One memory that I have of an incident of prejudice was at work. A co worker who is a well to do caucasion female made the statement that she did not want to make a home visit to an African American family because of the area that they lived in. She believed that either her car would be stolen, or vandalized because of being in a black neighborhood.
I believe that it diminished equity because those parents that lived in areas that she felt were not of her standard, those parents were cheated out of their home visits because of her bias, and prejudice. These parents did not recieve the same amount of service as families she felt lived in better neighborhoods.
I felt, here we go another well to do caucasion not wanting to work with blacks because they are afraid of us!! They think(caucasions) all blacks are alike. All of us are violent, all of us live in terrible neighborhoods. I felt like she was just being ridiculous and if she did not want to work with different races of parents then why take the job.
The co worker would have to change her attitude and get over her fears in order for this incident to become an opportunity for greater equity.
I agree with you that as a people we cannot build healthy relationships and a healthy society as long as we continue to focus on perceived generalizations, biases, and prejudices about other people. Only by accepting others can we build greater equity as a people.
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