Learning bias

Manhattan: I was born in Holland, a country many people call tolerant. Slavery was abolished there in 1863, but a lot of prejudice continued. I used to be scared of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete), Santa’s assistant, who’s in blackface, because if you hadn’t been a good kid, he might put you in his bag and take you to Spain. Was this a way of engendering bias in children? After having been hidden as a child to survive the Holocaust, I have been living in America since 1955. America is considered the country where every good possibility can become a reality. Yet still there are so many people waiting for equal treatment. Isn’t it time?

Johanna Reiss