An incident of bias and prejudice that I experienced was when I was in high school. The other children did not want to interact with me because they thought I was poor and they made fun of my clothing. They would walk pass me and laugh or knock my books out of my hands. When it was time to split up into partners in class I was always the last one picked. It hurt deep down inside because I did not know why they were treating me like this. One day a friend that I grew up with came and told me what they were saying. They said that my clothes look like they came from target or Walmart and my shoes came from payless. They did not want to hang out with me either because I wasn't a small either. They were not being fair because I was not being picked first because of my appearance. This made me always stay quiet and hide in the back of the classroom. My mother and father did not have much and did they best they could. I was just grateful that I did not have to wear hand me downs, I was not focused on who name was on my clothes. All I knew was that I had on new clothes. Because of the shame I felt I went home and yelled at my mother for not buying me name-brand clothes. She said it is not what you wear, but who is wearing the clothes. I said I don't get it, she said clothes do not make the person the person makes the clothes. I said okay. I accessorized the clothes that I had and I went to school the next day and everyone thought I had been shopping again. I walked with my head up and I had gained confidence in myself from what my mother had told me. I walked around like I was wearing a million dollars worth of clothing. The other girls started talking to me after that. Older students who were there knew me from church and the neighborhood and they started introducing me to their friends and so I began to be more popular. When the girls who were being bias against me saw that I was hanging out with Juniors and Seniors, they began to want to hang out with me. I use to come home to my mom every day and tell her how those girls were acting like they never treated me wrongly. She laughed and said I told you it is not the clothes, it is the person in the clothes! I had to change me!
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Even as a child they have to go through some very harsh words coming from other children, who do not know the damage they are causing on the other child. Fortunately for you, you had someone to boost your self esteem, and encourage you, some children do not have that and are therefore damaged for life because of childhood prejudices.
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