How to Deal with Social Injustice & Prejudice.

A poem I wrote to expose how social evil generally takes place under the radar -making it often difficult to confront the perpetrator, allowing the person to bask in glory without taking responsibility for their offensive behavior.

Race, gender, color and creed

It’s not an acceptable thing
To make a remark that is totally dark
About a person’s race, gender, color or creed.

To do so, would invite dishonor
To do so,would invite disgrace
You cannot be seen to despise anything
About a person’s race, gender, color or creed.

Prejudice is persistent
Prejudice is resistant
It is not an obvious thing.
It’s the feeling you invoke
Without one word spoke.

The rule is really quite simple
To tell a person he’s inferior
To say that you are superior
Without saying a thing!

Prejudice is persistent and totally resistant

After all,

You cannot be accused
Of being discriminating

When you haven't said a thing!

It is in our nature as humans to be happy. To want to lead a life that is fulfilling and meaningful. It is not in our natural nature to be hateful, angry and fear driven - Yet our world is filled with unhappy people, with people that are hateful, hurtful, and angry. Why is that?

Evil is something that nobody wants to be associated with. Even those that are perceived to be evil will seldom acknowledge their wrong. It is said that Hitler rode with his window wound up when driving through cities that he disseminated in order not to be touched by all the pain and suffering that he was responsible for inflicting.

It is said that Satan himself does all his bidding under the cover of darkness in fear of being exposed.

Prejudice is not just perpetrated by someone like Hitler or a figure that becomes infamous for some evil deed against mankind. Evil is something that starts with the ordinary man. Evil starts with you and me. Every time we do or say something that violates a person’s rights to be treated with respect and dignity we perpetrate an injustice against that person as well as humanity. We contribute towards depriving them of their ability to function optimally and bring forth their life purpose - who knows what that could be – but every life purpose carries great value for all mankind. So essentially you are robbing yourself.

To be unjust requires that we justify our behaviour. It requires that we place the other person in a situation where we believe that they are deserving of our reaction however wrongful it may appear to others. It starts with undermining often subtly, then gradual humiliation, then gaining collective support by spreading stories and taking action to deprive the person of their ability to function optimally and over time and with collective support we can alienate and marginalize everything that they stand for and maintain the situation indefinitely – Providing we have the support of the collective. Without a foundation within which to survive, a person can become hostile, angry and may sometimes resort to anti-social illegal behaviour in order to survive. This is why change can only happen one person at a time. When you no longer agree to go along with unjust collective agreements – you break the link and like a pack of dominoes – those that are aligned to be truly good will follow.

Jealousy, envy, greed and entitlement are often at the core of evil and when acted upon individually in the form of any disrespectful behaviour will only serve to backfire upon your own soul depriving you of your happiness. When acted upon collectively as described above, we manifest wide scale suffering from crime, war, death, and destruction of every kind.

Evil typically starts by being prejudiced against a person’s race, colour, gender or creed. Our beliefs are often established during our childhoods or within our social networks so it is important to analyse how we come to our personal beliefs. It is not acceptable to go with the flow or blame ancestors or upbringing. We need to be responsible for our own attitudes and be the change we want to see.

Ever been placed in an awkward situation where you are confronted with an offensive joke or remark and you are at a loss as to how to respond appropriately?

I wanted to write a post for some time about how best to deal with such a situation. I was busy doing research for another subject and came across this post which I think offers the perfect response as to how to deal with a person that makes a joke or statement that you consider offensive.. Written by Carmen van Kerckhove president of a diversity education firm. New demographic which is based in New York.

Here is a link to the post:

In a nutshell she advises that there are three things that you can do:

1. Keep Silent.

2. Walk away

3. Confront the person and tell them you find their joke or remark racist and offensive.

According to Carmen keeping silent and walking away is not really effective because you are not dealing with the situation in a way that the person knows how you feel and you will be left feeling silently upset and offended.

Confronting the person directly is also not the best method because you risk a defensive reaction - for example being told that you are over-sensitive and possibly damaging your relationship with that person.

The best advise is to act dumb and ask for clarification. This places the person in a position of needing to explain themselves. Then you can provide feedback. Example:

You: 'I don't understand? What do you mean by that 'Asians are bad drivers?'

Racist: Well it's a stereotype?

You: Then you believe that Asians are bad drivers?'

See you turn the tables instead -Now that's empowering!.

To fight a collective evil such as in the case of Hitler’s Nazi Germany, South Africa’s apartheid era, requires acknowledgement from the collective that the system is unjust and the ability for the collective to take corrective action without fear of reprisals from the source evil.

Here is an interesting site which I stumbled upon whist researching this post.

Racial Equity Tools

Racism Stops with Me.

How to be a Better Person.

• Examine your belief systems.
• Dissociate yourself with those that are socially insensitive and unjust.
• Educate your significant others about inappropriate behaviour.
• Be an example of how you would like people to treat others.
• Look for the value in each person. Don’t stereotype. Every person has unique talents.
• Concentrate on your own life instead of finding fault with others.
• When you treat people with dignity and respect, you validate and encourage Gods Divine will in a practical way.

To be good and happy is at the core of our nature as human beings but requires of us to first take personal responsibility for our beliefs and behaviours. We cannot be good or happy as long as we deprive others of this same right. Be the change you want to see.

have you got an empowering or insightful suggestion as to how a child or adult could deal with prejudice? Please do give your feedback. Please keep it clean.