Prejudice in America

My husband is an Italian American and he is the president of a cultural & language club called "Amici Della Lingua Italiana". Yesterday this club was made an Institute with "Burlington County College" at a convocation by the Italian & Italian American Heritage Commission.

At this event there was a great deal of talk as to the prejudice that the Italian Americans have felt over the years and how in the twenties and thirties when many of the immigrants came to this county, they were afraid to speak their language for fear of discrimination. And apparently today the youth are losing their culture and language. Also they are appalled at TV shows and movies that depict Italians as only mobsters, such as the Sopranos.

If this group of people and many other ethnic people feel this way, can you imagine how the African-American culture must feel and have felt for centuries as darker skinned peoples have been enslaved in one place or another since the early civilizations. I can't even imagine how I would feel!

My father came from Greece in the late 1920's and eventually settled in the south-eastern part of the US and I remember as a little girl people discriminating against him and his business. He had to prove himself to be an up-standing member of the community much more so than that of the average white man. I always thought how unfair and yet again, my father's skin although olive toned, was considered Caucasian and again could not possibly know really what it must feel like to be discriminated against like that of an African-American.

Now we are seeing discrimination against people of Arabic backgrounds and their religions, as well as many Hispanic cultures.

We are suppose to be more civilized and yet I wonder if that is true. Isn't it time that people realize that we are all here and we must all live on this planet together? One race is no better than another, and everyone should have the right to worship in the way they choose, or not worship at all? I love animals, but a black dog is no better than a white one, why should a white person be better than a black?

It's time for hate to stop and unity as humans to take it's place. It's time that people embrace other cultures and learn from them. Earth is beautiful as ALL of it's inhabitants!