Asha Coutrier

UWRT 1102
Ms. Voltz
April 24th, 2016

Reflection on An Example of Prejudice

With the Black Lives Matter movement taking off even more so this year,
America has had to come to terms, once again, with its tumultuous race relations and
the shaky foundation theyre built on. When it comes to minorities, especially black
people, we seem to have the hardest times escaping excessive jailing rates, stereotypes
involving certain drinks and fruits, or being told that we arent considered African
American if we dont talk black or act black whatever either of those mean. This is
built off the institutionalized racism that came with our country being built on the back
of slave labor by first Native Americans, and then black people. It took years for us to get
to the front of the bus, drink from one fountain, and go to schools where there werent
dozens of us shoved into a building with threadbare adornments and outdated and
dilapidated textbooks. So when someone says that referring to a whole group of people
as the___s isnt racist it gets under my skin because not every person of that group is
alike, nor have they ever been.
The entirety of this unfortunate conversation that I had with this person just
reminds me of how disconnected people are from the happenings in our society and how
quickly white people tend to get defensive when their inherent privilege is brought up in

conversation. People dont enjoy playing the race card, in fact, no one should enjoy
being marginalized because of the color of your skin. I hope for a day where All Lives
Matter materializes, because while all lives do matter, not all lives are being harassed
and discriminated against currently. The issue can start being solved when the issue of
race stops being such a taboo subject to discuss because it has very real implications on
people of color in the real world.