Prejudice Experiences Things I Encounter

Prejudice Experiences

Things I encounter in L.A. impress a certain knowledge on me -- but I also carry with me a kind of wisdom that helps me interpret what I see. While the fact that people of certain ethnicities tend to stick to their own groups is apparent in L.A., I do not see such a thing as bad. Ethnicities should be respectful of one another, but the fact is that we are all different -- and while some people have certain customs that they wish to observe, other people suffer from a lack of custom. I see this all the time.

Why, for example, are there so many young black men on street corners wearing baggy clothes and appearing to be up to no good? Is this a prejudice in me to observe this and think these things? Why do they frighten me when I see them? Is this a prejudice that I carry?

I want us all to be part of the same culture -- but I myself do not even know what that culture is -- nor do I really know why we should all share the same one. Long ago, we would not have shared this city: my people would have been in China. The Latinos (a mix between the Spanish and the Native Americans) would not have been here. The blacks would not have been here. The whites would not have been here.

When the missionaries and explorers came over, they tried to teach the people here about their faith -- they wanted everyone to be on the same page -- they wanted them to save their souls. They helped them in the fields and taught them about Jesus and they named their new towns after the saints. All the cities in California have such names: San Francisco (St. Francis), San Jose, San Diego… Now, these cities are filled with people who no longer appear to believe what was taught in the old world. The beliefs have changed, the people are no longer unified.

They attempt to unite us in a certain way -- they attempt to get us to recognize that we see one another differently and are frightened by that. They attempt to show us how judging others comes from prejudice. But I think prejudice is part of human nature. Unless we are on the same page about what we believe, how can we know whom to trust, or what to expect of others who are obviously of a different culture? Jesus teaches us to act with charity -- to rise above our human nature -- but not everyone believes in Jesus. Should I act that way nonetheless?