Bias /Prejudice

     In my own personal life I would have to say that I have experienced biased and prejudice in the work environment. Working in a predominately Caucasian male dominated work environment was tough. At a young age I was African American and female at my place of business. I was also not from the county area that the business was located. I was told many times that i had a "city" accent. I assume that this was supposed to mean that since I was not from the suburbs that I did not exactly speak the way that the company would have liked. There were many times that people would blatantly correct my language, not specifically the context in which it was used but how I pronounced and enunciated certain words. I also was told that I was a "diamond in the rough". I was told that I needed to drop some of the things that I had that were because I was "from the city". This included things such as wearing more than one ring or a necklace that could be seen from the outside of my uniform. I thought that this was interesting because it was not addressed in any dress code policy.
     In hindsight I think that this was sad. I was depicted as a certain way because the region of town that I was from. I know that this happens everywhere in all aspects of life. People that may be from not so good neighborhoods are looked down upon by those that may live in affluent areas. When this happened to me, I had mixed feelings. I felt ashamed because I felt as if I was doing my best, however I was looked down upon. On the other hand, I felt like the people that were doing this to me were trying to help me better myself.  But just because I spoke with a different twang, I suppose, why was I not as good as anyone else? Why did I have to change to fit in for anyone or for society?
     In order for this incident to be equal, I think that society as a whole would have to change. People are taught to behave in a certain manner, people are taught prejudice either intentionally or not from any early age. If parents made sure that their children had a better concept of being fair and equal to everyone, then the world in turn would become a better place. Until then...