One of the most exciting scientific accomplishments of this century is Human Genome Project which is the cataloging of human genes. This will lead to great understanding of the human body and advance medical science. One of the most important findings is that while human beings differ in outward appearance, the genetic structure of all human beings is 99.9% identical. These researchers agree that there is only one race, the human race.
However we continue to struggle with the concept of appreciating diversity and discrimination and prejudice still exist in many forms. For example, you may have been discrimated against because of you ethnic group, religion, height, weight, gender, disability, or even academic skills. For this discussion, give an example of a circumstance where you have experienced or witnessed discrimination. Any ideas on how to reduce discrimination?
I will share an example of discrimination that I experienced. I started my doctoral program at USC when I was 8 months pregnant. After the first class the professor took me aside and suggested that I drop out of the program because of my family situation. I was really angry and decided to show him that I would finish. I am happy to report that I was one of the first three students to finish the program.
At Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced descrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
This week you can make one post of 200 words (instead of 2 of 100 words each) if you want since the topic of appreciating diversity or describing incidents of discrimination might need more words.
However we continue to struggle with the concept of appreciating diversity and discrimination and prejudice still exist in many forms. For example, you may have been discrimated against because of you ethnic group, religion, height, weight, gender, disability, or even academic skills. For this discussion, give an example of a circumstance where you have experienced or witnessed discrimination. Any ideas on how to reduce discrimination?
I will share an example of discrimination that I experienced. I started my doctoral program at USC when I was 8 months pregnant. After the first class the professor took me aside and suggested that I drop out of the program because of my family situation. I was really angry and decided to show him that I would finish. I am happy to report that I was one of the first three students to finish the program.
At Cuyamaca College, we have many Chaldean students who are Christians who have emigrated from Iraq to avoid religious persecution. Since the attacks of 9-11, this group has faced descrimination at our college. Whenever there is anything about terrorism in the news, many students who are from the Middle East suffer discrimination even though they have nothing to do with terrorism. Any comments on this?
This week you can make one post of 200 words (instead of 2 of 100 words each) if you want since the topic of appreciating diversity or describing incidents of discrimination might need more words.
Discrimination does take many forms. No one should be thought of differently because of their race, their religion, their attitude, their social status or for any other ridiculous reason. In my opinion..We are all God's children. We are all apart of something bigger than ourselves and we all have a purpose. Even those who are discriminated against serve a purpose. They show others what discrimination is, and how it is hurtful. They are the examples of what shouldn't be done. And I think many younger adults are coming to realize this. The color someone is, or the way they talk may be different.. but they have two legs two arms a body and a mind of their own, just like you. They have a heart and they understand the world around them also. Not every case is like this, but the majority of the world is. there are so many negative people on the earth. so many people who hurt and who prosecute and discriminate against other pople. Everyone is looking for a way to better the quality of their life, and everyone is looking for their purpose, I think that what we do in our life will give us the end result of how we will be treated in our after life. People do not have to agree with me. Everyone has their own opinions.. But everyone is human, and that makes us all equal. No matter how big or small, fat or thin, smart or not we may be. We are a family. We are the human race. Fighting is just unnecessary in order to promote the well being and happiness of our future and out future generations. be happy :] and get a long with everyone. accept those whom are different than you and embrace the time you have together.
