The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Bias, prejudice, and oppression are negative inequities that unfortunately exist in the world today. These result in negative thoughts, feelings, and treatment of others. 

A memory I have of when I witnessed someone else as a target of prejudice is with my brother in laws when they were in elementary school. As I have talked about before, my in-laws have adopted six African American children. 

I did one of my teaching field experiences at the boys' elementary school. Mind you, this is a predominately white school district where people have money and can honestly be not so nice. The boys were super excited that I would be coming to their school two days a week and working in the classroom. They even told all their friends and teachers that their older brother's girlfriend would be coming to school. The teacher I was working with was a good friend of the family. She pulled me aside and wanted to let me know that two of the teachers were talking, and they did not understand why a white girl would be dating a "black boy" and how wrong that was. So, they assumed that because these two boys were black, that his older brother was black. They had no idea that they had been adopted by a loving family or what their life was like before they were adopted. They let their ignorance shine through and judge a situation they knew nothing about. Thank goodness the boys were not around when this conversation happened. 

This situation diminished equity because the boys were looked at because of their skin color. I was also looked at because of my skin color. This incident brought up feelings of anger for me. They were very close minded, and to be honest even if I was dating a "black boy" it was not any of their business. 

The two teachers would need to change in this situation. While these may be their beliefs and feelings, they should not have been talking about it out in the open. What if one of the boys would have overheard the conversation? It was just rude. A person should not be judged for their skin color.