Racism: Racial Injustice Rant

Racial Injustice Rant Racism. I’m SICK AND TIRED OF IT! It’s everywhere around me and I JUST WANT IT TO STOP!!! I feel like I am lost in a maze of hate, trapped and unable to get out. When I hear about anything racially unjust, the smoke comes out of my ears like a whistling teapot. I am done with the cruelty, violence, and absurdness! It’s been a part of our history and it’s still around us today. It seems like it will never diminish. I see it everywhere I turn and it makes me feel hopeless.
I think that the hopelessness I feel may be similar to what people of color may have felt during the time their civil rights were denied. One such example happened on December 1, 1955. A black
seamstress, after an exhausting day at work, got onto a public bus in Montgomery, Alabama and sat in the back where, under law, the blacks were forced to sit. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!!!! Isn’t that just insane????? Can you believe that we had a law like that? Here? In the land of the free? AMERICA??? AGGGGGHHHH!!!! A few stops later, a myriad of white people boarded. They seized all the remaining seats in the front, except for one white man who was forced to stand. The bus driver ordered the four black people in the rear end of the bus to give up their seats to the white man. Three of the four stood up hesitantly, however Rosa Parks, the work-weary black seamstress refused. She didn’t want to give up her seat. That poor lady was tired and her feet hurt from standing up all day! Not to mention the fact that she paid for that seat just like the white folks did, with her hard-earned money. Unfortunately, she was arrested later that evening for violating the law that separated people in public places based on the color of their skin. These laws were enforced all over the South and made life extremely difficult for people of color. Rosa Parks’ story makes me so aggravated towards racial injustice. It is immoral and people need to stop judging others by the way they look!
It’s not only people judging each other based on race, but also certains laws can be biased too, as mentioned in the previous example. That’s just not fair! That’s the opposite of what justice means!!!!! Why would you arrest someone for not giving up a seat on a bus just because they’re black? Whatever happened to ‘all men are created equal’? How does the attitude towards these people follow and support the rules regarding equality stated boldly in our Declaration of Independance? Why is it okay for people to judge those of a different race in a negative way? We are all people. Just because they look a certain way doesn’t mean that you can judge them or treat them differently than you want to be treated. Have you ever noticed how cruel people are to each other just because of the way they look?
The other day I was on the bus riding home from school and a kid behind me started to pull up exceedingly racist jokes on his phone. He said things like, “What do you call a bunch of black people in the ocean?.....An oil spill!”, “What is the difference between a bench and a black guy?.....The bench can support a family of four.” Seriously?!? When did anyone say it was okay to pass judgement on someone because of the color of their skin rather than on the goodness of their heart? These jokes are insulting, and they definitely are not entertaining, so what's the point? To put someone down and make them feel bad about
themselves? Another thing that I have noticed is that even some institutions can be biased as well. As recently as this summer, a Red Cross Pool Safety Poster pointed out some very inappropriately biased references to people of color depicted in the poster compared to the images of the white people. They exhibited the colored figures as the ones that were breaking all the rules at the pool while the white figures were shown following the pool rules. In the poster you see the people of color with red arrows pointing to them saying “not cool”, while the white characters had green arrows above them saying that they were “cool” or not breaking the rules. What is the Red Cross saying? That those people, just because they look differently, are the ones who are going to do something wrong? PEOPLE WERE BORN WITH THESE TRAITS!!!! Some people are born with red curly hair, and some with brown and straight hair. We have no control over what color our skin is going to be! No one can adjust their gene pool just before they’re born and select the genes that would make them more “acceptable” to society! We are what we are and that’s it! End of story.
But, unfortunately, there’s more. The news and press are biased too and are not helping this issue! They keep sharing stories that are nothing but lies about race!!! A message to those who write these racist stories: WHAT YOU WRITE MATTERS, PEOPLE LOOK, LISTEN, SHARE, AND FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE YOU GIVE! It is pretty much just human nature. If you are going to perpetuate these myths about race and trick and twist people’s minds, then at least print a warning label that states, “These facts are untrue, exaggerated or just plain biased!” The media is planting ideas in our heads that are corrupting our view of people in our world. Just recently the New York TImes reported that “Fox News aired a segment in which a correspondent conducted a series of mocking interviews of Asian-Americans in New York City’s Chinatown that critics said trafficked in stereotypes and veered into racism.” The media should not abuse the power given to them by the First Amendment by inciting hate, fear, and division. JUST STICK TO REPORTING THE NEWS IN AN UNBIASED AND FAIR WAY!!!!! That is what journalism was made for!!!! Not only is biased journalism unfair, it can also be dangerous because it can fuel hate! Have you ever noticed how hate and violence can result from racism? Hate crimes are being committed all over the country. Actually, “racist hate crimes are up 6% in the last year” as reported in the Huffington Post. Just look around you! IT’S EVERYWHERE!!!! Just last week, the New York Times reported that the “President of the Mississippi N.A.A.C.P. wants the federal authorities to investigate what he described as a hate crime in which white high school students put a noose around the neck of a black student and yanked it tight.” Another recent example reported in the Huffington Post talks about how “an Oklahoma man was charged with murder and hate crimes... after police said he terrorized his Arab-American neighbors for years and finally shot 37-year-old Khalid Jabara to death.” There are so many killings, murders, shootings happening because of hate. I just can’t take it anymore!!! We have to accept and trust each other and not worry about the color of our skin getting in between us. Many people would claim that I am fighting on the wrong side. Some people think that racism and bias are just a part of human nature. That we evolved “separately” from each other for a reason and when we migrated and came together that this was not a natural thing. I’m going to have “a Donald Trump moment” right now and just say “WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.” First of all, for those of you who agree with that statement, that we need to remain separated because it’s only natural, you don’t understand how much better off we are now that we were able to learn from each other. We as humans have to “mix” in some way and take advantage of resources we may not have or even know exist. If we didn’t come together we wouldn’t know that Africa had an abundance of coal, or that America was rich with corn, or India with spices. Just imagine a world without all this cool stuff!!! BORING!!! And let’s just remember who started all the “unnatural” mixing here in the first place! If it wasn’t for the slave trade that the whites ran, then the Africans would have never had to come here! So I guess that racial ‘mixing’ should only be allowed when you can chain and beat people to death or hang them from trees or buy them like you would a piece of chicken at the supermarket. Nice to know! Thanks for sharing that with me.
We can fix our unjust world and racist behavior and follow a path to peace by focusing on being kind to one another.
We need to celebrate the differences that make life fun and interesting, NO MATTER WHAT PEOPLE SAY!!!! Let’s stop the awful comments and go out and make a difference together. Let’s learn from our history and try and eliminate the hate in the present. Let’s let Rosa Parks’ story influence our future. One last thing, I need to ask for a favor. Please just TRY to be nicer to someone who doesn't look like you today. See how that makes you feel and how it makes the other person feel as well. Does doing that make you feel good? Why not make it habit? Trust me, it’s worth
it!