Annie Liang, Period 1, 3/9/22

 Annie Liang, Period 1, 3/9/22

Socio-political Consciousness

What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power? How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

I’ve always thought of inequality and oppression as never-ending cycles that were impossible to break out of. Quite honestly before quarantine, I never took the time to really research the deep rooted racism present in the U.S. as I always thought that it didn’t exactly pertain to me. However, COVID-19 and the lockdown pushed me to think about such issues and reevaluate my own biases as Asians were quickly becoming demonized as many saw them being the ones at fault for the pandemic. 

At the core of the issue with my own preconceived biases is the fact that I grew up in a relatively sheltered environment. My entire school life has included a majority White and Asian student population so I never quite felt as if I was all alone or the odd one out. It was only during quarantine when I had an ample amount of time to myself did I truly realize how sheltered and ignorant I was. As the outbreak of COVID-19 worsened, the fingers were pointed to Asians all over the world and those living in countries such as the U.S., Canada, Britain, and Australia became victims of hate crimes. Outrage built up among the Asian American community as more and more reports of attacks on Asians around the world came in. In particular, the targeted victims were senior citizens who were the most vulnerable to any sort of attack. I had this pool of fear and anxiousness swirl in my stomach as I feared for the safety of my own family who still had to go about their days as if everything was normal. I realized the only way that I could personally help was by educating myself on racism in the U.S. 

In particular, I learned about redlining which is racial discrimination in real estate. It was absolutely saddening to see the racial segregation in real estate as agents deemed certain areas to be poor investments and outlining those areas in red, hence the term redlining. This tactic steered Black Americans into certain areas and away from other areas which contributed to racial segregation that influences how America looks today. You can still very much see this in the neighborhoods today in NYC as certain areas remain as low-income neighborhoods with higher rates of crime. To continue being able to contribute and make change occur, I’ll have to do more research and speak to more people of different walks of life to grow from my sheltered and privileged upbringing.