Anti-locution Literally “to speak against” The first stage in which feelings of negative prejudice come expressed against those people on whom on feels prejudice by speech The most common form of prejudice Rears its head in many different ways from ethnic jokes to direct name calling

Avoidance The next stage in prejudice in which people intentionally refuse contact with the group they harbor prejudice towards Often seen, like anti-locution, to be relatively harmless If it is generally viewed as unacceptable it is still not often connected to violence However, this is a further de-humanization of the people who are hated or disliked; it is a direct refusal to see the humanity in the other; this forced blindness opens the door to outright violence

Discrimination Specific denial of human rights to people Specific examples: Denial of jobs based on race, ethnicity, sex, religion etc. Segregation of neighborhoods/schools Restricting educational opportunities

Discrimination continued Again, this is not considered outright “violence” i.e. physical attack or killings However, the stripping of rights is considered not only leaves a group of people more vulnerable to widespread violence but also is a sort of passive violence in which people are prevented their full human dignity and rights In the disasters of the 20th century, legalized discrimination was almost always the last stage before mass killings

Physical Attack Where prejudice actually turns physically violent Does not necessarily have to be direct attacks on persons themselves but rather can include property vandalizing, graffiti, desecrating of holy sites, etc. Usually these sorts of attacks are sporadic, uncoordinated, or mob related In the case of an event like “Kristallnacht”, it is state-sanctioned violence which was mostly directed on things rather than people

Extermination Obviously, the final and most total stage of prejudice The intention and action to eliminate the undesired group by either deportation or killing Infamously, the 20th century has seen this stage become reality in the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the Rwandan genocide

What is the common thread? Throughout all of these stages of prejudice there is the common refusal to see or recognize the other as human To pursue acts of prejudice, one must always reduce the undesired group to sub-human or less-than human For Hitler, the term was “untermensch”; other times it’s “dogs” or “rats” or “vermin” Also, there is the unmistakable hatred and fear of diversity throughout these 5 stages; diversity is not good: it is an inconvenience at best and at worst a direct threat to your whole way of life