Ethan Cadotte, Period 7, 11/13/2023

Ethan Cadotte, Period 7, 11/13/2023

Modern Mythology 2024

Inequity by definition is the lack of fairness or justice, which is prevalent in American society today, it can be seen directed at almost everyone in American society in some shape or form. No matter who you are, there is usually some sort of bias placed on your people, whether it be about race, religion, sex, beliefs, etc. Thankfully, I have personally never been seriously judged on any of these bases to the point where I would feel offended or endangered, but I see all over the news people being attacked and all over social media people being put down for any sort of reason. Seeing these events happen has opened my eyes to some of the injustices that occur in America, but also all across the world. 

One primary basis of discrimination I have seen to be the most prevalent is race. Throughout some of the more recent years, there have been many occurrences of racial discrimination, whether it be in violent acts or something as simple as a comment on an instagram post. Some of the bigger things I have noticed was the Black Lives Matter movement, attacks on asian people, and more recently, the protests against Jewish people. These events are terrible, and nobody should feel that they are less than or could be harmed at any moment because of the color of their skin or the way they look. The one that scared me the most was the random attacks on asian people, as I myself am half Chinese. When I saw news of these attacks on the streets, I was too afraid to go outside or take the subway during the night for fear that a random person would run up behind me and hit me in the back of the head with a hammer. One that I felt more second handedly was the protests against the Jewish in their position of Palestine, as I have some Jewish friends who themselves were protesting for their rights as American citizens. They were being targeted in protests because of the events that were happening in Israel, whereas they had absolutely nothing to do with what was happening in a land thousands of miles away. Seeing these acts of discrimination has taught me to be socially aware of events and how they may be affecting people around me.

Another basis of discrimination is sex, being a part of the LGBTQ community is bound to make you receive some sort of criticism somewhere in America. I don’t often see people discriminated against for being bisexual or transgender around me, however I do see it very prevalent on social media in the comments of posts. Many call members of this community several derogatory terms that can affect someone’s mental state. This basis of discrimination comes from deep roots in history where people considered anti LGBTQ to be the way things are. In recent history, there have been many hate crimes against this group of people, many of them violent. This caused many people to hide the fact they are who they are, and it is also part of the reason that some people choose to hide that they want to be a part of this community. It feels wrong to belittle people just because they choose to be a slightly different version of everyone else. The difference is so small that you might not even be able to tell that someone associates themselves with this community unless they told you directly. I personally have had no idea that family or friends have been apart of this community until they told me that they were. Hopefully things will get better in the future between this community and whoever may disagree with their beliefs.

As for my personal beliefs, I believe that people shouldn’t be afraid of being who they are, whether it means having a certain skin color or identifying as something that others may disagree with. I believe that everyone should have equal rights in this country and all over the world, but unfortunately sometimes the views of others prevent that. Many problems of discrimination root from the way we were brought up, whether that be experiencing a traumatic event that we could tie to a group of people, or just being taught that something is good or bad, it roots from our preconceived notions that some of us grow out of. When we don’t though, it creates violence among our people. I hope that someday, the differences between people is not what separates them, but what connects them.