In my sociology class, one of my assignments was to watch a video from the 80's about discrimination and segregation. It was called "A Class Divided". A third grade teacher was teaching her class about discrimination. The anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. made Ms. Jane Elliot, the school teacher from Riceville, Iowa, got the teacher thinking about how much her class really knew about what discrimination and what it truly meant. So she decided to do a little experiment of her own. She turns her students against each other because she tells them that everyone with a certain eye color was superior than the students with the opposite eye color. I feel like if a bunch of third graders can learn, so can we.
As much as so many people want to deny it, there is still discrimination in our society, we see it everyday. We see it in the workplace, we see it in schools, we pretty much see it everywhere. I know that not all people do it, and not everyone does it on purpose, but we all know at least one person that has no problem discriminating against not only African Americans but anyone that's different, LGBTQ, trans, Mexican, Latino. Just look at what our president is doing, he's building a wall and is banning certain people from other countries from entering the United States. THEY COME HERE TO GET AWAY FROM WAR AND POVERTY, granted, some people don't exactly do it the legal way but it literally takes so long to do it the legal way. I'm also not saying that there aren't bad people who want to destroy us from the inside because there are people like that and I understand that we need to protect ourselves, but we are so blinded by fear that we forget that not all Muslims, not all Arabs, and not all African Americans, and not all Caucasians are bad people. Yes I say Caucasians because there have been instances when an attack on the US hasn't been someone of a different race. Not everyone is out to get us and we have to remember that.
I think that we got so used to seeing the bad in people because of war and the hatred that we see everyday, that we forgot that there are still good people in the world trying to do good but we can't seem to get around the fact that human nature takes over and all we see is bad. All we see is the one person who did an act of violence that ended in death. All we see is someone who practices a different religion than us. All we see is someone who loves the same sex and that goes against the morals of someone else. To me, that is a problem.
A lot has happened in the last few months that some Americans agree with and others don't. That's what makes this country amazing, we get to have those differences in opinion without fear of persecution. But lately this country hasn't been amazing with all that is going on with the new administration in place in Washington D.C. Now, I'm not bashing the people who voted for President Trump and I'm not talking out against President Trump, but people who don't think that there has been a rise in violence against African Americans, Muslims, Arabs, or pretty much any minority are wrong. This violence also includes women, the reports of sexual assault jumped enormously right after the results of the election were reported. Women were reporting being "grabbed by the pussy" right after the video of President Trump was released of him saying that exact thing.
Anyway, back to the point. Discrimination is a huge problem that we face today and I feel like we should fix that. It shouldn't be a problem because no matter our skin color, the religion that we practice, or sexual orientation we all have the same skeleton. We forget that these people that others treat so badly are human beings as well that deserve the same kind of life that everyone else has. So next time you see someone that is being hated on for their skin color, step in and remind them that they have a friend. Next time you see a Muslim afraid to enter a building, offer to walk in with them and be kind. Next time you see a gay couple being scrutinized on the street, go up to them and tell them you are an ally and they are not alone.
Do not ever think that your small action will do nothing. It can cause a ripple effect and change someone's life for the better. We are all in this together and I think that we can make a huge difference in this big bad world. We just have to try.
