"Prejudice"; very simply the act of pre-judging an event; is the abilities we used in the past to keep ourselves safe or using our experiences to make an informed decision. In a world without cell phones and motion detection lights, settlers had to pre-judge that a twig snapping in the forest might be a wolf. Even today, if you are a person that says you hate anything: dogs, cats, people from a certain profession (Lawyers, right?), people judged by their personal choices (trailer parks/ Hippies/ "Gangsters"/ Abercrombie & Fitch/ vegans), religious affiliation - than you have a prejudice. When you meet the "offending" party, you are going to assume a series of facts about them at the outset: making a pre-judgement. In modern America, that action puts your squarely as prejudice (and by default, racist). For me, it has always been the next step that differentiates hatred from the instinct of self preservation: actions.
My Dad grew up deep in the country in a town of 200 white people in the 1950's. The first person of any color he ever saw was in his teens when the family went to a city. He was surprised by what he saw, but had all the prerequisite emotions that came with growing up in the time, and for his whole life he never had any comfort around other races, always "pre-judging" them to be a threat to him, to our safety and to the white race at large. That is the racism the forefathers of the civil rights movement dealt with in the 60's. Closed minded stereotypes that can't be changed by people of another race. He instilled a lot of his ideas in me as a young man, after all, he was my Dad. My opinions in his house on race, religion, politics and even relationships were instilled in me, but my personality style is not one to blindly follow anything. When I entered the real world as a young man, I knew all the things he had told me, but I have always kept an open mind about everything life has to offer. I learned a different reality on the subjects he expressed opinions on, while prejudice is not always incorrect either. Ask anyone NOT in a white hood what they feel about "Birth Of Nations". (See? I just made an assumption that most of you nodded in agreement.) The key to me is whether or not prejudice is the last level of thought you allow a person based on any certain characteristic. It's in eliminating an alternative that prejudice transitions into hate. However, intent is not considered in modern society, the "victims" make the rules of engagement on when they are being harassed or minimized, even if it is not that intent or in action.
Why does this matter? True hate definitely still exists in this country based on hate, but every time something happens between a Caucasian and another race, it is not immediately racism on every count. It definitely is not "the same as it ever was", how demeaning to the millions in the 60's that endured unspoken horrors along the road. In fact, it seems that the "white devil" stereotype gets a pass on the racism scale, but it is just as racist and close minded as the people from the other side of the tracks. We will never agree on this issue until race dissolves as the primary identifier, then again, in the days where family reigned as an identifier, there were a million blood feuds over lineage.
Why can't we all just leave each other alone? Befriend who you like; disassociate from people you don't enjoy their company, get mad when you are insulted as a person (not a part of a larger ideal) and just do your thing each day. It sounds naive, but why do we put so much stock in people that we are just looking for a negative experience from? I live my daily rut (commute, job, school) just to get to the good moments (wife, food, Netflix). I don't have the time, energy or desire to sit around seething hate for anything (except mushrooms). I don't get why everyone else can't? Does my bipolar actully aid me in the endeavor? If so, Gnarls Barkley pegged it.....
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