Discrimination for Less Stressful Life
What kinds of things do you image when you hear the word “discrimination”? Some people probably have a negative image about it while the others do not. In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, he asserts that “all segregation are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality” (King 4). I agree with his opinion that segregation has a possibility to hurt their soul and personality. However, it is also true that people need to do it to make an appropriate decision in daily life. Discrimination is indispensable because it improves their life. They often discriminate subconsciously to feel better, especially in public places. First, I do not disagree with King’s opinion completely, but partially support his idea that discrimination against people is unjust because it hurts them. According to Oxford Dictionary, the meaning is that “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex”. I believe that discrimination comes from stereotypes. King explains how black people are suffered in his letter. “Segregation, to use the terminology of the Jewish philosopher Martin Buber, substitutes an ‘I it’ relationship for ‘I thou’ relationship and ends up relegating persons to the status of things. Hence segregation is not only politically, economically and sociologically unsound, it is morally wrong and sinful” (King 4). He asserts that treating people as “things” is unforgivable action. Black people were considered as “things”. Why they were regarded like that, not as human is that they used to be slaves for a long time. White people buy black people by money, and used them to work them hard. They just thought about them as the work force, not human. This idea makes discrimination against black people stronger. At the time when King was in a Birmingham jail, White people still had the stereotype that black people were things: Negroes have experienced grossly unjust treatment in the courts. There have been more unsolved bombings of Negro homes and churches in Birmingham than in any other city in the nation. These are the hard, brutal facts of the case. On the basis of these conditions, Negro leaders sought to negotiate with the city fathers. But the latter consistently refused to engage in good faith negotiation. (King 2)
It seems that they cannot negotiate fairly because white people do not think that black people are human. They do not have the right as human. It still exist that people segregate others by stereotypes. Some people discriminate Arabian after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. They have the image that terrorist is Arabian. In public space like an airport, they have to take a security check elaborately. Also people have a stereotype that they are dark skin, black hair and wear a turban, so Indian who is similar appearance is discriminated just because they look like Arabian. Prejudicial discrimination is unforgivable. It only has a negative effect to hurt someone who is innocent. People who are segregated just because of same race or appearance do not do anything wrong. They cannot change who they are. However, I do assert that discrimination has a positive aspect. It will not cease to exist because everybody discriminates in daily life. It makes our life better. In Japan, female-only train cares were introduced during the morning rush in 2008. The reason why is that it often happens that men sexually harass women on a train. Some people may not understand what “molesting on trains” means in the first place. Unfortunately, there are people who touch women’s bodies on Jam-packed trains. It has been a long-time serious issue because the number of these accidents increases. Sometimes, a man forms a group with others to do one woman not to let her escape. They