The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As I child I never felt that there was prejudices against me.  Even though I grew up in the projects I never realized that they were projects until I was much older.  I felt that there were biases against Blacks as I go older.  I remember that there were two community centers in our neighborhood.  One that was used mostly by the Blacks and one that was used mostly by the Whites.  Although no one ever said that we had to use one facility or the other it was understood by some that there should have been that division.  Well with my ignorance to the situation I usually went to the mostly White facility.  What I found there was that the people were very nice and respectful. I swam and enjoyed the company of my friends.  I also found that I was more comfortable there.  The facility was nicer and the atmosphere was better.  I think that when we cause divisions in our communities it creates an element of anger and hatred.  It’s hatred for those who don’t think that you are as special as they are but also hatred for yourself.  You want to change who you are to fit in and that’s never an okay scenario.

I believe that this incident diminished equity by encouraging one race of people to feel more dominant than another.  I also feel that it allowed the less dominant culture to feel as though they weren’t good enough which caused them to develop low self esteem issues and issues of low self worth.  On the flip side I think that when this happens communities begin to rally together to make changes for the better good of the people.  My community tried to embrace and bring people together.  We began sharing the centers and there were always events at both centers that invited others to come and take part in.

For me this incident was a learning experience because it allowed me to see that people were afraid.  They were afraid of things that they didn’t know and of change.  I think that this was true on both sides of the color barriers.  People are often afraid of things that are out of the norm for them.  If they feel that change is about to happen and it isn’t what they are use to then it causes them to panic.  Instead of embracing the changes that are for the good of man we tend to shy away and fight to keep things the same.

In order for this incident to become better in the equity department I think that change would have to start inside of one person and move on to the next.  I think that if one person changes the way that they think then maybe the next person will change and so on and so forth.  I believe that if we work together with our communities to make changes it will catch on and eventually people will start to see the importance of caring for others that are different than themselves.