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WRITE FOR YOUR RIGHTS: TAKE A STAND AGAINST DISCRIMINATION ESSAY CONTEST
Second Place Winner: Reginald Brown Jr., age 18, Willingboro, NJ
While working at an amusement park, I encountered discrimination in various ways.
First, when I arrived at work, with other employees of different ethnic backgrounds, the supervisors would randomly hand out the employee responsibilities for the day. Being enthusiastic about my position, I did not notice at first why the African Americans received responsibilities that required working in the heat and strenuous labor, while my White co-workers worked in the shade or indoors.
Second, my white co-workers were given the opportunity to select which job they wanted for the day. The policy explained to me during my orientation was "employees' responsibilities are distributed on a daily basis based on the supervisor's discretion and cannot be requested." This unfairness to African Americans became evident over the course of several weeks. I confronted my supervisor with this apparent injustice. She stated the responsibilities are handed out on a first-come, first-serve basis. I explained that I was present before several of my White co-workers. She stated they were already at work but must have walked away to the rest room or vending machine. I knew that was not the case because I saw them get off the bus as I was entering the building.
Lastly, when occasionally working in the games or food section of the park, African Americans were monitored more frequently than the White employees, especially when money was involved.
This feeling of being discriminated against by White people made me very bitter. I felt like I did not have control over what was happening and the only resolution I seemed to have was to quit. However, I faced several dilemmas. I needed my job, and did not want to disappoint my parents. I decided to remain, but withdraw from friendly conversations with all of my White co-workers. This answer seemed like the best solution to my problem at the time.
However, while working on one of the games with one of my White co-workers, I noticed that he was extremely nice and was worth me lowering my wall of protection. We became best friends and keep in touch with one another while at college. I asked him why he did not shun me like the rest of the White co-workers? He stated that he noticed how unfairly African Americans were treated, and he wanted to prove to me that he was not like that -- he judged a person by their character, not the color of their skin.
I've grown to realize that discrimination doesn't come from White people, alone, but it came from me. I judged a sect of people by how I was treated by a few, and in turn, was treating all White people in the way I hated to be treated. I was turning into my worst enemy.
Perhaps no human being is completely innocent of some form of discrimination. It seems innate to human nature to use our own ethical, moral or religious standards to prejudice others. But as humans, we are also blessed with an even greater natural ability to love, a quality that can guide us towards tolerating, understanding and even appreciating our differences.
I don't have a magical remedy for discrimination; however, I am learning to make harmony among diverse people and in turn, hoping to receive the same courtesy.
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