The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

During this course of this class we've learned about micro-aggressions, biases, prejudices, "ism's" and so on and so forth.  This week we have to reflect on these questions and answer them the best way we could.

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

I pondered this question for so many days wondering what or whose incident I should talk about.  But it wasn't until I watched a movie last night that I made my decision.  I watched a sweet love story, and I believe it was called "same time next year".   As I listened to some of the comments the man was making I was stunned to see how much the world had changed.  It was ok to say certain things then and it's not now.  But back then it wasn't really frowned upon.  The male actor had made a comment along the lines of 'the blacks are burning down the town', and It felt some kind of way about that.  I know it was a different error and he was under stress, but the way he said it, gave me a chill.  THE BLACKS.  And the way he failed to acknowledge the the reason why or the cause behind them "burning down the town" bothered me.  And I wondered if he felt that way in his real life?  I always admired him as an actor and I wondered if maybe he in his real life felt differently toward THE BLACKS.  But I know as I was watching the movie my mood had changed just a little.

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

that comment, that bias, had diminished equity because after the comment I didn't feel as comfortable as I did before, and felt that maybe the movie was geared for a certain type of people that didn't include....the blacks.

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you

It brought up feelings of being inequality and made me feel inadequate.  I felt less than.

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

Well, this was just a movie, and changes have already taken place to change things like this into changes for greater equity.  People feelings are being considered more and there are more programs, lectures and shows to address issues of bias.  Unfortunately there are still many forms of micro-agressions out there and in movies and books and plays that aren't addressed, but we have come a long way we just have a long way more to go.