ReplyDeleteDiscrimination is very much so alive in our world during this period in the twenty first century. What is most astounshing to me is that even after everything the United States has gone through in issues dealing with race and ethnicity, there is still an underlying suggestion that there much more racism going on than what the media or sometimes even ourselves are willing to admit. Race and ethnicity are such sensitive topics that I do not think that we as a country discuss the issues dealing with race and ethnicity as much as we should. In my opinion, if people were to cooperatly engaged in conversations with others who are of different races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, and so forth, I think that it would help us become more understanding and accepting of everybody different backgrounds and beliefs. Also just because people are of different races or ethnic backgrounds, does not necessarily mean they are one hundred percent diffrent from yourself. To further elaborate on this,I mean that people from everywhere can find common intrests among anyone no matter what race, ethinic background, or religion you are. Common interests are not biological, people should relationships based on what their intrests are and what their personality is like, because physical, ethinic or even religous aspects of oneself can only tell a person very little about one's whole personality, not enough to decide whether they are a good person or not. An incident I have exprienced of dicrimination myself, was when excluded from a discussion I was having among peers about different types of music. I guess they assumed I had no idea what type of music they were discussing among one another and excluded me from the discussion entirly. The assumed because of my gender and their sterotype of me that I would have no idea what they were discussing. At one point, they were discussing a song and trying to figure out the artist, they could not think of artists name, and after being excluded from the entire convorsation I said the name of the artist and they just gave me the most ahocked and surprised look I had ever been given.
ReplyDeleteI am Chaldean student that I emigrated from Iraq in 2003, not much long after September 11th incident. My experience of discrimination was when I first arrived at the New York International Airport with my young siblings of whom I was eleven and my siblings were younger than eighteen years old, the security guards at the airport rejected the need of help that we asked for with the luggage and with the directions to the next terminal to our next plane to California. The look in their eyes was full of hatred of which they made me and my siblings feel like we were unwanted. Even now of which we are in 2011, when September 11th is remembered many people discriminate and treat me and many others as terrorists. I do not know when this situation will be settled and when will people understand that not all Iraqis are terrorists and not all Middle Eastern people are terrorists. People need to realize that the Christian Chaldean society emigrated because of the discrimination that we faced back in our home country and because of all the threats that we faced and the fear of that one day we will get killed.
ReplyDeleteIn regards to discrimination:
ReplyDeleteDiscrimination is part of society, though we sometimes refuse to pay attention. There are many different ways one can discriminate. For example, a few years ago, before the economy went down, the company I worked at was in need of workers to do heavy labor; some were excluded right away because one of the supervisors had a bad experience with someone of the same race before. He assumed they would cause problems as well. Not all people are the same, just because one is troublesome does not mean that all are. Another that once happened to me was during a parent teacher meeting. I am Hispanic and I have made sure my children know how to read and write Spanish fluently, because of this more than one teacher has assumed that I only speak Spanish, not even asking my children if I speak English. At one of the parent teacher meetings, my child and I went in to speak with the teacher, before I could say a word the teacher told my child to tell me that we were waiting for someone else. After the person came in he introduced himself and the teacher to me, in Spanish. I just looked at him and told him I spoke English, in English. The teacher just laughed and apologized, saying she just “assumed” I did not speak English. This is a type of discrimination, just because one speaks another language does not mean we don’t speak another or at least understand.
A circumstance in which I experienced discrimination was when I worked at a local rec center and I was treated very differently than the rest of the co workers. My boss constantly attacked my character and intelligence in from of the other co workers for no apparent reason. one second my boss would yell at me because I was not doing what I was required to do even though she did not exactly tell me when I asked. The next minute my boss was telling me I was not a real employee there anyway so I should not be doing supervising the members by myself. It was really confusing and no matter how hard I tried it was not good enough. I felt like I was not treated the same as everyone else because I had an apparent disability and sometimes my boss would just assume I could not handle certain situations. I wanted to be treated the same my whole life and I still feel like people still assume that I am not capable of doing certain tasks. Some ideas on how to reduce discrimination would be to educate others on tolerance and acceptance of others. Also another idea would be to educate children mostly about diversity when their young so future generations can grow up with a tolerance of others.
ReplyDeleteCarrie Ducharme
ReplyDeleteDiscrimination happens everyday whether its based on religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, looks, clothing, the car you drive, the house you own, etc. I worked for a company several years ago that would have company sponsored events that they CEO would invite all the senior management on fishing trips, ski trips, etc BUT would only invite the guys on the trips. None of the women in senior management were ever invited on the trips. When myself and some of the other women asked the CEO why he never invited us, he told us that our boyfriends or husbands would not let us go, so there was no reason to even bother asking us if we wanted to go. When the guys went on the trips they were not using PTO and the trips were always planned during business hours. Their plane flights, hotel rooms, car rentals and meals were all paid by the company. The CEO did not do the same thing for the women in senior management for seven years. A couple of us went to the CEO and explained that he had a huge lawsuit on his hands if he did not change who was invited on this trips since the trips were paid by the company during company hours. The CEO final stopped the all men trips as he was sued by a former employee for discrimination.
