Prejudice Essay, Research Paper

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 America’s 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, it’s

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 don’t know

how it even was thought of. First of all, Affirmative Action discriminates against people

who are smarter than most of the applicants, but don’t 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, “It’s because you’re Black, or because you are

Vietnamese.” They completely know I’m 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 Homosapiens 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 person’s 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, it’s 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. 4th 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. 4th ed. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle. Boston: Bedford

Books, 1998. 562-75.

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Cose, Ellise. ?Can a New Race Surmount Old Prejudices?? Rereading

America. 4th 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. 4th ed. Eds. Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, Bonnie Lisle.

Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. 562-75.