3/18/2010 RALLY ON CAPITAL STEPS: RACISM AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
HOW WHITES ARE AFFECTED BY RACISM
I’m here today representing the Austin Center for Peace and Justice, and I’m honored to do so; our main mission cites the need to assisting Austin to live in socially responsible ways.
A friend and I were talking after meditating at a local Buddhist Meditation center. She was trying to describe one of the monks, and said, “Yeah, he’s the bald one.” We both burst out laughing, because all the monks there were bald!
Stereotypes and ignorance are two major areas that keep racism going. This joke is much like the person who says, “They all look the same to me.” This denies that fact of individuality of people within a category. What’s often hard for European Americans to grasp is the notion of unity and diversity when it comes to viewing difference between those ethnic groups that look very different than us.
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