The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The first incident that I have memory of in my life of prejudice was when I was in elementary school. I was in the third grade. At recess time I enjoyed playing sports such as basketball or soccer. Many boys and not so many girls decided to participate in the activities that I did. I was walking up to the soccer field one recess and a fellow classmate of mine approached me. He proceeded to tell me that I couldn’t play soccer because I was too dark. At the time, I knew that it was unfair that he told me that, but yet I couldn’t believe that was the reason that I wasn’t allowed to play. I didn’t go ask another classmate to play because my feelings were so hurt. I actually ran to tell my sister who was also at recess because she was just a year older than I was. She “handled” it in her own way. After recess was over I told my teacher and she called both of us to the side of the classroom and made him apologize. To this day, I’m still not sure he knew what he was apologizing for.

This experience didn’t have any equity in it. There wasn’t fair treatment of myself. In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity, this young boy would have to learn why what he said was prejudiced. All of our biased attitudes and stereotypes are learned behaviors, so somewhere in his life he had to of learned something negative about people of color. It is imperative that parents teach their children that everyone is unique and that we must accept them for who they are, not knock them down or make them feel inferior.