Prejudice and Discrimination - Laya.C.J.

Race and Ethnic Relations

Prejudice and Discrimination

  Christian Jay S. Laya 

            According to Fr. Jaime Bulatao, S.J., ethnic group is any collection of people distinguished by having a common race, religion, nationality, language or cultural tradition or any combination of these characteristics. Ethnic attitudes are attitudes toward members of some ethnic groups based on or influenced by knowledge of membership in that group. (1998)

            As we tackled the vast and interesting topics about Race and Ethnic Relation it opened our understanding and let us to really appreciate the importance of it. As time passes day by day, my inquisitive cognizance tend to amplify my periphery regarding such topics. I learned a lot and as the alternations of days happened it lifted my excitements about the subject in particular with race and ethnic relation.

            We undertook topics about annihilation or genocide, acculturation, assimilation, amalgamation and integration. As I recalled and scanned pages of notebook, it gives me some sort of words to be engrave for this sunrise paper. I tried to write some of it.

            I will first to define annihilation. Annihilation (genocide), happens often in the contacts of primitive tribes with more advanced societies. They were slaughtered and die from exposure to disease for which survive, their customs are subject to drastic change which is termed “cultural genocide”.

            Another was acculturation. Acculturation is defined as partially absorbing the culture of another group. While, assimilation means a more complete and the group totally adopts the culture of another group.

            Amalgamation is an intermarriage of different culture or tribe or also known as “extramarital union”.

            Another terms was integration. Integration means an ethnic groups that may have minor cultural differences, but fundamentally, they share a common identity and participate equally as citizenship of the nation.

            Discussions about Prejudice and Discrimination were also done in our classes. As I made my observation, people were all prosecutors. We tend to create verdict and judge people. The word “prejudice” means an attitude or judgement usually negative about the entire category of people based on their group membership.

            Every people had their own prejudices about various subjects ranging from the colour of the skin to other’s ideological perspective. Our pessimistic view about other people produced quarrel and misunderstanding but we can prevent this if we start to plant good relationship to others and make some researches about them in order to really broaden our empathy. It is difficult at first yet it is a one big step to make a happy living.

            Discrimination refers to differential treatment of people based on their group membership.

            Discrimination is a big word. A negative big word because to discriminate is to hurt other people. Discrimination starts if somebody tend to feel that he/she was superior to the other. Just like the white believing they were superior over black and other colour people. In United States of America, dubbed as “Land of Opportunity”, where multitude of races are united in search of prosperity, but in spite of that dream, an “American Dream”, great number of reported cases about discrimination are recorded. The United States of America, produced some of the famous human rights activist namely Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and name a few. Since then, they established a paramount realization to stop injustice and discrimination. In 2009, US have their first African-American President, not as perfect but I would say a titanic event.