The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I can recall about 2-3 years ago having a discussion on Fox News page on Facebook regarding who should run against President Obama in the 2012 election.  Well most of the supporters on this site were all for former Governor Sarah Palin.  You can imagine the conversations going on.  I made a statement about Palin resigning as Governor in the middle of her term and questioned do we really want someone like her to run our country.  I white male with a profile picture dressed in a service uniform with medals hanging from his collar responded to me saying,  “ Carla, stay out of this conversation and leave it to the professionals and get back in line to get your government cheese.”  Well you can imagine how I felt, shocked.  Of course I let him know not only did I have a MBA, but I’m employed and do not receive government assistance.  I then received an in box message from a lady who read both of our commits.  She not only apologized for this man’s rude behavior towards me but said I handle myself well.   What made him believe I had no voice?  Was it my skin color?  What made him believe I was not professional?  Was it my skin color?  What made him believe I was receiving welfare?  Was it m skin color?  My profile on Facebook also states my education and employment.  Not being part of the dominate culture; he assumed I had no knowledge of current social and political issues.  This incident showed me that oppression and prejudice is alive and well today.  Because of its history, I don’t know if it will ever be eliminated but we must do as much to reduce it.  It should be replace with understanding that we all come from different cultures, values and backgrounds and we all need to remove these hidden bias.  When responding to this gentleman, I believe I handled the situation well with great pride to let him know I was nothing what he recalled of me.  Maybe years before I received these accomplishments the outcome of how I handle this situation may have been pretty ugly.  However, this gentleman never responded back to me after I corrected him.  Maybe he got my point to never assume my skin color places me in a lower class.