We all have our prejudices, and we may or may not be aware of them. Sometimes people walk by me and give me a wider berth. It happens. I wear hoodies all the time because my head gets cold. Something innocuous can be misunderstood.
Interpretation
Prejudices can lead to misunderstandings about people based on appearances.
In this quote, Sterling K. Brown reflects on the notion that everyone possesses biases, often unconsciously, which can impact interactions and perceptions. He highlights how something as simple as wearing a hoodie can alter how others perceive him, illustrating that innocuous choices in appearance may trigger unwarranted judgments based on preconceived notions rather than the reality of the individual.
In practice
In a discussion about societal biases during a workshop.
Life has to be everything. It can't be all sad. It can't be all peaches and cream. Because the lows have you appreciate the highs. And the highs give you perspective on the lows. If it's not everything, it becomes flat or mundane.
I have a certain memory of the way in which my father loved me until I was 10, and it was unconditional and eternal. I get to carry that for the rest of my life, but on a practical level after age 10, it's just me sort of figuring it out.
We're all trying to figure out what's next, what's best for our families, what's best for ourselves, and there's a certain sort of comfort in knowing that you're not in it by yourself.
There is a reason that many African Americans have a healthy mistrust for law enforcement. We don't always feel protected or served by that particular institution.
The humanity that is given to other people isn't given to us. There is an expendability that comes along with being African American.
There's a time when it was an event for a black person to be on television. Where black households would gather around, 'Oh, you know, Sammy Davis is going to be on 'All in the Family' tonight! Let's go check it out!' It was a big, big thing.
But if you have no relationship with the living things on this earth, you may lose whatever relationship you have with humanity.
Southern people are bigger-hearted and kinder than I had any right to expect.
If you want to understand your parents more, get them to talk about their own childhood; and if you listen with compassion, you will learn where their fears and rigid patterns come from. Those people who 'did all that stuff to you' were just as frightened and scared as you are.
As the world is getting smaller, it becomes more and more important that we learn each other's dance moves, that we meet each other, we get to know each other, we are able to figure out a way to cross borders, to understand each other, to understand people's hopes and dreams, what makes them laugh and cry.
Empathy is like a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble. It is effective as a way of anticipating and resolving interpersonal problems, whether this is a marital conflict, an international conflict, a problem at work, difficulties in a friendship, political deadlocks, a family dispute, or a problem with a neighbor.
For a couple with young children, divorce seldom comes as a "solution" to stress, only as a way to end one form of pain and accept another.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.