Can we unlearn prejudice?

When you grow up in the swamp you are bound to get some mud on your hands, and anyone growing up in a society as thoroughly imbued with race, gender, ethnic, and religious prejudice as is contemporary America is bound to have some amount of it rub off on him or her. It would require the moral quality of a Ghandi or a Martin Luther King to be otherwise. Thus I can say with some degree of certitude that I have never met anyone totally devoid of those attitudes and behaviors which define the very essence of prejudice.

Racial prejudice has been at the center of social conflict since colonial times, and even though much progress came with the Civil War of the 1860s and the civil rights struggle of the 1960s, there is still an unhealthy disrespect for those of any race other than one's own latent in the general population. Recent headlines and TV news features on the Jena school incident and the appearance of nooses in public places bear witness to the depth and breadth of the infection.

American society is far from alone in this regard. Civil conflicts in Ireland, Sri Lanka, Basque Spain, Darfur, Israel and Palestine all have their genesis in racial, ethnic or religious animosity, as does the so-called insurgency in Iraq, which pits Suni versus Shiite and Kurd in a deadly trio of intolerance.

Some personal experiences come ot mind which give evidence of how ordinary people, folks who are perceived as tolerant, and far removed from any theory of Aryan superiorty or KKK hate-mongering can yet harbor a disturbing level of intolerance.

My grandmother was a caring, kind and generous person whom I never heard say a mean or hateful word about anyone, until the day many years ago when my father invited a couple to the summer house we rented on Long Island sound. After a cookout and some polite conversation the guests were getting ready to leave when my aunt brought out a camera and asked everyone to gather for a group portrait. As she was aiming the Kodak towards Dad, Memere (grandmother) and the visitors, Memere blurted out "Don't take it now, I'm grinning like a g*d d*mned Jew." The picture was taken and the couple left in obvious haste. My father almost went ballistic, angrily telling his mother that she had offended and embarrassed him greatly by her inconsiderate words.

That was more than a half a century ago, but prejudice still surfaces in places where you wouldn't expect it. During the election season of a few years ago a member of the TV show "The View" stated "I would never vote for an atheist". I suppose that I could conclude that in an election between admitted atheist Bertrand Russell and self-proclaimed devout Muslim Idi Amin, she would favor the latter.

Now I believe that both my grandmother and the View speaker would not admit to deep seated prejudice, but the words they uttered in an unprepared moment are an indication of the unconscious bias each held inside.

I am acutely aware of my own culpability in this regard. If a driver cuts me off in traffic, I might instinctively think "Son of a bitch" if he is white like me, but "Damned N*gger" if she is black. This happens at an unconscious, reactive, level. Needless to say I am ashamed and deeply disturbed to be brought to the sudden realization of my personal failing in what I consider an elimentary requirement of common civility.

So what can I do to combat this serious flaw? All I know is to remind myself that such an outburst is beneath me, that my idealistic nature demands that I do better, and to resolve to reduce and eventually eliminate these and other acts of disrespect for any human being. We all share a common world, a world which is shrinking and bringing each of us into more and closer contact with people from diverse cultural, racial and religious traditions. The only race that should matter is the human race.

Our nation and each social group wherever found must make a profound effort to identify the roots of its own prejudices, and enable their citizens, especially the children, to realize the seriousness of the problem, and to educate all levels of society in acceptance, tolerance and caring for each other, irregardless of any perceived differences.

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