Inborn Prejudice

[Dr. Shane]

I will be taking the class Counseling The Culturally Diverse this Fall semester. I purchased the textbook already and began to read it.  It reminded me of a story from about fifteen years ago.

 

I interviewed for a job in Atlanta. I flew into the airport and took the subway to the location of the job interview. When I got on the subway, I noticed everyone was black. I was the only not-black person. Immediately I felt unsafe. Almost as quickly as I felt unsafe, I told myself not to be silly. I told myself over half the folks on that subway were probably in church every Sunday morning. I found an empty seat and sat down. I struck up a conversation with a middle-age black man. I quickly learned he was a bivocational pastor. He supported his family by working as a plumber while also pastoring a church.

 

We inherit certain cultural beliefs from our family, society and group of friends we grow up in. Everyone does regardless what race, religion or ethnic group they are.  Although my children are half Hispanic and half white, they both look very white.  My son was the only "white" child in his class and he was harassed for years by the other children.  The labeled him a white n#####r.  They teased him terribly.  He used to come home crying and tell me it was all my fault that he was white.  Every person of every race has certain prejudices that are "inborn".  It takes effort to examine ourselves and look for our racist tendencies.  Some fear to even look for them.

[Gustave]

Years ago I had to spend a week in Atlanta due to business, I stayed at the Peachtree Plaza. I got tired of eating in the hotel so I walked out of it and walked down the sidewalk and immediately felt like I was in a different country, I literally started to panic upon realizing all I could see were black people. So, I definitely can appreciate how you felt getting on the Subway! 

I think being in situations like that can cause anyone to feel out of their comfort zone and go into "self-preservation mode". I get it. 

That being said some years ago there was an experiment done that was called "The Scar Experiment." The way this went down was that the participants were told they were part of a study to see if they would be discriminated against because of the scar at job interviews. A professional make-up artist (like used in movies) put a fake scar on the test subjects face that they could see but shortly before going into the interview the make-up artist told them they needed to have some touch up done and without their knowledge the artist REMOVED the scar. 

Upon exiting the interviews, the individuals reported they were absolutely discriminated against AND that the interviewers were "starring" at their scar / birthmark. Problem here is that the fake scar / birthmark had already been removed. 

End result:

People were "taught" / "trained" to believe they would be discriminated against due to something that DIDN'T REALLY EXIST. The perception of reality BECAME reality in this case. 

Obviously racial discrimination exists and I certainly don't have the answers to solve it but it's more complicated than most are willing to admit. Good luck in getting as much education in this area as you can. 

Just make sure that at the end of all that education you don't find yourself calling a man a woman, a cat a dog or anyt of the other woke disasters we now see on a daily basis.