An incident of discrimination that I witnessed occurred recently. I asked a friend to go with me over to another friend’s house to see her baby that she had just given birth to. I had never met my white friend’s boyfriend (white and the father), and he was going to be there too. The friend that we were going to visit was white and I had known her for three years. My friend that was going with me is black, and I am mixed with several races. We arrived at the friend’s house and her daughter was absolutely gorgeous; while admiring the baby her boyfriend came in. He asked his girlfriend who we were and she introduced us; I reached out my hand and he shook it, and told me his name. My other friend reached out her hand and he made a funny face. She then asked him if something was wrong, and he said you’re really dark I don’t like that, and I’m not going to touch you. The room got silent; it was really awkward, we didn’t know what to say. Then he said, “I’m sorry I don’t hate black people, I just don’t like being around them, especially dark ones like you…I don’t like dark skin it makes me uncomfortable…sorry.” My friend almost started to cry because she had never experienced something like this before, I could not believe those words had just came out of his mouth. He was so wrong to say that to her, how can a skin color make you uncomfortable? We looked over to my other friend (his girlfriend), and said aren’t you going to tell your boyfriend he is wrong for saying that? And she just laughed and said, “Well he is right, she makes me uncomfortable too…why you would bring her around my baby!” I never even suspected her to be racist; this whole thing felt like a sick dream, but it was so real. We then just got up and left, I apologized to my friend for putting her through that. I am not sure how we can reduce discrimination because I think we have tried a lot of things. The best thing to do is to start when kids are young and teach them that it is wrong. However, most people who discriminate are adults and we can’t tell adults what to do. It is a very hard thing to fix becaue people will think what they want to think no matter what. Having a black president is a step forward, but things can still be improved. There is discrimination on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, weight, disability, and so much more everyday! People just need to learn to love and accept everybody because we are all God’s children. No one is above anyone else!
ReplyDelete-Vanessa Lathan
Discrimination has affected every race, sexual orientation, and economic/social class throughout history. We have all at some point in our life experienced discrimination, even if it is not in the most obvious of forms. The few times in my life that I have felt discriminated against have been because I am a girl who takes pride in my appearance. I remember one time I was on a Navy base with a friend of mine when his commanding officer made a joke that I was pretty but most likely didn’t “have a light in the attic,” I was annoyed and offended because he was jumping to the conclusion that I was unintelligent because of how I looked. Other experiences of discrimination I have faced have been a product of my economic class. My dad is a very hard worker, and as a result significantly successful in his field of work, which his earnings reflect. I work for my dad, and it drives me crazy when co-workers think it’s funny to make jokes about “daddying” my dad whenever I want something. They make rude remarks about never having to want anything or work for anything, when that is simply not the case. I work very hard to earn a paycheck and be able to stand somewhat independent from my parents, because of this nothing is more frustrating then when people make snide remarks like, “why don’t you go ask your daddy,” and “why doesn’t your daddy just get it for you.” Although to a lot of people this wouldn’t seem like such a bad thing, these comments and incorrect stereotype of how they think my family works keeps me from being able to relate to them or have any sort of relationship with them, because they think they know how my life operates they don’t give me a chance to tell them how it really does.
ReplyDelete-Morgan Gerken
when i was 11 and first came from Germany, i was discriminated and people called me a Somalian rice eater because i looked Somalian but i wasn't. no one wanted to hangout with me and i cried everyday for a month, i had to play with myself in the grass and people would always say 'Bomb' when they were around me. i was even called weird because i use to talk to myself since i did not have any friends.but then i signed up for facebook that my mom told me about and my life got better, i had 13 friends on facebook, and i even had a girlfriend and she was only 9 years old. but now i dont care about life and shoot birds for a hobby. i then challenged myself to not be shy anymore and started to realize that there is a purpose to living in a Cole world because all this criticism makes you stronger. and me personally i think i am the strongest person in the world from the inside.
