Prejudice vs Racism

Over the first few weeks of class we have discussed a variety of interesting topics. The topic that I found most interesting out of all of them was the discussion of the difference between racism and prejudice. This particular discussion appealed to me because I guess I just did not have a lot of prior knowledge of what made the two words different. I had always assumed that they pretty much meant the same thing, but after coming out of our class discussion I have a completely different view on the matter.
Even though this may be a little repetitive from some of the other blogs classmates have posted I think it is important to first have a look at the definition of both racism and prejudice. In class we defined race as a population of people believed naturally or biologically distinct from other groups. This tells us that racism has more to do with the physical traits of man or woman. Meanwhile, the definition of prejudice is a preconceived judgement or opinion: an opinion or leaning formed without just grounds or a sufficient knowledge.
It is important to make the distinction between these two words because I feel after reading these definitions that prejudice is much bigger problem in both society and sport today. Having said this I have lived in the Midwest my whole life (in small town Iowa for the last 10), so in order to truly get a legit opinion on the matter you would have to poll people from all regions of the U.S. because I am sure someone who has lived in the South their whole life will probably have a different view on how severe of a problem racism is in the U.S. today. My personal opinion is that in parts of the country I am sure it is still a major problem for some groups of people, but I am inclined to agree with a lot of my classmates said they believed that racism is a problem that is slowly getting better with each passing generation. My kids are not going to be taught all the same things and values that maybe my mom taught me so naturally they will have different opinions than the kids from a generation before. I don't know that there is anything that we can do about racism in the present (except be open to talk about it because the situation becomes worse if people are worried about offending others with their beliefs), but I do believe the things we teach and instill in our children will be our contribution to trying end the problem of racism in both sports and society in America.
The issue of prejudice is a much more complicated problem to solve in my opinion. It is hard to change someone's mind who has a preconceived notion about you before you've even met them. I personally see prejudice as a bigger problem in society today, or at least (much like race) it is a bigger problem in the Midwest where I have always lived. A perfect example of prejudice that I see on a regular basis is at the new fieldhouse when my roomate and I go to play basketball. My roomate is Caucasian, but he is an incredible jumper and it is always funny to see the looks on people's faces the first time they get dunked on by him. There's no reason that they shouldn't expect that he would be able to dunk other than that he is white. He is actually about an inch taller than me, but I would be willing to bet money if we polled 10 random people who didn't know either one of us and asked them who they thought could jump higher I would get more votes strictly because I am mixed and all of those people. Fortunately this stereotype is a pretty minor one that doesn't really hurt anybody (except maybe my roomates feelings), but a lot of stereotypes can which is why I believe prejudice in our society is such a major issue. I think prejudice can be slowed in a similar way to racism through trying to better the next generation and not allowing some of the stereotypes that exist currently to pass on to them. If we are able to do this maybe one day when a class like ours is asked if they believe racism is still a problem in sport more of them will answer no than when the question was asked in our class.