Combating Prejudice on the Individual Level

Posted on by s.bakaul

Image result for prejudiceWe should try to welcome people with differences. You might never know what great perspectives/experiences they have to share. 

Prejudice is something that we all have experienced at some point in our lives. We know close members of our family that have experienced it. We all know people who have been marginalized, judged, hurt, faced inequality due to prejudicial ideology.

I am going to focus on combating prejudice on the individual level rather than the institutional or community level. Sometimes change has to start on a personal and relationship level between people. Sometimes we see people as just one skin color, ethnicity, belonging to one group. We sometimes have stereotypes in our mind when we see somebody different than us. To combat prejudice I have come up with this classroom activity.

Classroom activity:

1. Write down one hope/ambition you have.
2. write down one fear/insecurity you have.
3. Even though we all focus on difference when examining others, what is one commonality that you try to always keep in mind when with others/examining other individuals?
4. Now take 1 minute and share your thoughts with somebody next to you.
The general outcome of the classroom activity is that we should start seeing that people are more than just what we examine on the outside. That they all have hopes and fears. And most importantly they have different perspectives. So if we get to know people who are different than us and engage in conversations we can start combating prejudice at the individual level.
These links include things we can do on the individual, community, and national level to combat prejudice:
  • http://www.mccc.edu/pdf/cmn214/Class%2027/101%20Ways%20to%20combat%20prejudice.pdf
  • https://www.thoughtco.com/things-you-can-do-to-help-end-racism-3026187