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Diversity and Prejudice in America

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Diversity and Prejudice in America
Alycia Toth
Eth/125
Professor Nowinski

“It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.” Maya Angelou said these famous words and she could not have been more accurate. Discrimination and hate are not going away anytime soon but educating our youth on history, diversity, and prejudice could very well be the key to coming closer to the end. First I would like to discuss what I have learned from this class about diversity, discrimination, and prejudice. Honestly I had a general idea of what these three words meant but overall I was not entirely clear on their meaning let alone the severity of them in America. Like most people I was aware of the Civil Rights Movement and Act and knew that African American endured quite the challenge of gaining their rights and freedom but reading the text I was able to understand more of what happened and the challenges overcome. Also, from the text I was able to see that African Americans were not the only ones who faced prejudice and discrimination. So many people, me included, tend to not think about what woman, disabled people, and many other races have gone through to earn the same rights as everyone else. This class really opened my eyes and let me see how I was not seeing the “whole picture” and was not educating myself to help others. I am a Caucasian female and did not notice discrimination or hate around me due to the fact that I have not had to go through any. I grew up in a predominately white neighborhood and had both parents working so did not see discrimination. Learning what woman have gone through to be able to work and have same rights as men and now working on being paid equally, like it should be, is a great eye opener. I am thankful for all the women active in this campaign for all women’s rights! People like to pass the blame when it comes down to discrimination and who is not doing anything about it. What people do not realize is that we are all to blame. There is plenty that every person could be doing to help end the war on hate but when it comes down to actually doing something that is where people fall short. One of the major contributors to this is the media, especially the news. I understand that these days with all the technology there is people are getting their news on their phones, magazines online, papers online, and most people are not watching the news like they used to. So what do the stations do? They have to make ratings so they pull the stories that they know people will tune in to. Personally I would rather see the good stories on the news but I feel that I am either in the minority or that the producers do not see it that way because they are showing murders, burglaries, gangs and war. Yes these stories do deserve a place in the news, however the way the portray them does not help in war on hate. They tend to draw attention to stereotyping. This ultimately just adds to the problem. You hardly ever see stories on the news about people doing good in the community and trying to show people that diversity is a good thing. However, this being said the media does do some good in promoting diversity. I am an avid watcher of the channel USA and this month they are promoting diversity and “characters” who are standing up to discrimination and hate. They have actors/actresses from their shows out with people who are doing good deeds in their communities and having them help those campaigns and drawing awareness to the cause. This is a great way to show people who want to help but just are not sure how that they can find way in their communities to stand up and take action against discrimination and promote diversity. Having done research for different papers and projects for this class I have been able to find all types of websites of groups that advocate and help causes like discrimination in all types of people from woman, to disabled, to elderly, and all different races and religions. It is very simple to find ways to help and I know I am just as guilty for not trying to help. You do not even have to get involved in a group, you could donate money to help the group, or even just use the webpage to educate yourself and others around you. I stated earlier that discrimination and prejudice are not going away anytime soon. I stand by that statement; however diversity is only growing in America. According to The Center for American Progress by the year 2050 there will no longer be any clear racial and ethnic majority because the most rapidly growing number of residents in our nation are of Hispanic and Asian descent. So what does this mean? This shows that the Caucasian races which has always been the dominate race in America is fading and more and more races and cultures are coming to America. Depending on how you view things this can be a great thing or it could be a not so great thing. However, diversity can be a wonderful thing and is part of how America has become the nation it is today. We learn so many new and exciting things to do by having different cultures around. New food ideas, new holidays, new traditions, and so much more! If everyone was the same then life would be so boring and the same old thing every day. Having different people around brings new ideas and adventures. This is also great in the business world as well. Every culture buys products and you need to know how to advertise to them. There will always be challenges with diversity and with the continuing rise in American there will still be challenges and more to come. I feel that one of biggest challenges that will be faced is the Affirmative Action Law. This law was created to help people of different race and culture from being turned down for a job due to the ethnicity. This law is something that could be challenged during the rise of diversity. Also, there could lead to more hate due to the rising cultures and races, the Caucasians could feel threaten and could react badly. With all of these new challenges America has a lot of adjusting ahead of them. Maya Angelou has the right idea; we have to educate our youth on diversity. The youth are the future of this country and if they do not understand the importance of diversity, and ending discrimination and prejudice then this country will not be able to overcome all the challenges. I know for me personally I need to become more involved and having this class showed me that is what I need to do not only to help but to show my children to embrace others and accept them for who they are.

Resources http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/report/2011/10/18/10477/progress-2050/ Racial and Ethnic Groups, Thirteenth edition, by Richard T. Schaefer. Published by Merrill Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc.

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