Submitted by:
Rasheedah Abdullah
A form of discrimination starts before we are born when our parents prefer a particular gender. Would not a healthy baby have limitless possibilities regardless of gender? Wikipedia defines discrimination within sociology as the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. Discrimination is the actual behavior towards members of another group. It involves excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities of another group.
As a child my memories of family vacations and travelling were the “COLORED” signs in public places as shown in the photo.
In bus stops, restaurants, hotels and restrooms these signs were usually accompanied by an arrow depicting the only course of direction or a large, bold line on the floor that was not to be crossed by that social group. As a group develops there are other discrimination behaviors that are exhibited based on employment, religion, physical abilities, origin, etc. Individuals fleeing social discriminations oft times form counter social groups that idealize their social group and subsequently create more social imbalance. Much research and theory has to continually be put into understanding human behavior and the impact on society to understand discriminatory practices.
The internet provides an enabling range of resources that allow broader access to information on discriminatory practices past and present, local and worldwide. With a few clicks of the mouse the internet can browse to a particular form of discrimination, give statistics and laws created to prohibit such discrimination.
In summary this topic demonstrates how a particular group can suffer because of what another group considers “norm”. The topic also depicts that we all are vulnerable to being discriminators if we only see value when it excludes others. Can we not impress other groups with who we are without devaluing their culture, set of beliefs or practices?
Perhaps if we can think outside the box.
