racist or prejudice - my soap box

I'm VERY prejudice against certain people. I admit it 100% This is something I need to work on, it’s a struggle. I started thinking about this yesterday on the celebration of MLK Day. I think that many people confuse the two. Being a racist is wrong. Being a racist is actually shows your ignorance and I am prejudice against people that are racist.

Do you follow me? Let me explain anyway.

I believe that MLK was a person that was very tolerant of people. He didn't seem like a prejudiced person at all. He spoke of equality and I think we have come a long way. Far enough? No, I don't think so. It's taking a long time but at least most places in the country you aren't forced to separate yourself due to the color of your skin. I've noticed though that most places people do it any way. I noticed this at jury duty. You throw in a mix of people that are for the most part all strangers. The black people sat with the black people, the white people with the white people..and for the most part the men w/ the men and women w/ the women. Why do we do this? Was this learned? Is it basic instinct? I really don't know. Maybe people just gravitate towards people that they are comfortable with.

Being comfortable I think is what leads to being prejudice. When we are uncomfortable with a person we are more than likely prejudice against him for whatever reason. Again, I am not talking about race. Walk with me down a street...a city street. Coming toward you is a man. He has dirty baggy clothes, his head is down. You see that his pants are hardly even staying up since he wears them so low around his butt. Are you nervous? Why are his hands in his pockets? Is there anyone else around me? Are you a little nervous?

Now..same street. A man is walking your way. He has on a nice pair of tan pants; he's clean cut and has on a nice jacket. He's carrying a briefcase. Do you have any of those same feelings?
My guess, if you are anything like me you were much more comfortable w/ briefcase man coming toward you.
Notice it didn't matter if it was a black, white, Asian, Indian or middle eastern man..it was the way the dressed.
Now that guy in the baggy dirty clothes could have been the nicest sweetest guy in the world, it could have been your brother. I just find myself prejudice.

I am also prejudice against people with lots of piercing or tattoos...people that don't use good grammar. I am prejudice against people that are racist, I think that shows you are ignorant.

I'm sure there are people that are prejudice against me. Maybe they have issue with people that drive gas guzzling cars and tend to vote republican...or have issue w/ people that don't recycle.. I'm guilty.

I think a little prejudice is healthy and awareness of your prejudice can also lead to tolerance and knowledge.

Racist people: I have NO tolerance for. Neither did our civil rights leaders in the 1960's who lead the charge to wake some people up. Did they succeed? In my opinion, kinda sorta. I think it’s our job to make sure that racism isn’t tolerated.

My problem is though I don’t think people really know what racism is. Racism is not being prejudice. I am equally prejudice against people of all colors. That’s just me. When you promote one person over another person in a job it has nothing to do with their race. It’s about performance and knowledge. When you fire a person from a job it is based on performance not race. Why do we give scholarships to people of certain colors? I don’t know, you would think that we should do it by knowledge and performance also..is that racist? I guess so.

I have truly gone above and beyond what you should tolerate for my soap box. If you are still reading this I’m surprised. If you don’t agree with me and think that I’m full of hot air I also wouldn’t be surprised. I guess what this does show is that I’m not a writer, I’m sure if this was a paper in college I’d get a D..but oh well. No one is prefect.