One will never be able to fully understand the effects of prejudice unless you are the one that it pertains to. Many people make prejudice statements without even knowing it. It’s as simple as making fun of the way someone talks, how they dress, or what they look like, but personal prejudice was taken to a completely different level in Cairo. Martha Collins’ Blue Front is full of poems containing her research on the town of Cairo, Illinois and what her father experienced as a young boy living there. There was much personal prejudice in the small town due to the difference in ethnicities. Even though some believe that personal prejudice no longer exists, it most definitely does still exist. It has and will travel with each new generation.
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Cairo is a very small town at the southernmost point of Illinois. It is hard to believe that so many terrifying things have happened there that have basically left the town in shambles. Adding to all of the sadness after learning about what had all gone on, most people in the state of Illinois probably have no idea that the town even exists and not a clue about all of the petrifying events that took place. Prejudice and racism hit Cairo hard and the African Americans that lived in the town were discriminated against heavily. It seems that just because they were born with a darker complexion and to a culture different than what the white people are used to, that they are a huge burden and the ones to blame for all of the wrong doings. “said him because she was large and he was larger he was large enough said him because she was white and he was black and could have therefore must have necessarily him because” (Collins 21). This stanza really stood out because in just a few short lines, not even being punctual or seeming grammatically correct, it still opens our eyes up to how easy it was for blacks to be the one to …show more content…
Still today the black community is discriminated against so much that it is almost impossible for someone to say that prejudice, racism, and discrimination has disappeared. An article about the shooting of African American boy, Michael Brown, gives great examples as to how this issue continues to lives on. “According to one poll, 45 percent of African Americans believe that they have been discriminated against by the police because of their race, compared to only 7 percent of whites…Even 31 percent of whites, the poll found, believed that police are more likely to use deadly force against blacks” (Don’t Shoot). Since both races notice this, that should be an eye opener to try and change something, but people have grown so used to how society has been for years, that no one seems to want to put forth any sort of effort to “make change”.
The issue of racism and personal prejudice is something that will never be completely abolished. As explained in the previous paragraphs, prejudice can have a major impact on a person or an ethnic group as a whole. Like stated multiple times before, today’s society is proof that it still exists and although it is something
Cairo is a very small town at the southernmost point of Illinois. It is hard to believe that so many terrifying things have happened there that have basically left the town in shambles. Adding to all of the sadness after learning about what had all gone on, most people in the state of Illinois probably have no idea that the town even exists and not a clue about all of the petrifying events that took place. Prejudice and racism hit Cairo hard and the African Americans that lived in the town were discriminated against heavily. It seems that just because they were born with a darker complexion and to a culture different than what the white people are used to, that they are a huge burden and the ones to blame for all of the wrong doings. “said him because she was large and he was larger he was large enough said him because she was white and he was black and could have therefore must have necessarily him because” (Collins 21). This stanza really stood out because in just a few short lines, not even being punctual or seeming grammatically correct, it still opens our eyes up to how easy it was for blacks to be the one to …show more content…
Still today the black community is discriminated against so much that it is almost impossible for someone to say that prejudice, racism, and discrimination has disappeared. An article about the shooting of African American boy, Michael Brown, gives great examples as to how this issue continues to lives on. “According to one poll, 45 percent of African Americans believe that they have been discriminated against by the police because of their race, compared to only 7 percent of whites…Even 31 percent of whites, the poll found, believed that police are more likely to use deadly force against blacks” (Don’t Shoot). Since both races notice this, that should be an eye opener to try and change something, but people have grown so used to how society has been for years, that no one seems to want to put forth any sort of effort to “make change”.
The issue of racism and personal prejudice is something that will never be completely abolished. As explained in the previous paragraphs, prejudice can have a major impact on a person or an ethnic group as a whole. Like stated multiple times before, today’s society is proof that it still exists and although it is something