And now I'm wondering what to make of my observation. Does it mean that I am prejudiced? Probably. But did I think less of that person? No. I think it tells something about me, not him. I'm wondering what.
I think we all have a degree of prejudice when it comes to strangers and sometimes we notice stereotypes. The key point, that you made though, is that we shouldn't think less of a person, until they have done something to deserve it.
There's a fellow who works in one of those one stop gas mart places. He is 6'7", shiny black skin, large accent, I see him a lot and one day I asked if he played basketball, assigning to him my own stereotype. Big tall skinny guy in Indiana, had to have played college ball somewhere.
Nope, he says "football" and he doesn't play basketball. He looks to be approaching thirty. I asked where he was from and if he was a receiver and which team he had played for - again another stereotype from me.
He said that it was not that football, but soccer and he is from "TuNIsie." I thought he meant Tennessee, but he had used his own name for his country which we call Tunisia. Oh!
Then he pulls out his wallet and shows me a screen capture of him making one of his scores from an ESPN broadcast. Soccer. Professional soccer player from Tunisia. Cool!
Yeah, I had it all wrong, from prejudging with my own set of experiences, without even meaning to.
... but I did recognize a professional athlete.
