Mrs Henry Lafayette Dubose's Obituary

Image of old lady obtained from http://www.travisjensensf.com/blogs/posts/Travis-Jensen-Blog*

I know that is not very fantastic photoshopping skills, but well, that is the best I can do.

*No infringement of copyright intended

An Interview on Prejudice & Discrimination

An interview on prejudice and discrimination was conducted with Mr Liaw Jun Xian over Instant Messaging on 2 March. Mr Liaw is a colleague of my mother.

Below is the transcript of the interview.

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Me: Good morning Mr Liaw. Thank you for granting me this interview. May I have your opinion on prejudice and discrimination?

Mr Liaw: Prejudice and discrimination are both very wide topics. Prejudice is a pre-disposition of a person versus a certain topic/subject/person.

Me: Well, how about towards the racism side?

Mr Liaw: Racial prejudice?

Me: Well, yes, since this assignment is based on the themes in To Kill A Mockingbird.

Mr Liaw: I think it is dependent on cultural differences. Like in the book, it is because the Negroes have always been view to be lower class, hence the pre-disposition of society is always prejudiced.

Same as for example in SIngapore, when mothers discipline their kids. They always say, "Wait Mankali come and catch you."

So mainly I feel this kind of prejudice is created by two factors. First, the societal archetype between cultures due to a lack of understanding and also the propagation and reinforcement of such behaviour by parents. Another example (which is very prevalent in your school), because there are only a small number of Malays, people who graduate from your school has the prejudice that Malays are lazy. Don't ask me why though.

Anyway, back to the topic. Discrimination and prejudice have a thin line. What do you think discrimination is?

Me: Yes, I agree that is is very difficult to differentiate between them. In my opinion, I feel that discrimination is like differentiating someone from another by say, their race.

Mr Liaw: Differentiating is a very neutral word. What is the difference between discrimination and identity then? I can say "I am Chinese." Is that discriminatory? It is not.

Me: Oh no. What I meant is like, you would not want to hang out with a person because of his/her ethnic group.

Mr Liaw: Correct. In a way, I think prejudice and discrimination have a cause-and-effect relationship. Because you are prejudiced against someone or something, you discriminate against him/it, so therefore discrimination is the action, like in your example. If you discriminate someone, you would 'criminalise' him.

Me: Yes, in a way.

Mr Liaw: It is the assumption of guilt in getting the facts right, simply because you are prejudiced.

Me: So what do you think can be done to stop them (prejudice and discrimination)?

Mr Liaw: I think the only way to stop them is via an open mind and more understanding.

Me: Yes, I do agree.

Mr Liaw: So these are my thoughts on them. Anything else?

Me: No. Thank you Mr Liaw once again.

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Note: Some parts of this interview have been edited.