(On International Declaration of Human Rights)
In the 1940s, to research the psychological impact of segregation on African-American children, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark conducted a series of experiments call “The Doll Test”. The doctors used fours identical dolls with its color being the only difference to test children’s racial perceptions. Children ages three to seven were asked which doll is beautiful and which do they think has a good trait. Surprisingly, the African-American children prefer the white doll and associated brown-skinned dolls with the words ugly and bad.
According to the doctors, this experiment
shows that racism creates a feeling of inferiority. It can affect the hearts
and minds of a person and damage self-esteem.
Almost 10 decades after the
experiment was done, the world is still full of prejudice. There is so much prejudice
that oftentimes it influences our judgement. We start to think that black is
bad, and if someone is black, then he/she is bad. If someone is white, then he/she
is a superior human being created by God. This is why there are innumerable instances
wherein black people were killed in the United States hence the Black Lives
Matter movement. But let’s not go very far. In a case of a Filipino, if we hear
someone speaking in a Bisaya diction, we often think that these people are uneducated,
ignorant and only went to Manila to become a helper/nanny or security guard. But
what about Miriam Defensor Santiago who was very smart, courageous and fought against the corruption in the Philippines?
Additionally,
if we see Muslims, we often associate them with terrorism. We are even terrified
to travel to Mindanao when the fact is only some parts of Mindanao have a conflict
with the government and most part of the island is beautiful, much like Boracay
and Palawan. Siargao and Davao, for instance.
In the
workplace, stereotyping is also common as graduates of four big schools are
given higher compensation than those from other schools albeit both have the
same experience and qualifications.
In the
province, it is also common that most women are deprived of education because
they are expected to take care of the children and her family instead of working
and providing for the family.
Also,
I still encounter times where LGBTQ are being discriminated and people telling
them they are “Salot sa Lipunan” or burden of the society when most
have become an inspiration and made an impact to the society.
The Article 2 on United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights made me realize that we are all
equal and we cannot make people of a race, color, sex, language, religion,
political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other
status/background feel inferior.
Black people don’t have to die for us to start a Black Lives Matter movement. Gays and lesbians don’t have to experience pervasive discrimination to start Pride Parade. But I guess this is what we need to start valuing diversity and inclusion. Though I do hope that people will not only raise awareness on racial and gender discrimination but also on religion because Muslims are always being viewed as terrorists. In movies, we see them as the villain or those who kill. I just hope no bad situation will happen for people to start realizing this.
I hope that people will be
more open-minded and will stop discriminating as this can affect a person’s
physical, spiritual, and psychological well-being. I hope when The Doll Test is
conducted again, children will be able to answer that white doll and black doll
are both beautiful.
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