Angelina Lui, Period 2, 3/1/23

 ○ 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?

Issues of inequity and oppression are still prevalent in the United States today. Although the

country has progressed in terms of civil rights, with racial segregation being outweighed and the

Constitution guaranteeing the right to vote for black people and women, it is important to

acknowledge and keep talking about current social and political issues. Just recently, on June

24, 2022, the Supreme Court decided that the Constitution does protect the right to abortion,

effectively overturning Roe v. Wade. The basis for this decision is that the Constitution does not

explicitly mention abortion nor are there any implied protections by any provisions of the

Constitution. This reasoning is basically saying that the legal penumbra for the protection of the

right to privacy in the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 9th Amendments do not exist. It has been ruled that the

legality of abortion and abortion policies should be in the state’s hands. However, the impact of

this decision may extend beyond reproductive rights. Other cases such as Garner v. Texas,

which invalidated laws against sodomy, and Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex

marriage, may also be at threat of being overtruned since the decisions were made on the

principle of the right to privacy. The issue of institutionalized racism is something that I feel also

needs to be addressed. Criticisms of the law enforcement system and how racism is built into

the structure of the police force became a lot more prevalent after George Flyod’s death. I feel

like there is definitely a problem with police violence towards black people and higher arrest and

arrest and incarceration rate of African Americans compared to white people but it is hard to

know what should be done to address issues like these and how we can make our society more

fair and just.

Literature is a way I reflect critically on my own beliefs, assumptions, values, and experiences.

Reading the works of people who have been affected by discrimination, oppression, or inequity

helps me better understand their perspectives on these issues and the reasons behind their

thinking. Historical texts can also inform me about the past sociopolitical issues and the

impacts they had. Dystopian novels such as Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 provide meaningful social

commentary on government censorship and oppression. Currently, we are also reading Grendel

in class which was written in the 1970s, a time period with the counterculture hippie movement,

anti-war sentiments, and the civil rights movement. The values of the author at the time it was

written can be found in the novel. It is in the perspective of Grendel, who is seen as a monster

and different by the humans which is why he is treated differently. Analyzing Grendel has made

me consider my own values, beliefs, and philosophies.