Millions of people have been murdered due to racism, prejudice, and other impurities within society. No one is perfect. While every soul is corrupt in one way or another, prejudice is a corruption that we all share. Racial prejudice, prejudice against gays, and intolerance of social class destroy the most innocent of souls.

     Racial prejudice is a defect in our society that has stolen the lives of many mockingbirds. There is one racial prejudice that is still discussed in history classes all over the world. It is the belief of Hitler that the Aryan race was superior to all other races. During the Holocaust; Hitler treated people with blond hair and blue eyes special while killing not hundreds of thousands, but thousands of millions of innocent people that did not look the same. Another example is Emmett Till who will forever be a mark on history that opens our eyes to the racial injustice that surrounds us even to this day. There have been many cases of murder due to prejudice and racism. On August 25, 1955, he was killed by two white men for supposedly wolf whistling at white woman, Carolyn Bryant. The two men were found innocent and received $4,000 after publishing their story in a magazine. With racial prejudice as a  fire that leaves behind the ashes of destroyed lives, those of us who practice it are in some ways just as bad as Hitler. He was a fire of racism that believed that the Aryan race was superior to all others. However, that is not the only fire burning. Racism is the driving force behind many clubs and movements that were founded in an effort to pull out the weed of prejudice from our garden that would otherwise be beautiful. Another fire that is fueled by the pain of others is the fear of homosexuals, transgenders, and gays.

A second prejudice and major issue is the prejudice against gay people. Many people are homophobic or afraid of gays, lesbians, and transgenders without taking the time to get to know them. Matthew Shepard was beaten and tortured  by two men on October 6, 1998. Although there are some states that support gay marriage and people spreading the message that this prejudice is not right, it is still clear that many people do not approve of gays. This is just one of the many prejudices that is still in continuance today. In addition to homophobia,social prejudice is also in continuance. 

Social intolerance happens very commonly and is sometimes not even realised by the person exercising it.With social classes and constant criticism through social media and other sources, social intolerance surrounds every day as if the world is a web of prejudice that we are unable to escape. Different religions and cultures even have different social structures. The Hindu religion uses the caste system, a type of extreme social structure. Social intolerance is a wall that keeps us in seemingly separate rooms, our doors locked and not open to acceptance within the same house. She was only in the fifth grade when a girl made a comment about how her clothes looked like hand me downs from her great grandmother. Another girl told her that her pigtails look like they literally came off of a pig’s butt. Everyone else laughed. The clothes we wear, a hairstyle, an accent, or the way that someone looks can be the first drop in an ocean of unnecessary comments.

With the murder of Emmett Till, Matthew Shepard, and social intolerance as just a few of the many scars left behind in a battle for equality, we are reminded of the cruelty of our world. Racism is a dark cloud hanging over the world. It rains down hate, hurt, and cruelty. Prejudice against gays is seen daily as words such as faggot or dike are said sometimes playfully and sometimes coming from the lips of someone who has judged someone before truly knowing them. Social intolerance separates us from each other like a fence. There is more prejudices in the world as religious, ageist, and other prejudices also exist. This disease is something has corrupted our world since the beginning of time. We are not born with hate and cruelty in our hearts. It is something that is taught and learned from our surroundings. Prejudice itself is a hail storm dropping down balls of cold ice. They are balls of pain, injustice, and slaps not to the face, but to the heart that may live with that person forever.