Sarah Colegrove

September 25, 2012

Journal 3

The readings for this week highlighted the issues of discrimination among ethnicity and

gender as well as racism. The article by Jeremiah Torres, “Label Us Angry”, was interesting. In

the article he talked about how he and his friend where blamed for crimes just because they were

from a minority group. His friend even faced unfair treatment by law enforcement and the

criminal justice (or rather unjust) system. For throwing a rock through a window, his friend

received a felony conviction. It is stories like Jeremiah Torres’ that is upsetting. It highlights how

far away we are from equal treatment and application of the laws.

Healy, in Race, Ethnicity and Gender, talks about the various forms of discrimination that

is both attitudinal and institutional. As a female, I have experienced both. For a long time when I

was growing up, I wanted to be a lawyer. However, my family and friends were not so sure. I

remember one time when I told my uncle that I wanted to be a lawyer; he told me that it was not

worth my time. He asked me what the point of wasting all that money on college when I would

be taking care of my husband and kids whenever I got married. I have experienced institutional

discrimination from the church. When I was younger, I attended a very conservative church. At

first, I did not even notice that anything was wrong. However, I noticed one Sunday that a

woman was asked to leave because she “had the audacity to wear pants to church”. Later, when I

wanted to help out with the children’s ministry, I was turned down. It wasn’t until after I had left

the church that I was told the reason – the church did not allow women to teach children because

it apparently says in the Bible that women are to submit to men. The church included this to

involve young boys.

Something that I have noticed growing up in a very religious, very conservative area is

that many people who claim to Christians are themselves racist and discriminate. They seem to

be forgetting that we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus certainly did not

discriminate between Jews, Gentiles (even Samaritans), women, men, prostitutes, and religious

leaders. He loved everyone and it showed in the way he talked and the actions he took. We need

to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and eradicate all thoughts, actions, language, practices, and laws that

allow racism and discrimination to still exist in our society.