Shall we ever overcome intolerance of minorities?

What is a minority? A group of people who have significantly less control or power over their lives than members of a dominant or majority group. They are not accepted by a group different to them. There are normally far less people within that particular group. A minority group is often determined by physical or cultural traits, e.g. skin colour or language.

Types of minority groups Racial - groups that are classified according to obvious physical characteristics, e.g. skin colour, cultural traditions. Ethnic - groups who are differentiated on the basis of culture such as language. Ethnic minority can be either black or white. Disabilities – people who are physically or mentally disabled are often looked down upon as a minority in society. Religion - groups who have a religion other than the dominant faith. Sexuality – gays and same sex marriages are still frowned upon by so many people.

2008 Hate Crime Survey: Religious Intolerance In several countries government officials deny the right to freedom of assembly and the right to build a place of worship to members of minority religious communities, while local authorities bar groups from renting premises for worship. Thus, religious minorities, notably Jehovah’s Witnesses and evangelical Christian churches, find it hard to find a place for their religious practices. Often this results in worship services being held in private homes. But such arrangements (not always legal) make them vulnerable to attacks by their neighbours, as well as police harassment and raids. Members of religious minorities are being subjected to harassment and public humiliation by state officials or in the state media, arrests, beatings, and imprisonment. Intolerance toward minority religions has, in some countries, been endorsed by local or national officials, and may be accompanied by police denying them religious freedom. In some cases, police have actively collaborated with violent mobs to harm members of minority religions.

Disabilities – ‘intolerance for imperfection’ There have become high rates of selective abortion of foetuses with Down syndrome. This is due to “a culture increasingly unaccepting and intolerant of children with developmental disabilities, who often face brutal and sometimes deadly prejudice.” A fundamental misconception about the lives of people with disabilities is at the root of prejudice against them. Prenatal and Postnatal Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, in the USA, is needed to give parents accurate information about what it’s like to raise a child with a developmental disability. People with who do not know anyone with a disability often find it hard to accept them as just people .

So many people have different views on the subject of minority intolerance we believe that we cannot fully overcome it because there will always be someone who disagrees. We are often so stuck in the ways of our own groups, whether it be a minority or a majority, that we find it hard to accept something that is different.