to actually tell kids what to think is something they cant do.
ReplyDeleteWow, good for you standing up and saying something. I beleive that is what it takes, to " face the music! It takes courage to face the music. This is how we stop the ignorant ones". This is so true. It takes courage to stand up and say something, to make the people doing it feel shame for themselves. The thing that gets me is soooooo many people feel upset when they hear about this. It makes most people angry when they hear this kind of stuff. If most people are so against it, then how the hell does it happen? I just wonder what these kind of people are really like. How do they skate by doing this and not get put in their place by their friends or family or ????Is it just the ignorance and stupidity of youth? I just don't get it!
ReplyDeleteIv'e seen this happen many of times where someone has a disability and they are treated different. when i was in high school there were kids that always got picked on and made fun of becuase they weren't as popular or talked differnt. Whenever i saw it i stood up/ for them i would tell the other person that was making the comments to back off and leave the other person alone. It doen't matter what kind of discrimination takes place no one deserves to be treated different. Everyone should be treated the same as everyone else. If teachers sat down and talked to kids at a young age about discrimination that would help out alot.
ReplyDeleteI wish that I had the courage sometimes to stand up and stop something that I know is wrong. However, like you say in your post, nowadays most people will just go along with the discrimination and not stop it. It is sad when you see disabled people who can't help themselves getting made fun of and being harassed, and it unfortunately happens all too much in this country. We should be more concerned with helping people than making jokes about them.
ReplyDeleteI couldnt agree with you more. The fact that we have come so far as a country and yet still have all of these problems is amazing. You made a good point with the disabled person. Many times they are overlooked as a group of people who get discriminated aghenst. I have an uncle who is mentally ill. He gets discriminated aghenst alot. He simply doesnt under stand that it is happing. The country will be a much better place when we can all judge the individual for themselves.
ReplyDeleteFayne, that is a great story about the boy you knew in high school and a terrible story about the kids on the bus, but unlike most people would you stood up for the disabled individual. The problem is, so many people would hear the story you told and imagine that they would do the same thing in that situation, but obviously that is not the case, otherwise there would not be so many acts of discrimination. Subtle acts are bad enough, but someone being mocked right to their face is downright despicable. It takes a lot of arrogance for someone to think that they are so much better than anyone else that they have the right to treat others with disrespect.
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