A short slideshow for my College diversity class that I presented to a group of high school students to raise awareness about prejudice and how we can work to fight it.
2. -A brief look at historical examples of prejudice and
discrimination in the United States
-What Would You Do? A short film and discussion
-The vastness of the Middle Eastern world
-Islam and the common stereotypes associated with it
-What we can do to help move away from prejudice
tendencies
3. Webster’s Dictionary defines prejudice as:
1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or
without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any unfavorable preconceived opinion or feeling.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a
hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.
4. Historically, there have always been certain groups
within the United States that are subjected to
prejudice, discrimination, and even blatant racism.
These bias tendencies still go on in our nation today,
hindering our path towards equality.
1
5. Native Americans
Pushed to Migrate
Genocide? 2
Reservation Conditions
Portrayal in Sports
3
6. African Americans
Racism in the Past
Slavery
Segregation
4
Bigotry
Still Unequal Today
Career and Loan Rejection
Incarceration
Poverty
5
7. Asian Americans
Cheap Labor Force
Transcontinental Railroad
Led to Anti-Chinese Movement
6
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
Japanese Internment (1942)
Post Pearl Harbor fear of “Japs”
7
8. Latin Americans
Segregation
Deportation of Families
8
Cheap Labor
Hiring of Illegal aliens while
forcing them to leave the country
English Only Laws
9
9. Muslim Americans, Arabs, Iranians, Sikhs, and Hindus
Post 9/11 Fear & Islamophobia
Persons or groups perceived
as terrorists
Patriot Act
Hate Crimes
Many times against a person
not a part of the “target” group
10
12. -Extremely vast region that
encompasses over 15 countries,
on two different continents.
-Nearly every country speaks a
different language, many have a
variety of languages within the
region.
-Most common religion is Islam,
however one could find all of the
11 World religions within this area
as well as many other minority
practices.
13. • Lets say we interviewed three people from different
parts of the Middle East. We recorded where they were
from, their religion, and their primary language. Our
results could be as distinct as this:
Person Country Religion Language
1 Egypt Christianity Arabic
2 Oman Hindu English
3 Turkey Islam Turkish
• Even though these people are all “Middle Easterners”
they each have drastically different characteristics.
14. What is Islam?
Who are Muslims?
What do they believe?
11
How large is the following?
Why do the women cover their heads?
12
Others?
15. Muslims are violent extremists…
Muslims are intolerant of all other religions…
Muslims worship a different God…
Islam oppresses women…
All Muslims are Arabs…
14
16. Don’t believe everything you hear
Challenge information
Pursue credible sources
16
Research for answers on your own
Make contact and conversation with people unlike yourself, learn
their perspectives and experiences
Read books written by people from different parts of the world
Thousand Splendid Suns
The Bottom Line: Tolerance
You don’t have to accept what
others believe, but don’t think any
differently of them for it
15
17. Adams, M. & Blumenfield W. J. (2010). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (2nd ed.).
New York, New York: Routledge.
Gerges, F. A. (1997). Islam and Muslims in the mind of America. Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 26(2), 68-81. Retrieved from Academic
Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
Heiss, M. (2006). Culture and U.S. Relations with the Middle East. OAH Magazine Of
History, 20(3), 19-22. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
Ross, M. L. (2008). Oil, Islam, and Women. American Political Science Review, 102(1),
107-123. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost.
Simmons, G. (2008). From Muslims in America to American Muslims. Journal Of Islamic
Law & Culture, 10(3), 254-282. doi:10.1080/15288170802481145