Megan's got 47

Prejudice is alive and well……

Why do we deceive ourselves and think that we live in a better world than the times of sexism, racism, serfdom and even slavery? Although it seems we made great improvements in areas of prejudice, I can see these crimes of hate are just redirected. If you look back at the time where we were fighting for equal rights for women and Americans of African decent you can find that at the same time we were locking up anyone who did not conform to some social ideal in some doctor’s head. The mentally handicapped were locked up in institutions, experimented on, everything but being treated like human-beings. Throughout most of the 20th Century the mentally handicapped were treated worst than slaves; they were treated like animals with no use except maybe to experiment on, lockup, and forget about. This is why the “R” word hurts. Just as the “N” word reminds us of prejudice, slavery, segregation, etc, that is what it means to us. My daughter is treated differently because of the way she looks, is this not prejudice? When a child is denied access to a school or put on a special bus because he/she has a disability, is this not segregation. When a human being is locked in an institution from childhood until the day they die, is this not slavery?

When will it end? When will we realize that human beings are great because of their diversity, not despite of it? When will we learn from those that are different from us instead of hate them? When will it end?

It will end when people stop thinking its OK, when people can’t profit from it, when people realize that prejudice is the fuel of hate and fear. We all do it. We walk on the other side of the street when we see a homeless man, we go to war to fight the Muslim extremists, and we say “She’ll never get married or go to college because she has DS.”

Help us take a step in the right direction and tell Hollywood, and everyone, that we won’t put up with this anymore.

Joe