Sherry

Dear Mr. Aronson, I thought your book, __Race: A History beyond Black and White__, was very interesting. I learned a lot about the history of race that I didn’t know before, such as the role of Tom Dixon and his movie, //The Birth of a Nation//. Through your book, I learned that these books and films tried to tell people that lynching was needed to keep African-Americans from hurting whites. But I have a question about your book. I was wondering how we could eliminate prejudice. In your book, you are saying that prejudice cannot be helped and will always exist. You wrote “The impulse to hatred is imprinted in us” (p. 268). You also wrote “we are imprinted with a deep need to separate ‘us’ and ‘them’ ” (p. 267). Furthermore, you said “…prejudice is always with us. It is in our bones” (p. 267). It seems that we cannot shake off the parasite of prejudice that is disrupting our lives. In class, we have talked about the fact that everyone is equal. There is no scientific basis that separates us. We should respect other cultures, religions, and people. Are there any ways we can get rid of prejudice? Sincerely, Sherry Qiu