ReplyDeletei believe discrimination is not a good thing. people need to know that there is only one race in this world. maybe then discrimination will be lowered. but then on the other hand, discrimination is part of society. They are the examples of what shouldn't be done. And I think many younger adults are coming to realize this. The color someone is, or the way they talk may be different.. but they have two legs two arms a body and a mind of their own, just like you. They have a heart and they understand the world around them also. Not every case is like this, but the majority of the world is. there are so many negative people on the earth.
ReplyDeleteDiscrimination comes in many forms sometimes its in no uncertain terms other times it subtle one might not even notice. Either way you cut it discrimination is something that treats people unfairly. When everything is said and done we are all the same like the text states “there is only one race, the human race.”
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost I believe stereotyping, prejudices, racism and discrimination is passed down from one generation to the next. It’s true a child believes what a parent tells them. To reduce discrimination I think we as a society need to focus on changing behavior, though that’s easier said then done. By promoting tolerance, non-discrimination and respect for diversity the world would be a better place. Ideas on how to reduce discrimination? The first step is to be aware of our biases, whether they’re based on stereotype knowledge or long-term prejudices and then make a conscious effort to overcome them. To avoid being discriminatory one should try and put themselves in another person’s shoes and they just might come to the realization that everyone has shared similarities. It’s easy for hostilities and hatred to grow especially when one does not personally know the target(s) of their prejudice, when they are people passing on the street or living in far-off communities. However when a potential target of prejudice is a friend it’s difficult for any hatred to develop.
In this world there is a lot of negative people and hate and has been for centuries, every stage in my life I see discrimination over and over again play by play and it makes me sad because these people that are discriminating are not open minded people but narrow minded and should be more accepting, then be judging people. If I could I would help start an organization to stop discrimination and spread awareness to everybody start at elementary schools to high schools, to colleges to open areas like malls, help people be aware. Not that long ago on 20/20, “How Young is too Young to Hate?” there was interview on a family in Kansas that attends this Baptist church that hates on homosexuals , Jews, soldiers that in the war, and everything that they should hate. It was a scary video because you see little children singing hate songs about God will hate you and it’s the end of the world and it’s sad to see these people teaching their children to hate on everybody that isn’t part of the church. I would like to help them understand that hate doesn’t solve anything but spread negative vibes and violence we should learn to respect people even if we don’t agree with it. Peace and love should be spread over the world and harmony.
ReplyDeletehttp://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/young-young-hate-15031020#.TtxLv7YHaTo.google
ReplyDeleteArnulfo Chavarin
ReplyDeleteThe problem of pride; as it incorporates prejudicing, stereotyping, and discriminating, is the actual problem in my opinion. It has powerful impacts, whether it be between brothers or nations. For example, my brother and I do not always see the same side of things and tensions may arise. I believe I am right, and my brother may think similarly, however, if no pride existed in us, then we would be humble to accept our own debility and another’s strengths. I find this evident in the conflicts surrounding Israel, also known as the middle-east problem. The surrounding nations despise them and wish to eradicate such people. Israel is about the same size as New Jersey. Hate has deep roots, but pride is the seed: sow pride, reap pride. Therefore, regarding the Christian Chaldeans, many people hate their place of origin because of terrorism or radical beliefs. Since such people came from such a place, like Iraq, there is dissent towards them, especially because of 9-11. Many of the errors of the ancestral parents are linked or burdened upon their children. This is evident when parents teach their children to hate others for any reason. The same resentment felt between the fathers is passed down to the children, and this cycle repeats until it is cut off. But, Glory be to God who alone can change the hearts of men and women.
