Collegiate Times

Driving home from Reagan National Airport at 3 a.m. on Monday, I came to a startling realization: I am just as prejudiced as the people I criticize on a daily basis. Maybe this doesn?t come as an astonishing revelation to those of you who read my columns but having other people realize something and realizing it yourself are completely different ends of the spectrum.

My eye-opener stemmed from a conversation I was having with two colleagues on the way back from a convention. We began discussing a friend of mine who I described as the ?whitest black person I know.? The funny thing is, that probably isn?t the first time I have illustrated this person in such a way and, yet, it was the first time someone called me on it. I was struck with the comment that shook me inside and out and enabled me to realize that I?m no better than the next person.

My comment sparked a conversation on how often it is that we explain someone in a way such as the fashion I had and never give it a second thought. Saying someone is the ?whitest black person? you know may not seem offensive, but dig deep, get down to the core of things; there you will find the crude parts that would be better off in the trash. How is it that we as a society have learned that stereotyping people is appropriate? What makes a white person different from a black person anyway? Besides the color of their skin, which we shouldn?t be paying attention to anyway, there is not any remarkable trait that distinguishes the two races. Therefore, to say a black person acts like a white person really makes little sense and only sounds prejudiced. Some of you are going to disagree with me that nothing distinguishes white people from black. First of all, if you really think the color of someone?s skin is some amazing alteration of groups of people, you are ignorant and your opinion is as irrelevant as the fact that I had broccoli and cheddar soup for dinner yesterday. Yes, there are different classes of people; however, whether someone has class or not is not specific to the color of their skin. Anyone can lack class; those of you who think the color of someone?s skin matters are probably prime examples of this.

So how is it that we have become so jaded as to believe generalizations such as one race being less classy than another are acceptable? That I really cannot answer, except to challenge such a mindset overall. In the United States today, we are given a two-party political system. There is an institutional safeguard to such a system that pertains to education in America. The American educational standard is consistently increasing, if you disagree, I suggest taking a look at the major criticisms of Harriet Miers and the huge applause received by the new Supreme Court Justice nominee Samuel Alito. If you?re oblivious to such things don?t worry, I am simply inferring that, among other things, Miers was largely criticized for only having attended Southern Methodist College for her undergraduate and law studies. Alito, on the other hand, is a graduate of both Princeton University and Yale University. The curve in the American educational system today stresses the importance of attending the most exclusive schools and obtaining the best education.

This institutional safeguard that keeps our political system the way that it is speaks more to the idea that this generation has more educational opportunities than the generation that preceded us. A more educated group of people should not use such stereotypes as a means of everyday conversation, and, yet, we do.

The problem is not easily solved. Stereotypes exist and will continue to exist. That is the sad, inalienable truth. It?s not possible to cure the world of their lack of knowledge; however, it is feasible to change one person at a time. Perhaps we could all use a 3 a.m. awakening. This world has over six billion people in it. You are going to encounter someone who doesn?t look like you every day. Do not be jaded into thinking you are better than them because of the color of your skin. And the next time you, or I, decide to strike up a conversation about someone, remember you may be offending people in the same way you are offended every time a derogatory remark is made about someone you care about.