Recognizing Discriminatory Behavior

You will know it is discrimination when:

* You bring your child into a public facility like a mall, restaurant or park and you sense people staring or whispering.
* People stop you and ask cold, cutting and insensitive questions about your child.
* Public or private buildings lack appropriate ramps, access points and other physical supports for people with handicaps and disabilities.
* You want to talk to someone about your feelings, worries and concerns and everyone either ignores, avoids or reassures you that everything will be OK.
* Your friends and relatives begin to avoid you and your child.
* There are major cuts at the federal, state and local levels in funding educational, medical, social and rehabilitation programs for people with disabilities.
* Parents in the neighborhood do not allow their children to associate with your children for fear that they will ''catch'' the disability.

This image shows the percentages of the different types o discrimination present in our world today. It is a little shocking to me that the biggest percentage is the retaliation. Most people automatically conclude that race is the biggest problem in todays society based on news that we hear everyday.

Congress Relaxes Rules on Suits Over Pay Inequity

In January of 2009, Congress approved a civil rights bill giving women, blacks, and Hispanics the chance to challenge the pay discrimination in the workplace. The bill was named for a longtime supervisor at a Goodyear tire plant in Alabama named Lilly M. Ledbetter. She thought that the bill would make it easier for workers to win lawsuits claiming pay discrimination based on sex, race, religion, national origin, age, or disability. A jury on the case had found that the company was paying Ms. Ledbetter less than male supervisors, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Supreme Court did not deny that Ms. Ledbetter had suffered discrimination, but said she should have filed her claim within 180 days of "the alleged unlawful employment practice," which was the initial decision to pay her less then men. Mr. Obama supported the bill, but George W. Bush threatened to veto it, saying that it would "encourage a flood of lawsuits by workers asserting stale claims."

Stereotypes within Discrimination

Within the discrimination that is present today, a variety of stereotypes are made everyday. Citizens of different races often times find it hard to find work. If one goes in for an interview, they are judged immediately. People believe that they just come to the United States just to find work and that they may not work as well as others. They often times get hired on jobs that do not pay as much or are not worthy.

Is Everyone trying to "white?"

After all of the years dealing with discrimination and trying to rid of it, it is still seen in our society today. Because there is a variety of races throughout the United States, people feel as if they have to live as Americans. For example, one from the Asian race may come to the U.S. and go to a school filled with Americans. Because there is a small number of their race in the school, he or she may practice the American ways while at school, but when they return home go back to the ways of their race. Why is this? Why can't everyone be comfortable with their race and be accepted?