PREJUDICE

By Catlin Ruff

Prejudice to me means disregarding or hating another person because of their race or religion.  Prejudice is a taught behavior; you are not born with it but are taught to act that way or to hate the other race because they are not the same as you are and because they think differently than you.  Prejudice is usually based on misunderstanding and lack of information; therefore, it makes a person dislike another person who is not the same.

The Anti-Defamation League was founded in 1913 to secure justice and fair treatment for all citizens alike, and it wasn't until the early sixties that a law was passed against racial and religious discrimination.  In 1939, Adolph Hitler began making many laws excluding Jews from trades, professions, or government posts.  Jews were controlled to positions of an inferior race.

The Federal Executive Branch for Fair Employment oversees job discrimination and practices.  Harry S. Truman created a community in 1946 to report racial discrimination.  This eliminated discrimination in many branches of the Federal Government and the armed services.

I feel that prejudice has changed from the way it used to be compared to the way it is today.  It's still around, but a lot has changed since Hitler's time.  We still have prejudice today but it's more without the slaying of hundreds of thousands of people just because they are different.

Prejudice is a very cowardly thing; it's a way of showing people that you only care for yourself and not for others because of their race.