The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

One memory of prejudice that I remember distincly was when  I was in high school.  My brother got into an argument with a fellow classmate outside of the classroom and I was in a group with my friends and I could see him arguing with this boy who is Caucasian and I just remember hearing the boy call my brother the "N" Word. that stuck out to me so heavily.  I ran over because I knew my brother was about to get violent after that and I remember him hitting the boy once and I was able to grab him altough he was quite stronger than me,  I grabbed him because I did not want him to end up suspended or expelled. After explaining the situation to the principal because security still came because of all the comotion and noise from all the kids screaming and wanting to see a fight, both of them were suspended.  My brother was suspended for hitting the boy and the boy was suspended for saying the "N" word.  That situation was very scary to me to witness because I didn't know how it would play out especially to someone so close to me. 

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

I feel like in the situation, equity was diminished because of how they both were punished the same, I personally feel like the boy should have had a harsher punishment than my brother, because words hurt a whole lot more than being physical. The word that was used in this situation was like daggers and caught a lot of people off guard which caused retaliation.  I am not saying my brothers actions were right, but being that disrespected is very much uncalled for. 

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

The incident brought of feelings of anger for me personally and once I saw my brothers reaction it made me sad because I knew he was hurt more than anything with the situation.  For a long time I was hurting for him and with him because my family means the world to me.  When my family is treated badly or in situations that are emotional and hurtful it affects me as if it were me.

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

Both of the individuals in the situation could have made the situation a better opportunity for greater equity by being more mature and talking out instead of speaking in anger and saying hurtful words. It could have all turned out so differently, but in high school when I was going a lot of kids were not as mature as they should have been. Thank God for growth though.