The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Josephine Diete-Spif

Walden University

An Incident of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The words bias, prejudice, and oppression connote the inflicting of injustice on people due to no fault of theirs and society allows such. Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) explain bias as behavior or feeling from an unjust position that supports a negative attitude to a person or group because of their identity (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Prejudice on the other hand results from a preconceived judgment, unconfirmed negative report against a person, race, or gender (Herek, 2012). While oppression is the exercise of authority or advantage over a person or group to the advantage of another (Delphy, 2016; Thompson, 2017), as seen in my case.

The incident of bias, prejudice, and the oppression I experienced happened in my Kingdom, Twon Brass, Bayelsa State. Nigeria, in 2010. 2011 was an electoral year in my State, and 2010 was preparations, campaigns, and the primaries for the elections. I had inspiration from over 2000 members of my foundation of widows, physically challenged, the aged, and well-wishers across the State to contest the election that year. Equally, I believed I would serve humanity better if elected into office. 

Thus, I scheduled a campaign date to kick-start my election movement in my kingdom, as Nigeria elections are grassroots-based, and my domain was part of my constituency. I invited people, cooked and decorated the venue. I did spend money on the exercise, but sadly that day turned out as the worse day of my life. My kingdom is in units of five houses, and each house is headed by a royal highness, who are members of the king's council and installed by the king. I was the queen before the present set of royal highnesses became installed, and I was also present in their installation, and they did pay allegiance to me at that time. 

However, one of the royal highness who up until date still shows animosity against me because I am a woman and not originally from that kingdom; a racist and sexist behavior (Delphy, 2016) sent the youths to disrupt my campaign. The youths came in their numbers after receiving stipends from this royal highness and embarrassed me, turned the venue upside down, drove away the people that had shown up for the event, and pulled down the decorations. Conversely, he allowed other male contestants to campaign in the domain. I was embarrassed and oppressed. It was a case of jealousy portraying bias and prejudice. 

Ways the Incident Diminished Equity

The incident diminished equity in diverse ways. There were discrimination and a lack of fairness against me because of my race and gender. Accordingly, Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) define racism as an individual or a group behavior supported by an authority that demoralizes the human, legal, and economic rights of a person or persons because of their physical appearance, and their group culture. For instance, my tribe is different from my oppressor-the royal highness and the youths he sent chanted that I should go back to my land that I am not one of them. Other male counterparts contesting in the same elections were allowed to campaign with no problems, and to cap it up, the governor at that time told me to forget the idea since a man has already shown interest in the same position.  

Incident Feelings and Reaction

I was livid, resentful and I reacted by leaving the kingdom alone. My husband, the king, took it in his stride and advised me to be calm. I did curse in my anger and decided to sever the relationship with the people of my kingdom, which I did at that time and went back to school to study for my masters and doctorate. I was away for five years, in which period

I only attended functions in the cities. I kept up the work with my foundation, manage my business alongside studying, and forgot about my kingdom. However, I soon realized that it was all a calculated attempt to drive me away from the domain and to impoverish my people. Nonetheless, coupled with the persistent call for my return by the people, especially the same youths apologizing for their misbehavior and confessing and revealing their sponsor. I forgave them and went back after my doctorate convocation. 

Incident Becomes an Opportunity

One of my meetings with my women.

 Video by my Youths
I came back with a bang, realizing the change required for positive growth must begin with me. At the time I returned, there was severe unrest. There were warring factions, kidnappings, killings, and death. My first move was to wade in and settle the disputes among the warring factions, and I succeeded. The second was to assist my people, which I did by giving scholarships to five children in my school for six years.

Currently, I have 25 of them learning in my school with everything paid up. I went further to donate chairs to the community secondary school because the children were sitting on the floor or dilapidated school desk. In collaboration with the host company, they procured a cold room for the women and initiated an empowerment scheme, which is ongoing, among others. I made up my mind to make the people my focus, and today my magnanimity is being felt by the aged, men, women, youths, and children.

The animosity from the royal highness is ongoing, I see him trying to instigate others against me, but he's no longer successful because the people know better and I ignore him totally. I also have since been fulfilled, honored across the nation, and at peace with my people and myself. My primary preoccupation is towards the wellbeing of my people and my domain. A vast majority of them are appreciative of my every move to include them in my empowerment scheme. 

Conclusion

I am excited to recount my ordeal in this assignment. I feel this has taken the load off my shoulders, and I can breathe easy. My philosophy remains "carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you." "Family is the most important thing in the world." "I don't go by the rule book ... I lead from the heart, not the head." – Diana Princess of Wales

References

Delphy, C. (2016). Close to home: A materialist analysis of women's oppression. Verso Books. http://dmgreene.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Delphy-1978-Housework-or-Domestic-Work-1.pdf

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Herek, G. M. (2012). Definitions: Hemophobia, heterosexism, and sexual prejudice. Retrieved from https://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/prej_defn.html

Thompson, N. (2017). Promoting equality: Challenging discrimination and oppression. Macmillan International Higher Education.