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Our Discrimination Weebly

Overview
Discrimination is ‘the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category’. A person can be excluded or demeaned for their race, religion, age, and many other factors. The United Nations fights discrimination, and has said that “Discriminatory behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or rejection,” (Understanding). Most discrimination takes place on minority individuals or groups, but minority groups may also discriminate against a majority group. This is called reverse discrimination. The most common forms of discrimination include sexism, racism, ageism, sexualism, and religionism. Most discrimination happens in the workplace and in schools. America in particular faces a lot of discrimination because of the amount of diversity the country has.

The impact discrimination has on society can cause violence, prejudice, or human rights abuses. Minority groups will oppose the government or the majority group, and could possibly begin an uprising or rebellion. [|Prejudice] will occur, and the minority group will be discriminated against in other areas (if the discrimination occurred in schools, it could then happen to the same group in the workforce). Since the group is being discriminated against, rights will be violated (an international human rights law declares equally, so therefore discrimination violates human rights). When human rights are violated, activists can also rebel against the group who is causing the violation.

Issues
Discriminatory practices occur in the workforce, educational areas, and in healthcare. Discrimination is the gateway to racism, human trafficking, hate crimes, and even cults, due to the biased judgement of other people. Discrimination is a violation of [|human rights], and discrimination on a wide scale can have negative impact on a government, or a general society. Discrimination on a smaller scale can have a very bad impact on a small group of people or individual, and can cause depression or low self-esteem.

Human Rights
Human rights are basic rights that should be given to every person, regardless of any status. Discrimination of any form is a violation of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (created by the United Nations shortly after World War II) states the thirty basic human rights, and specifies that no one should be denied these rights (UN Millennium). When people are discriminated against, this breaks human right law. Equality and human rights go hand in hand, because they both fight for everyone to be treated the same, regardless of any other factor. Discriminatory practices do not treat everyone equally, and until discrimination stops, human rights will continue to be violated.

Human Trafficking
In many ways, human trafficking is affected by discrimination. Many judgements are made based on the people who kidnap and/or sell their victims. We may go to the city and see a big man that has the newest model of the most expensive shoes, and a few gold chains around his neck. What do we automatically think? That man’s a pimp, because there’s no way he could afford all of that while living in the city. That’s just what our society thinks, and even though we know it’s wrong, we just can’t stop thinking like that. Sure, that man may look like a pimp, but human traffickers aren’t always that identifiable (Perkins). Traffickers could be the boyfriend a girl is madly in love with, or the nice nerdy guy that lures its victim away with the promise of a job; that’s what most people don’t know (Bolton). The perception of human trafficking is definitely distorted by discrimination.

Racism
Discrimination affects racism in many ways. People often think that based on the color of your skin, it determines how you act. People stereotype African-American by saying they will kill and steal. People think that white people are really rich and stuck-up. People think that Mexicans are dirty, steal people’s jobs, and they are “aliens” because they come from another country. These are just a few stereotypes people put on different races. Its not right, or fair. It’s wrong to label people based off the color of their skin.

Cults
Cults involve the discrimination towards a certain religious group. Sometimes, members of certain religions label other religions as cults because of the ideas they worship, or the ceremonial practices they perform. Most cults are linked to religion, although some can relate to things such as people believing in the [|Apocalypse], or a certain doomsday. People discriminate against those in cults due to their beliefs, which can also be called religionism, a major discriminatory practice. People who are in cults can also discriminate against those who do not support or share their beliefs (Hein-Hudson). Cults are very discriminatory in themselves, because they believe in only one answer, and often deal with extremity.

Hate Crimes
Discrimination can affect hate crimes by stereotyping the people that perform them, and by performing hate crimes on certain groups of people. An example of this is when muslims are checked twice as well as a white person when going through airport security. This happens because of 9/11, and people hold stereotypes based on the type of people who would perform hate crimes. Hate crimes can also be performed based on any type of group that someone has something against (Hate crimes). The Holocaust is considered a hate crime that Hitler and the Nazis performed on the Jews.

Spreading Prejudice
One key solution to ending discrimination is not passing on prejudices or discriminatory practices. Discrimination will not end unless an entire generation knows nothing of judgement or common views on others. This problem will not end until people allow it to. Don’t inform your children of your personal views, and teach them that all people are equal, no matter what. Most prejudice is passed on from generation to generation, from parent to child. These views force children to grow up around discriminatory practices, and it is common for children to do what they know. A generation that grows up without discrimination, will not discriminate.

Thinking About Actions
Another solution to ending discrimination is to simply just think about others. We discriminate so much in our society that it’s just common nature by now. If we try to stop and think about what we’re doing before we make judgements about others, we could become aware of our actions and stop them. Discrimination is cruel, and people are judged mainly based on what they look like. People can’t change their skin color, so there’s no need to judge them for it. The Constitution states that, “All men are created equal,” and we need to start living by that. Discrimination will subside once we start treating others how we want to be treated.

External Links
Our Discrimination Weebly

Types of Discrimination

Not In Our Town (Stopping Discrimination)

[|Stop Hate Crimes]

Human Rights First

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|AntiDiscrimination Center]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">References
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Andrade, Sahar. "Harmful Effects Of Discrimination." Technorati Lifestyle. Technorati Incorporated, 13 Sept. 2010. Web. 14 May 2012. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;"><http://technorati.com/lifestyle/article/diversity-harmful-effects-of-discrimination-part4/>

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Bolton, Sally. “The inhumanity of human trafficking.” UN Chronicle Dec. 2005: 78. Student Resources in Context. Web. 19 Mar. 2012.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Cause: Discrimination." Do Something. Do Something. Web. 08 May 2012. < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__http://www.dosomething.org/cause/discrimination>.__

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Hate Crimes." Federal Bureau of Investigation. United States Federal Government. Web. 14 May 2012. < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/investigate/civilrights/hate_crimes>.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hein-Hudson, Janet, and Anton Hein-Hudson. "Frequently Asked Questions about Cults." Cult FAQ. Apologetics Index, 15 Feb. 2005. Web. 14 May 2012. < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.cultfaq.org/>

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Perkins, Wenchi Yu. “Vital Voices: advocacy and service work of NGOs in the fight against human trafficking.” UN Chronicle Mar.-May 2005: 54+. Student Resources in Context. Web. 20 Mar. 2012.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“Racism.” - //Global Issues//. Web. 14 May 2010. < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.globalissues.org/article/165/racism>

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Understanding Discrimination." United Nations Cyberschoolbus. United Nations. Web. 08 May 2012. < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://cyberschoolbus.un.org/discrim/id_8_ud_print.asp>.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"UN Millennium Project." UN Millennium Project. Millennium Project, 2006. Web. 12 Apr. 2012. < <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/goals/index.htm>.