Saturday, October 15, 2011

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression


One incident that I witnessed the acts of bias or prejudice is when a Caucasian employee only waited on or answered the questions of other Caucasian customers. As a result of these actions equity was diminished. For example, we as customers were no longer equal. Instead, the minority customers were oppressed and the Caucasian customers were awarded with privilege.  This incident brought up many feelings. Although I was happy to get waited on, I was almost disgusted that this individual believed that they were that superior that they did not have to wait on minority customers. I also felt a little guilty and sympathetic for the minority customers.  There are two entities that would have to change for this situation to be corrected: the employee and the workplace. Simply, the employee would need to overcome his bias and prejudice in order to realize that all customers are approachable and should be treated equally. The workplace and its managers would also need to recognize the biases and prejudices that its employees possess and ensure that all employees overcome these issues and are appropriately trained in diversity. 

1 comment:

  1. Mary I agree that people in general must overcome his/her bias and prejudice in order to effectively communicate and understand others. We all should treat one another how we would like to be treated in order to ensure fairness and equity.

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