Steven Chen, Period 2, 9/16/2022

Steven Chen 

Period 2

9/16/22

Modern Mythology 2023

Socio-political Consciousness

What are your thoughts and feelings about issues of inequity, oppression, and/or power?

    Issues of inequity, oppression, and power have been recurring topics throughout the history of mankind. Personally, I think these issues can never be truly "fixed", but they can be improved upon. In the year 1776, the 13 colonies ruled by the British Empire decided to establish a document known as the Declaration of Independence. As its name suggested the purpose of the document was the colony throwing off British influence because of the constant oppression and the lack of power that the colonists possessed. As Thomas Jefferson once said, "...all man...are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” Even though America finally became its own country in today's society, many still face inequality,(gender inequality, racism, income, and healthcare), which is ironic because oppression was what they fought for yet has anything really changed? Well to some extent yes things have changed for the better in recent years. For instance, the Equality Act of 2021, "prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment." In addition, to this today there are way more movements fighting for the equality of basically everything, from race to sexual orientation, such as the Pride Parade and Black History Month, which both celebrate the achievement over the years and light a fire in people who support these movements. After listing all these actions taken to decrease inequality and oppression, the issue still stands for decades of improvement; the end doesn't seem to be within our reach. Being superior or "better" than someone has always been second nature to humans, which is also why we as a race were able to stand above the rest because we are never satisfied. Although greed has brought the human race many good things it also made inequity, oppression, and power imbalance inevitable. 

How do you reflect critically on your own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences, and how these can influence your perception of self and others?

    While most of the population demands equality for all, I have a more realistic view, which is that no one will ever be truly equal no matter their race, income, or status. Yet standing from another's perspective I can understand that we need to at least reach for the sky in order to make changes and that's when I realize that sometimes extreme or unrealistic goals are necessary in order to take a step towards a goal. I assume that because of basic human nature we the people of the same race wouldn't allow each other to be equal and although that might be true to some extent it is also true that I fail to realize that over the past decade the growth of equal rights has been exponential. Following this rate who knows what's possible in the near future. After I reflect on my own experiences over the years I also realized that equality has really changed. I grew up in a traditional Chinese household, and my parents had always had a stereotypical view of certain races and were prejudiced against them. Recently, though I would say the past three years I have seen my parent standing up for those exact same race when news of them being harmed was spread online. This made me realize that things were really changing for the better in terms of equality. My perception of self has also changed during these times, and I seem to falter on the thought that equality cannot be achieved. In addition, over the course of my high school career, I've taken many college-level history classes that aided my knowledge in terms of history around the world and the United States. After understanding the blood sweat and tears people and activists put into creating equality I sort of thought of myself as a narrow-minded person. I understand now that people who are putting in work behind the scene has really impacted the idea of equality and that if we keep pushing forward toward the goal of equality who knows maybe we will see a day where equality, oppression, and power wouldn't be a problem in the modern world.