Prejudice, Discrimination or Racism?

What do these mean and do you identify with any of them? I recently came across a video by a man named, Paul Scanlonuk, where he discussed the differences between prejudice, discrimination, and racism. I thought I knew the definition of all three of these and could confidently differentiate between them. Growing up in a small town, I’ve heard some prejudice remarks and witnessed racism and/or discrimination myself. I use to think that being prejudice was a nicer form of racism, but didn’t truly understand the definition. In this video, Paul Scanlonuk first discusses prejudice, which is to have a prejudgmental mindset towards a person because of the group they represent. Anyone can be prejudice. If you are uncomfortable around certain groups or persons based off of the stereotypes that you may have grown up with or nurtured by through society, then you are prejudice.

Some stereotypes that I’ve heard of over the years are: Arabs/Muslims are terrorist, Mexicans are lazy and came here illegally, Jews are greedy and money hungry, Asians are horrible drivers, Blacks are always late, lazy, and violent, and Whites have no rhythm, racist, and play victim. Another example is: you get uncomfortable or feel negative towards people who dress, talk or look a certain way: baggy clothes, hoodies, braids, chains, biker clothes, tattoos, shaved heads, hijabs, foreign accents, slang, Mohawks, and more. For me personally, seeing people with shaved heads, tattoos or dressed in certain attire use to give me an uneasy feeling. Part of it was growing up and watching shows which depicted this certain group as bad, or trouble makers. Little did I know, you can’t judge a book by its cover. I’ve seen situations where people who looked normal and dressed conservative have done some pretty horrible things!

Next, Paul talked about discrimination. Basically, it’s prejudice through action. One way to discriminate is to exclude people from certain things due to the group they represent. Also, making fun, jokes, or not speaking up for certain groups is a form of discrimination. Those few points are the milder forms of it, but an extreme form would be using violence or aggression fueled by hate towards these groups. Some organized groups that fuel their discrimination through hate would be: the Klu Klux Klan, black nationalist groups, anti-LGBT organizations, Nation of Islam, and anti-government militias.

The last point he talked about was racism, which is where a group’s prejudice is backed by law. When a system protects people’s privilege backed by law then that’s where racism breeds. He also spoke about how an individual or group can’t be racist if they don’t have laws or systems protecting their prejudices. They can be prejudice or discriminate, but not racist. This was a real eye opener for me because I’ve found myself labeling people as racist, prejudice, or showing discrimination when truly they may have been the opposite. It also made me think about the different prejudices I’ve had toward certain people or groups as well. I have had to take a deeper look inside myself and think about how judgmental I’ve been and analyze different comments or jokes I’ve made in my past. I am just as guilty as anyone of being prejudice and I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve been blind and ignorant as well! If you have ever come across being labeled or accused of one of these three things, take a deeper look inside yourself and do some self evaluation.

We all need to take a step back from the stereotypical views of society and learn about the people around us. One thing that has helped me throughout my life is: to have a conversation with people that make me feel uncomfortable and get to know them. By tearing down that wall of uncertainty, I was able to see people for exactly who they are, human! I even found similarities in our upbringing, religious views, and culture. Let’s start showing love to people who are different than us and quit being caught up in our prejudices, racism, and discrimination. In the words of James Baldwin, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”