So, since you have no preconconceptions about anybody you wouldn't cross the street to avoid walking by a group of teens and young men of a different race who are all wearing sagging pants and have gang tattoos. You would rather risk being robbed and beaten and possible shot or stabbed to avoid showing prejudice. You are probably against any kind of profiling so you are OK with an 85 year old grandmother being strip searched at the airport while a group of camel jockeys walk right onto the plane.
I wouldn't cross the street to avoid them. The rest of your post is intentionally inflammatory hyperbole and not worth responding to.
I would say everybody carries prejudices in their make up. It is ingrained in our tribal history to notice outsiders. Prejudice is part of our nature and every human has them. Allowing those prejudices to color actions leads to racism, jingoism, religous fanaticism etc. Acting on those prejudices is the ugly face seen too often. Maturity is recognizing you have prejudice and realizing that there is so much more to others than the monochromatic vision your prejudice creates and overcoming them. To believe people can truly be without prejudice is not only fantasy but destructive. We need to understand where we come from and what makes us human. We need to realize that the call to overcoming the past and the ghosts of our primitive essence is what will make us as individuals and society better.
To follow up on my thoughts. Just because we ALL carry prejudices doesn't excuse acting on them. That someone has suffered because of prejudice doesn't give him the right to return such. Nor can it be used to dismiss others' issues. We all have to at least be honest with ourselves as to what is driving our emotions and actions and treat ALL of our brother humans as WE WOULD WANT TO BE treated. This simple principle takes the heart out of any prejudice.
I think odds tilt greater towards your ignorance more than my luck. I doubt you have ever seen a gang tattoo. You probably haven't been close enough to examine one. I'd be willing to bet that more people have died at the hands of clean cut white dudes than all the gang tattoo, sagging pants wearing minorities in America.
Do you really believe that? You just don't get the real news on inner city crime because it doesn't fit a media narrative. You talk about racism and your quote really begs the question about who is a racist in this conversation. From the CDC: Gang Homicides — Five U.S. Cities, 2003–2008 Weekly January 27, 2012 / 61(03);46-51 Gang homicides account for a substantial proportion of homicides among youths in some U.S. cities; however, few surveillance systems collect data with the level of detail necessary to gang homicide prevention strategies. To compare characteristics of gang homicides with nongang homicides, CDC analyzed 2003–2008 data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) for five cities with high levels of gang homicide. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that, consistent with similar previous research, a higher proportion of gang homicides than other homicides involved young adults and adolescents, racial and ethnic minorities, and males. Additionally, the proportion of gang homicides resulting from drug trade/use or with other crimes in progress was consistently low in the five cities, ranging from zero to 25%. Furthermore, this report found that gang homicides were more likely to occur with firearms and in public places, which suggests that gang homicides are quick, retaliatory reactions to ongoing gang-related conflict. These findings provide evidence for the need to prevent gang involvement early in adolescence and to increase youths' capacity to resolve conflict nonviolently. In a typical year in the so-called “gang capitals” of Chicago and Los Angeles, around half of all homicides are gang-related; these two cities alone accounted for approximately one in four gang homicides recorded in the NYGS from 2011 to 2012.
There are parts of towns that you just don't go. You may come out alive, maybe, probably wish they had just killed you if you do. I don't know if that is racist or prejudiced or not, I call it smart. Sort of like free speech, just because you have a right to it doesn't always mean you should exercise it so likewise, you may be technically "entitled" to that part of the street or sidewalk or whatever, but I'm not pushing it unless I really have to. I call it situational awareness mixed in with a little risk assessment.
