Profiling and Prejudice Rife in our Society

By Katindi Sivi-Njonjo

A story is told of a young couple who were deeply in love. But just as they were contemplating marriage, Jane suddenly broke off the relationship without much of an explanation only telling John that he would not understand. Many years later, they bumped into each other at the train station and decided to catch up over a cup of coffee. By then, John was happily married and a father of two but Jane had remained single. As they reminisced about their romantic past, she could not help thinking if she had perhaps made a mistake in breaking up with him. But it was too late now. He belonged to someone else.

After many cups of coffee and endless laughter, John took a long sad pause and asked Jane, 'why did you leave me?' As he did so, he took a sip of his coffee. 'You have done it again' she explained, pointing to his hand. 'I always knew I could never marry someone who bent his little finger, the way you always did and still do when you sip your coffee'. My grandmother always told me it was a sign of bad luck. That is why I left.

John slowly put down the cup and stretched out his hand to show her the inside of his little finger. 'Do you see this?' Jane saw a small scar for the first time. 'When I was five years old,' he continued, ' I broke my hand and ever since the surgery to fix it, I have never been able to stretch out my little finger.' With tears welling up in her eyes, Jane suddenly realized her mistake. She had never bothered to ask John the reason for bending his finger.

Prejudice, literary translated to mean prejudging, is the unjustified or incorrect negative attitude towards an individual or a group before having adequate knowledge to accurately make that judgment. All human beings sort information into mental categories in order to make sense of the world. Since they cannot synthesize every piece of information, they quickly categorize people and groups based on general characteristics. While this is not harmful in itself, a repeated generalization of people and groups over time becomes a basis for prejudice. What therefore might have started as a simple classification of people and groups escalates into stereotyped beliefs of ‘us versus them’, negative feelings and discriminatory or vicious actions towards others.

In a perception study conducted by Institute of Economic Affairs after the 2007/2008 post election violence, most Kenyans do not hold other ethnic groups in high regard. All ethnic groups with an exception of two had very high negative ratings from a sample size that was well educated and relatively wealthy, a group that in the past has been seen to be above ethno-centrism. There also seemed to be minimal knowledge about other regions of the country and other religions. It is assumed that the youth would be more open and flexible toward other people and groups. According to the survey, the youth were as negative about different ethnic groups, regions, religions, age groups and income classes as older people. The lack of sympathy for the poor and the vicious dislike of the rich was also notable. Overall, there was an overwhelming agreement among respondents that the government was not treating everyone equally hence the exacerbation of prejudices and subsequent resentment.

Prejudice blinds us to people's humanity and individuality. We see them as merely representing the group of which they are a part no matter how biased, colored or misinformed our own views are. As people created in God’s image, we ought not to show partiality ‘for there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28 ). While it is important to pass laws and regulations that require fair and equal treatment for all groups of people, individuals need to make themselves and others aware of the inconsistencies in their own beliefs as they endeavor to increase contact with members of other social groups to learn, know the truth and be set free from these prejudices.

Back at the train station, as Jane waved goodbye to John, she could not help but wonder how different her life might have turned out had she not judged him using an external, baseless characteristic that he had no control over. Rather than let prejudice blind her, how she wished she had simply loved him as an individual. It was too late now. The damage had been done!

This article first appeared in the Nation newspaper on Sunday, March 3rd 2013. The article can be accessed from the following link: http://www.nation.co.ke/oped/Opinion/Profiling-and-prejudice-rife-in-our-society-/-/440808/1711244/-/15isrqc/-/index.html