Over the ages, many people, religions, cultures, ideas, and even ethnic groups have been subject to prejudice. The most known, perhaps even most common, form of prejudice is racism: the judging of one because of their skin color.

Often I have wondered if this is a "hereditary" problem. All of the people I know who have predesignated opinions of another person because of their skin color or any other reasons, grew up beside family members who believed that they were above some people and that those people are the main cause of many things.

90% of the people I know like this would deny that its from their environment, or claim that they are not racist, but only call it as they see it. My issue is that half of my family is mixed, and my "in-laws" are African American. Many of my friends and acquaintances tread easy around me, knowing how i feel on that matter.

I grew up in a racist home, my mother and step-father not believing in inter-racial couples, and my cousins being mixed, I refused to believe that mixing people was wrong. We were all made equally, and that was that. I had to watch all my life as blacks and Hispanics were degraded. That made my brothers and I embrace them and inter-racial people.

I believe that due to the fact I loved my family, especially my cousins, that I was rebellious and refused my mother and step-father's (along with his family and at least half of my mother's, and all their close friends) beliefs. I consider myself lucky.

Many of my close friends believe that they are above other people who have different color skin or beliefs. Some even claim not to be prejudice yet they attack another as easily as yelling at an ugly dog. So do their parents. I intend to write a more elaborate and studious essay on this topic. My question is Would they be racist or prejudice if not for their family?