This article my Felipe Morales tells about his encounter with a blind woman in DC. When she reached out a hand to ask him something, he was irritated because he thought she wanted money. She had only wanted directions. This prejudice had invested in him, and he realized it needed to stop right away. As an immigrant from age 15 to America, he had felt the pain of prejudice earlier in his life.
Dear Felipe Morales,
When I read the essay you were brave enough to write about the bad prejudice you saw forming in yourself, it was really humbling. Seeing people in cities that are begging for money really has become a prejudice. People have stopped giving because of suspicions, suspicions against their own humanity. Sometimes we might just be people faking it, or sometimes people think they’re just drunks or druggies that deserve to be there. For a lot, that’s not the case at all. The woman who came up to you to ask directions that you thought was begging for money probably fit into what people would think the homeless stereotypically look like or act like. Stereotypes these days are horrible, and I’m sad to say I’ve fit people into categories based on their looks sometimes too.
When you told me how you were an immigrant yourself, I really felt that your piece suddenly possessed credibility. It’s easy to believe you when you say prejudice exists when you’ve felt it yourself in your own lifetime. I was emotionally connected right away too, people see the homeless and feel for them, but are often stingy or annoyed with them today. You addressed a lot of important issues in today’s society, and your statement made logical sense.
I hope if other people read your essay, they learn to recognize accidental or subconscious prejudices as well. Sometimes the worse ones are the ones we don’t even mean to commit because we put ourselves at a higher place at the table then them.
Thank you again,
-Anonymous
http://thisibelieve.org/essay/23555/
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