Discrimination is the treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. It could be age, weight, height, race, sexual preference. It involves the groups initial reaction influencing their behavior, restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to a group, leading to exclusion.
With Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein and Joshua Logan's South Pacific debut, back in 1949 racial segregation was the law in the south. Lawmakers tried to ban this song, but failed.
So it was truly a monumental act of courage on the part of those writers and producers to stand tall and refuse to back down.
When I was younger, these lyrics caught my attention, so I've decided to share two excellent versions. I like the musical melody and the message is extremely powerful. It shows how idiotic and wrong racism is. Music can be effectively utilized to make commentary against racism, sexism and other means of segregating individuals who are different.
Hopefully, the world will shine a light on the perils of prejudice. Racism is not inborn, or natural but it is taught, it is wrong and totally unacceptable.