"I HAVE a dream." Fifty years ago, on August 28, 1963, American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., uttered those words in his most famous speech. Using that captivating refrain, King expressed his dream, or hope, that one day people would enjoy life free from racial prejudice in the United States, the essence of his dream has been embraced by people in many nations. Three months after King´s speech, on November 20, 1963, over 100 countries adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination. Other global initiatives were adapted in the decades that followed. All such worth efforts inevitably raise the question, what has been the result? On March 21, 2012, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated: "There are many valuable treaties and tools-as well as a comprehensive global framework-to prevent and eradicate racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance. Nevertheless, racism continues to cause suffering for millions of people around the world." Even in lands where some progress has been made in combating racial and other forms of prejudice, the question remains: Have the improvements really rooted out the deep-seated feelings of people or have they merely curbed the outwards manifestation of those feelings? some believe that at best such improvements only help prevent discrimination but may be powerless at eliminating prejudice. Why so? Because discrimination is an act that can be seen and punished by law, whereas prejudice is related to people´s inner thoughts and emotions, which cannot be easily regulated. Therefore, any attempt to eliminate prejudice must not merely curb discriminatory acts but also change a person´s thoughts and feelings to-wards people of another group. Can this really be done? If so, how? Let us look into a number of real-life cases that will help us see not only that it is possible for people to make the change but also that there is something that can help them to do so.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Aug 2013 17:31:21 +0000
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