8.25.2016

A Message About Combating Your Prejudices

Turn off the news and get to know people.

That is a message I can't stress enough, and is something I wish everybody would do. I hear people say things, and I read about incidents involving racial and religious hatred, and I feel so bad for people-- not just victims, but aggressors as well (sometimes). The media are perpetuating a very skewed reality, and the only way to inoculate yourself against hate and the kind of prejudices that cause harm is to get to know people. The only way to understand just how different people living right next to each other experience different worlds is to engage with families who are not made up of your own skin color and do not follow the same religion and include members of various sexual orientations and gender identities. I am grateful that I have had these experiences for almost as long as I can remember because I know people are people first, and I know that skin color, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and gender identity make people different, *and that is okay.* I know that we are all in this together, and I know that a powerful few benefit from our failure to realize that.


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