The dehumanization of minorities is at the core
of most racial issues in the United States of
America. Minorities are struggling for
recognition as human beings. It was this
dehumanization of the slaves in the Atlantic
Slave Trade, as slavery in America was known,
that was the difference between slavery in the
rest of the world, which is active today. In other
societies the slaves are recognized as human
beings and can work their way out of slavery.
Many of today’s slave owners were once slaves
themselves.
All human beings have the ability to behave in a
responsible manner and should be held to one
standard and have our behavior evaluated by
one set of rules. I have found that most people
were comfortable with this type of arrangement
even when their behavior came into question
and had to be addressed.
If we look at a group of horses, we would not
say that a black horse is superior or inferior to a
white horse or a brown horse. We see horses,
and we admire them for their physical beauty
and other natural characteristics. I would think
that the color of their coats, while obvious,
would be of less interest.
When we look at other people, and ourselves,
far too many of us are concerned with race and
gender. We often use race to determine who is
worthy of respect, or who is competent based
on their color. The assumption that white
people are naturally more competent than black
people, or that males are naturally more
competent than females, is simply erroneous. Competence comes from preparation, training,
and education; one's race or gender does not
predetermine it.
There seems to be a game being played in our
society that predetermines that White people
are born with unearned superiority and that Black
people are born with unearned inferiority. Some
Black people are willing to participate as long as
they are not held to the same standard of
behavior or conduct as White people. They don’t
have to be on time for appointments. They don’
t need to be as effective or proficient in meeting
their responsibilities. When these people are
held accountable to the same standards as
White people they claim racism. White people
who are afraid to be accused of being racist will
refrain from holding them accountable for their
responsibilities. The no fault resolution to this
game is for Whites to give up their unearned
superiority and Black to give up their unearned
inferiority and come to a level playing field
where everyone plays by one set of rules and
have their behavior measured by one standard.
This will allow everyone equal opportunity to
earn their superiority or inferiority as the case
may.
The "Conflict Resolution" section should help you
understand that the major problem in most
conflicts is attitude or emotion and you can
choose not to participate at that level. Once the
dialog turns to the facts at hand, the parties
should be able to at least agree to disagree.
The Personal Agenda outline should be used as
a guide to identify your innermost desires,
which then become ones life's goals.
The Racial & Gender Stereotyping handout** is
a list of stereotypical behaviors of how we see
others and ourselves. While it is true that some
of the people in each group behave as described
some times, not all of the members of any
group behaves as described in this handout all
of the time. Stereotyping is a natural and
acceptable practice.
Racial and gender profiling is treating members
of a group as if the stereotypes were true and
accurate descriptions of the expected behaviors
of all of its members all of the time. After
reviewing these stereotypes the attendees will
realize that Racial & Gender Profiling is not only
illegal, but also a wrong and unacceptable
practice because it is based on false and
misleading information.
The No Fault resolutions to racial and gender
problems are unique to “Personal
Empowerment”*. The innate endowments of
freedom of choice, imagination, self-awareness,
and independent-will are basic to all human
beings. These endowments provide the
foundation of holding each human being
accountable and responsible for the effective
use of those endowments, and the resulting
behaviors, these endowments entitle all human
beings to the respect and dignity due one
human being from another. The rewards or punishment should be based on the individual’s
behavior not their race or gender. One’s
behavior is to be evaluated not their value as a
human being. One human being does not have
the right to judge the value of another human
being. “Good people behave badly some times.”
*© Copyright 2002
by Bennie L. Crane & Julian
L. Williams, PennWell Corp.
Tulsa, OK
** Optional Copyright Handout
“You See Me! I
See You! How Do We See One
Another”
$3.50 USD each |
