Week: 6 EDUC 6164

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

While growing up in the 1980's I have experienced many incidents involving discrimination, prejudice, and bias.  However the one incident that stands out to me is the racial discrimination incident that my Aunt and Uncle endured due to having an interracial marriage. 

Interracial marriage is the term used to  describe marriages that take place between people who are from different racial or ethnic groups.

People are often biased against others outside of their own social group, showing prejudice (emotional bias), stereotypes (cognitive bias), and discrimination (behavioral bias).

I can remember when I was about 12 years old and my family and I went out to eat for my Aunt's Birthday.  I can still recall this incident like it was yesterday.  We went to Red Lobster, we laughed, and ate, and then we sang happy birthday.  My Uncle surprised my Aunt with a gift and gave her a hug and kiss in the restaurant.  We clapped and smiled and I can remember feeling very happy and excited.  I can also remember seeing people begin to stare and begin to whisper as they kissed.  

A woman yelled out "what happen you can't find a white girl?"

Someone else then yelled out loud "yuck"!  " Disgusting"! "Stick with your own kind"!  Then I heard a lady say " he cheating on his wife with a black girl"! " look at those zebra kids"!

   

In my eyes at this very incident, I begin to understand the meaning of racism.  Because my Aunt is Black and my Uncle is White, individuals were being hurtful towards my family because we are culturally different.  

That evening my Uncle begin to get upset and my Aunt begin to cry. I remember all the kids being rushed out of the restaurant into the car while the adults yelled and argued for being mistreated and unkind.  As a child I did not understand why this was happening but I knew what was happening was not right. 

I think that this incident diminish equity due to the fact that  everyday individuals are judging and insulting people because of who they are. This incident has made me very aware of the hate in the world due to a lack of understanding.  In my culture we were not raised to judge people on how they look or where they come from but how they treat you.  If more people took the time to get to know each other and understand each other we would learn to love one another.