Dear Editor,

I am upset by the way we treat one another. We tend to discriminate against one another and disregard the motto, “Out of Many, One People”.

I realise I am offered jobs only if my last name is another word for wealth, or my parents are not residents of a ghetto community. This is outrageous! I feel insulted when I think of people who are qualified but are turned away because of where they live. Come on, what is this nonsense about? Why put down a person because of where they are from or who their parents are? What has happened to the term “innocent until proven guilty”?

Social discrimination is worse than racial discrimination. It is the act of putting down persons of lower social status. The worst part is the discrimination against persons of our own colour. This action I can neither fathom nor forgive. These people are not given a chance to prove themselves worthy of positions being offered. It would seem as if we are trying to turn our society into a caste system; to set and outline rules and duties that each social class should engage in. Of course, this would mean that talents would be wasted as there would be no need for a person living in the ghetto to try to even better themselves.

Therefore, I would love for us to put ourselves in the shoes of those we discriminate against and ask ourselves, “What if that was me?” Then we should cast aside the narrow-minded way of thinking and stop being so critical towards one another. This is not the kind of Jamaica our forefathers fought for. We must change, and the change must come from within. We must accept where we are coming from and pioneer the path to a brighter future.

Monique Reid

St Catherine

reidmonique40@yahoo.com