I have faced multiple incidents of discrimination, I want to share with you one of the worst. I was in H.S. and during my senior year, I went to meet with my H.S. counselor to request an application to the local University, CSU Stanislaus. The counselor told me that I should not apply because I was an ESL student. She told me that I was not going to make it and that people like should not even apply. I insisted but she told me that she did not want to waist the paper application on me. I tried to control my emotions but as soon as I left her office, I was crying. I when to talk to my History teacher; he was Mexican just like me. He comforted me and immediately went to talk to the counselor. He told me to prove her wrong. I am glad that he helped me redirect my emotions. He referred me to a recruit that helped me with the full process. I was admitted to the University and years later I return to my H.S. to help recruit student to attend the University. The counselor was still there; I made it a point to refresh her memory and told her that I had proved her wrong and was now working for the University and I was about to complete my BA in Psychology with honors. I am now a counselor and I have made a life commitment to serve all students and promote education.
ReplyDeleteImmigrants are not always well-treated when they come to the U.S. Throughout history, the most recent immigrants to this country have almost always confronted some sort of discrimination – often they have had to take the hardest, worst paid jobs, and have difficulty assimilating entirely into society.People from Latin America are increasingly becoming targets of bias-motivated crimes. Attacks on Latinos have a particularly long history in California and throughout the Southwest where, during recurring periods of strong anti-immigrant sentiment, both new immigrants and long-time U.S. citizens of Mexican descent were blamed for social and economic problems and harassed and deported en masse.
ReplyDeleteI think its very sad that discrimination exist.
Why should people hating each other just because different tribes or ethnic group? why do we really care what's other people religion, where was they born or what's their skin color? how if we just live this life with loving each other, no matter the tribes, beliefs, religions, and all those things?I have experienced discrimination myself because I am Latina. Once I had to hear this long lecture of a friend of a friend about how people that imigrate to US should all be deported, they still your jobs, they are making the country ungly and went on and on and on.. He Knew I was an imigrant and he didn't even cared. I feel sorry for him, really.
Jeffrey Miller
ReplyDeleteUhhh, Well I'm fairly average in all those regards. White (half Filipino, but not visibly), Male, moderate height, no disabilities, and moderate intelligence. I honestly can't think of any sort of prejudice I've personally been subjected to, or anything near to me. So, I'll go with a more unique discrimination: age. This is pretty much a discrimination we all go through, and then apply to children when we get older. This makes it a unique sort of discrimination and sort of a revolving door.
One of my biggest issues of it is the legitimacy it has been given. For example, the right to vote, the ability to see/use M rated material, etc. Some of the discrimination are reasonable such as alcoholism since younger people are more adversely affected by alcohol then adults. Yet, take voting it isn't something bound by age or maturity in years. Since maturity can't reasonable be measured in just years. Voting shouldn't be restricted based on age, but on political awareness, which isn't something based on turning some arbitrary age, but on the focus of the person. Similar to M-rated movies being mature enough to see a movie isn't bound by age, but the maturity of the person. Obviously an eight year old shouldn't be seeing am movie ripe with cursing, but a 14 year old probably would be mature enough to see it.
Discrimination has settled down a lot compared to how it was back 50 years ago. But sadly it has not disappeared. I believe that the people that discriminate against others are ignorant and have self issues. I have been discriminated because of my race or maybe my age, I’m not really sure which one. I went into a store and the sales people usually greet those that walk in and ask if they need any assistance. It was an expensive store and I was neither greeted nor asked if I needed assistance. When I was ready to pay the sales person came up to the counter and asked if I had a question. I said no I’m ready to pay for my items. Then she looked at me and said this is $140, she didn’t give my total she said it in a way that sounded like “Do you even know how much this costs?” I was really irritated by the sales associate and couldn’t believe there is still discrimination going on.
ReplyDeleteI have seen the diversity at Cuyamaca College and I think it is a great thing. I see people of all ages and all races. I respect every individual and I find it very sad that the Chaldean people have faced discrimination. It’s just like not liking any Germans because of Hitler. People need to realize that we need to stop blaming groups of people for the world’s problems.