I've been in prison now for nearly four years and I'm still blown away by the rampant ignorance I see and hear every day. Just the other day I heard an argument over the number of U.S. states. The guy arguing swore up and down there were fifty-two states. He couldn't name them, but still swore he was right. What's worse? Of the dozen or so people he asked, over HALF said fifty-two! Many claimed that's what they were taught in school.
United States geography aside, the more offending ignorance is the pervasive racism. I refuse to use the term, "reverse-racism" as if racism originated with and is capitalized only by whites.
There is certainly a segment of the white inmate population who espouse the ignorance of racism. But perhaps because they are the minority in prison, whites are much more discriminated against. What's most surprising to me is the racism against light-skinned blacks. Perhaps because their blood is somehow 'tainted' by their white ancestry, as if they had any control over that.
This racism is fed by the ignorant teachings of so-called religious organizations who feed their followers the drivel of race superiority. but I think these belief systems originate in the families and cultures the inmates grew up in.
Maybe racism isn't as strong as it used to be in the free-world, but in prison it's still very much alive.
