Racial Prejudice Essay

In any situation, or any event, any arbitrary person or group has the potential of being marginalized, of being treated unfairly due to one aspect of their being. Contrary to popular belief, racism is not the same as prejudice, although prejudice may lead to racism. Racism is the systemic oppression of one racial group due to another already being in power while prejudice is the the negative pre-judgement of a person or group without getting to know their beliefs, thoughts and even feelings behind their actions. To reword, “A racial project can be defined as racist if and only if it creates or reproduces structures of domination based on essentialist categories of race,” (Omi & Winant, 1986). Prejudice unlike racism does not require a power dynamic as a prerequisite. For example, while the dumb blonde stereotype and the jokes emanating and reproducing from it can be considered a version of prejudice it does not nearly have the negative consequences associated with racism. A person experiencing such a prejudice may experience frustration, irritation and possibly even discomfort but ultimately that person would be able to retain the ability to purchase a home in a particular neighborhood as well as their rights to all resources in society. However unlike the dumb blonde stereotypical experience, the racial prejudice in American history has deeply detrimental implications in
Essentially, why are bigoted people bigoted and how have these thoughts survived eradication for so long? The problem of prejudice is not one that can be easily solved; one cannot create an antidote for these discriminatory feelings yet they can work to understand their existence. In light of the above discussion, the formation of these preconceived notions is derived heavily from biological programming, different experiences and the environmental stimuli