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Prejudice is a terrible thing. As long as people still roam the Earth, prejudice will never cease. How ever long that we the people stay here on Earth, that is how long prejudice will last. We have tried to abolish prejudice, but it always comes back full force. People take into consideration peoples race and ethnicity, and if it is different from theirs, then that person probably is prejudice towards them in some way, shape, or form. Prejudice has been with Mankind since the beginning of time.
The easiest example of prejudice is when it comes to black and white. Since blacks were slaves in the beginning of American history, there has been a prejudice against the black race ever since. Some Whites figure they are superior to all other races, especially blacks since they once were property to the white man. Most American people realize that slavery was a very terrible thing that happened in Americas past.
Yet there are still some racist people who believe that the blacks should still be property or are less of a human. What are they thinking? Can they not realize that they are humans just like you and I? Since slavery, there have been all kinds of attempts to curve prejudice and abolish it; but as long as people are still here, its impossible. One way that America tried to stop prejudice was an act called Affirmative Action.
Not only did it not work, but also it is a form of prejudice all by itself. Affirmative Action is a quota for job employment and also for school acceptance, especially the acceptance in to colleges. It states that a certain amount of people from each race can be allowed into a school. It also states that employers have to hire a certain number of people from different races.
Affirmative Action is so prejudice; I dont know how it even was thought of. First of all, Affirmative Action discriminates against people who are smarter than most of the applicants, but dont get the job or acceptance to college because there is a quota for the school acceptance that had to be filled with people from other races. Then there is the fact that your acceptance to a job or college depends primarily on your race. That means right when you are born, you could be set back in life just because of the race you were born with.
Getting back to trying to abolish prejudice brings up an interesting statement made by Vincent N. Parrillo, who said, Although many social scientists have attempted to identify the causes of prejudice, no single factor has proven to be an adequate explanation. Prejudice is a complex phenomenon, and it is most likely to be the product of more than one casual agent (573). To try and get rid of prejudice, we would need to find the source of where it comes from. Parrillo gives some of the sources, which are socialization, self-justification, personality, frustration, competition, and social norms.
Parrillo says that not one of these is a strong source of prejudice or racism, but when they are combined, that is what powers up prejudice. When it comes to abolishing prejudice, it is Conrad Aiken who says it best, If we were to wake some morning and find that everyone was the same race, creed, and color, we would find some other causes for prejudice by noon (Paige). People in general hold so many prejudices that it is impossible to get rid of all of them. Even if we take race and other factors out of the picture, Americans will still find something to be prejudice about; probably about something that was listed by Parrillo, like competition or personality. When prejudice is brought up, I never want to be a part of it. I tell myself I am not prejudice, but I can not say ii am completely not prejudice.
Even though my two best friends are Asian and Black, I am still prejudice in other ways. My friends and I make fun of each other sometimes when something happens. For example, when my best friends come over and the dogs bark at them, I say, Its because youre Black, or because you are Vietnamese. They completely know Im joking and so do I. We both think it is funny. By dogs bark at everybody no matter what you look like.
My dogs are probably the least prejudice species in the world. It is the Homosapien species that need to figure out how to not be prejudice. Were told that our species is the smartest species yet we do not accept other people of the same species. Black people are Homo sapiens just like Asians and just like Whites.
We are all human beings no matter what color our skin is, or where we come from. It is Francis Bacon who says, All colors will agree in the dark (Paige). I personally love back quote. If only the world could be pitch black all the time, and no one could see what color other people were to hold prejudice against them. Unfortunately how likely will the world turn pitch black probably never? One last personal prejudice of mine is actually a stereotype.
When I see Asians, I tell people watch out, crazy driver. Yet my best friend though who is Asian is probably one of the best drivers I know. Prejudice is found everywhere. Even when you sit down to take a standardized test. What do they ask for? Of course, your race.
Why does a test need to know what race you are? What if your race is not an option on the test? Ellise Cose thought of a solution. He thought of having a box called multiracial for kids who come from more than one race.
Indeed, many critics would argue some for scientific and other is for sociopolitical reasons that the creation of more racial pigeonholes is precisely what America does not need. The bigger problem, in short, may not be that the current groupings are insufficient, but that they foster a belief that there is something logical, necessary, scientific, or wise about dividing people into groups called races. (643) More options for race is exactly what America does not meet. The fact that tests even ask for race is prejudice. That question needs to be abolished from the test. What is the point of it? A persons race has nothing to do with the test their about to take.
We Americans need to expand our horizons. Are we prejudicing because we are ignorant? Maybe because we do not know much about the other races, so we keep our prejudices about them. Carlo Goldoni said, He who never leaves his country is full of prejudices (Paige). If you can not leave your atmosphere, how are you going to expand your thoughts and broaden your horizons? You must go out and explore to be less ignorant and lose your prejudices.
Prejudiced is used by people for all the wrong purposes. Voltaire once said, ? Prejudices are what fools use for reason (Paige). You are a fool or ignorant if all you have to reason with is your prejudices, but for some people it is an easy escape to answer with a prejudice remark. It is hard to fight prejudice and even reason with it. Mildmay said, Reasoning against prejudice is like fighting against a shadow; it exhausts the reasoner, without visibly affecting the prejudice (Paige).
When trying to reason or understand prejudice, its hard because what ever you find out about it will not help destroy it. Prejudice is seen all over the world yet most people hate it. Why can it not be abolished? Prejudice has to be connected to a source to be abolished.
There are so many sources that it is impossible to connect it to just one. No matter how much we try and abolish prejudice, prejudice will show up in another way still making people wonder how to get rid of it. Works Cited Cose, Ellise. ? Can a New Race Surmount Old Prejudices? ? Rereading America. 4 th ed. Eds.
Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 635 - 52. Paige, Nancy. ? Quotes of Wisdom. ? 16 Oct. 1997. Online. The Microsoft Network.
Internet Explorer. 28 Nov. 1998. Parrillo, Vincent N. ? Causes of Prejudice. ? Rereading America. 4 th ed. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle.
Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 562 - 75. 4 f 6 Cose, Ellise. ? Can a New Race Surmount Old Prejudices? ? Rereading America. 4 th ed. Eds.
Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 635 - 52. Paige, Nancy. ? Quotes of Wisdom. ? 16 Oct. 1997. Online. The Microsoft Network.
Internet Explorer. 28 Nov. 1998. Parrillo, Vincent N. ? Causes of Prejudice. ? Rereading America. 4 th ed. Eds.
Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 562 - 75.
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