Racism: a personal prejudice

When faced with the slightest bit of racial insensitivity, many of us are quick to blurt out "racist!" and come running from the hills with pitchforks and torches. It is an unfortunate occurrence seen all too often in the news, and most recently, on campus. Whether or not these occurrences are racist, we oftentimes find ourselves letting the negative beliefs or actions of one person speak for their entire race, religion or culture.\nIf society is ever going to advance, we need to be tolerant of opinions that differ from our own, especially ones that can be contrived as racial bigotry. I'm not suggesting that you agree with those opinions -- definitely not -- but if an ignorant racial comment is made, we must learn to be tolerant of another's opinion however misguided he or she might be. We also must be able to differentiate the view of one person from his or her entire race. These negative opinions toward different races are conditioned, albeit subconsciously, but they can only be deconditioned consciously.\nConflicts that arise with people of a different race as we grew up can develop into our own personal stereotypes. I remember one day in high school when I thought racial relations failed. It was freshman gym class, and we were outside playing football. The weather wasn't particularly inviting, so the gym teacher left us unattended while he went back inside. We were supposed to play a game of football, but that wasn't going to happen. Several students started tossing the ball around, and one student, who was black, suggested we play, and I quote, "Throw the football at the white boys," which really meant, "Throw the football at anybody who is not black."\nAfter a few rounds of a very one-sided game, we went back inside. All who were involved in the game, mainly the receivers, said nothing to the gym teacher. Doing so would have likely made things worse, which was frustrating. Luckily, our tolerance of the game quickly bemused the other participants. \nAs trivial as it might seem now, I could have let the event in gym class negatively influence my opinions of an entire race. I didn't sit down and say, "Jeez, I wish black kids weren't so mean." It was more of a sad feeling. I had to realize that the overly charismatic student who orchestrated the offensive game was just one person. He did not represent his whole race. It may sound silly, but at the time it was a hard thing to face. It was a very real situation, especially since I had never been involved in something like that before. Those of us in class did not know how to react. Had it been the other way around, white students throwing footballs at black students, the white students would have surely been in trouble.\nMy example is just one of the many places where societal perceptions can become skewed. In such a situation we have to make sure that we do not let the inappropriate actions of an individual or small group speak for an entire race, religion or culture.\nOne thing we must remember is to not be too quick to dish out labels of "racist" or "bigot" when we are presented with a potentially negative racial comment or action. The best thing we can do is accept it as a misguided opinion and try to inform the misinformed.