Stand Up Now: Addressing Injustice Can’t Wait.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Desmond Tutu. Social justice is more than just protecting yourself from injustice. For one to achieve social justice, one must take action, even if that injustice doesn’t involve them. It is something that has to be done multiple times to cause change.
The lack of social justice allows for injustice to rise in the world, which includes racial discrimination. For example, a popular stereotype directed towards me and other Asians is that "Asians are good at math." While the stereotype seems quite positive, it sets up an expectation of how they should be as a person, which may not be true at all. This could affect your thinking in the way that you should ask them for help. In my personal experience with this stereotype, the people around me have asked for help when they got stuck, or other classmates. Our families also hold a much higher expectation of us, where a B is considered "a bad grade." The more a stereotype comes into light, the harder it becomes to get rid of its values, as people like to believe what they see or hear at first glance. There are also other means of discrimination shown in the book American Born Chinese, A graphic novel that follows three Chinese stories, where some events could actually happen in real life. For example in one of the stories, there is a traditional stereotype of Chinese people shown by the character CK, (shortened as it is quite close to a racist term) when he arrives at school
CK enters his school with Danny (Yang, 110)
In the illustration, Danny seems to be ashamed of having CK around, because of the way people might treat CK, people will feel more insecure around others. The sole judgment of someone negatively can also affect other people, which is why it is important to withhold this justice for everyone. This is quite similar to how I feel when I’m on the bus with my Asian family. Without action, stereotyping will continue to exist and affect the minds of millions, even those who are a part of it.
Injustice isn’t just shown based on racism. Injustice can be shown in the places we thought justice was being held. For example, in the documentary Kids for Cash, kids were sent into a private prison because the judges would be paid for sending them there instead of actually delivering justice. The kids were sent for years in prison for the littlest crimes, such as jumping over a table. This experience was shown not to be beneficial at all. For example, one specific child affected by this experience changed entirely as a person and took his life years after. This could have been avoided if the parents were not told that they did not need a lawyer. Despite the fact that the government is able to provide you with a lawyer for free. By doing this it provides opportunities for better judgment. Like in some debates, some people like me are unable to describe their opinions as there is no opportunity for them to say something on the topic, but if they had a chance to do something, the judgment at the end would be much more fair.
Social justice means a lot more than just justice. It’s made for everyone unlike justice, providing opportunities to address lapses in judgment or rectify how different races are treated. In order to prevent injustices people have to stand up for others in situations where they are being oppressed. By changing the perceptions of justice, our perception of our lives becomes more positive, being rewarded from the right things we do.
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I really like this paragraph because being Asian myself, I can really relate to this. The effects of Asian racism that you have experienced has helped me easily understand your claim.
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One false accusation and confirmation can have a major negative impact on a person. I have experienced this and it took a long time for its effects to no longer affect me. Some people however, aren’t so fortunate. It reminds me of the youngest person sent to death row who turned out to be innocent.
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