Some people might be surprised by the recent acts of racism in our area.
I’m not. I know that prejudice breathes and flows through our culture just as much as it did in the ’60s. The difference about prejudice today is the way many people conceal it from others around them.
There are reasonable debates saying prejudice is worse today than in the past. I say prejudice has always been there, just under the surface. The difference today is how prejudice is shaded differently from past decades. No longer is it a certain race or color — prejudice is alive and well in politics and our lifestyles. Read the letters to the newspaper and see how many people are prejudiced towards different ways of thought, lifestyle, religion and sexual-orientation. What surprises me today is how much prejudice is accepted by a large portion of mainstream society.
I know minorities who are prejudiced against gays. They use the Bible as their excuse but to me it’s still prejudice. I know people who are for the war and are very prejudiced toward others who are against the war. They think anyone who doesn’t feel the same must be unpatriotic. It’s all prejudice, but many people don’t think so because it’s justified differently.
Prejudice exists in many different shades. People of every color can be bigots. Some minorities instantly play the racism card when others observe or criticize problems in their lives. There is white trash and black trash. Our morals are displayed by our thoughts and actions evident by what we say and how we treat each other.
Why don’t we talk about prejudice openly rather than pretend it only lives in that one house down at the end of the road? It’s all around us if we care enough to look.
Ken Hopstad
Marysville
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