Its Not All Black and White

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Its Not All Black and White Diversity and
Discrimination
Presented By Catie Wilson Assistant Residence
Director Plymouth State University March 2007
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Diversity A Definition

• The state of fact or being diverse difference
  unlikeness.
• Variety Multiformity.
• A point of difference.
• Wikipedia.com

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Discrimination A Definition
The word discrimination comes from the Latin
"discriminare", which means to "distinguish
between". However, discrimination, as used in
this article, is more than distinction or
differentiation it is action based on prejudice
resulting in unfair treatment of people. To
discriminate socially is to make a distinction
between people on the basis of class or category
without regard to individual merit. Examples of
social discrimination include racial, religious,
sexual, weight, disability, ethnic,
height-related, employment discrimination and
age-related discrimination. Distinctions between
people which are based just on individual merit
(such as personal achievement, skill or ability)
are generally not considered socially
discriminatory. Consequently, prohibitions
against such discrimination generally will not
prevent a government from acting in a legitimate
and justifiable way based upon the merit of an
individual person.
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Race and Racism
Racism has always been both an instrument of
discrimination and a tool of exploitation. But it
manifests itself as a cultural phenomenon,
susceptible to cultural solutions, such as
multicultural education and the promotion of
ethnic identities. Tackling the problem of
cultural inequality, however, does not by itself
redress the problem of economic inequality.
Racism is conditioned by economic imperatives,
but negotiated through culture religion,
literature, art, science and the media. ... Once,
they demonised the blacks to justify slavery.
Then they demonised the coloureds to justify
colonialism. Today, they demonise asylum seekers
to justify the ways of globalism. And, in the age
of the media, of spin, demonisation sets out the
parameters of popular culture within which such
exclusion finds its own rationale usually under
the guise of xenophobia, the fear of
strangers. A. Sivanandan, Poverty is the new
black, The Guardian, August 17, 2001
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Gender and Sexism
The emotional, sexual, and psychological
stereotyping of females and makes begins when the
doctor says, "It's a girl." or Its a boy.
Shirley Chisholm
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Weight and Weight Prejudice
"...Weight prejudice is a true form of bigotry in
every sense of the word. Like racism, it is based
on visible cues i.e. that fat person is
discriminated against primarily because of the
way he/she looks. Like anti-Semitism, it defines
an entire group of people numbering in the
millions within a narrow range of negative
characteristics and behaviors. Like sexism, it
elevates the status of one group of people at the
expense of another. And like homophobia, it
serves as a vehicle of projection for the bigot's
own anxieties, frustrations, and resentments, in
effect using the hated outsider as a repository
for the bigot's emotional debris and refuse..."
excerpt from W. Charisse Goodman, author of The
Invisible Woman
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Age and Ageism
It's just something that I like to do, and I
also don't buy into the ageism theory. Joan
Collins
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Disability and Ableism
Ableism is a term used to describe discrimination
against people with disabilities in favour of
people who are not disabled. Wikipedia.com
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Religion and Religion Discrimination
Religious discrimination is valuing a person or
group lower because of their religion, or
treating someone differently because of what they
do or don't believe. While many religious and
secular authorities nowadays tend to stress that
religion is something personal, the highly social
nature of most religions makes conflicts between
religious groups, and thus discrimination, still
very probable. Wikipedia.com
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Sexuality and Heterosexism
The roots of homophobia are fear. Fear and more
fear. George Weinberg
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Ethnicity and Ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is the tendency to look at the
world primarily from the perspective of one's own
culture. Wikipedia.com
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Social Class and Classism
Classism is any form of prejudice or oppression
against people as a result of their actual or
perceived social class (especially in the form of
lower or higher socioeconomic status) within a
class based society. Wikipedia.com
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Adults and Adultism
Adultism is a predisposition towards adults,
which some see as biased against children, youth,
and all young people who aren't addressed or
viewed as adults. Wikipedia.com