Racism, Classism, Ageism, etc. It's embedded in us. We can't escape it.

I was raised as a hispanic/mixed child in a suburban neighborhood in NY. I had been raised by two white collared immigrant parents who always instilled the idea of education/professional life. We never discussed racism or any of these issues. I guess they just hoped that these things would be non-existent by the time I became an adult.

Fast forward to me as a 27 year old, I've become quite perceptive and now these things are very blatant to me. I recently met up with a group of friends from high school. I can see it so easily in how they discuss things. One girl whom I spoke with was a teacher and she was complaining about how she hated her old school, that it was so "ghetto." And that she struggled too much with the kids. She's now in a better school in a better neighborhood, (note: whiter) And she is so much happier there. One of my best friend's and I were discussing with the group and she was describing a coworker. "She's this black woman who..." (of course "black" woman was the most hushed part of her sentence, like she shouldn't be saying it or it was a bad word) I also have this other friend whom just stopped talking to me. I think it's because I'm not the same religion/race as her but I can't be sure. I won't give more examples of Classism/Ageism because this will be an even longer post but I see them all the time in my work.

At this point I don't even blame my friends for being this way. They were raised this way, they truly don't believe they are racist or biased. And most likely they will pass these beliefs to their own children. It's also to the point where I just try my best to ignore it and not let it get to me. At work, I can already plan around these kinds of biases.

Sometimes I wish I wasn't so perceptive. They say ignorance is bliss