The Need for Change.

The Need For Change

Racism and discrimination are a part of our lives that have caused nothing but endless problems in our society. Living in America as a minority, I have been discriminated against many times because of my outer skin color and my culture. The pain that one suffers from racial discrimination is one of the worst mental pains one will experience and if racism does not come to an end, then the world will never be able to join as one and live in a peaceful society. Our world is one that is diverse with so many different nationalities and cultures but the problem occurs when people cannot come to an appreciation or at least an acceptance of a culture. Racism must come to an end immediately and it is only possible if we as people of this earth, rise up against the racist groups in our society and fight until racism is no more.
Almost every human being has experienced racism at some point in their lives. You may have been a direct victim of racism or a spectator of a person being criticized due to their race but either way, racism has affected people all over the world. I personally have been a victim of racism and the agony that comes from it is one that is unbearable. Words such as “chink” or “rice picker” are ones that have been thrown at me but those are just the minute forms of racism. The worst form of racism I have experienced is being excluded from a group due to the color of my skin.
I was just a young boy living in England when I first experienced racism first hand. I had never been exposed to the concept of racism and so was quite unaware at first of what was going on but soon it hit me. I was being bullied and made fun of because I looked different from the other children in the classroom. I looked around the classroom and found that everyone looked different from me except just one boy. I came to know this boy very well for he was my only friend in the classroom and we both realized that we were not “fit” to join the other classmates during play time. We looked different but that was it. That was what excluded us from the rest of the children and even at such a young age of 5, these British children found ways to humiliate us. During recess, toys would not be shared and some would even laugh at us making facial expressions to try and exaggerate the “Asian” look. The teachers would try to tell those children that not sharing the toys with us was wrong but never did they actually approach the children about racism. The teachers probably thought we were too young to be exposed to such content but I believe that racism should be a topic taught to children as soon as they are old enough to think for themselves.
There is never a positive outcome when dealing with racism. Racism offers no gain to society and therefore must be eliminated. The problem that lies with eliminating racism is that some people have lived their whole lives believing that racism is perfectly fine and that a certain race is obviously higher on the hierarchy compared to others. This thought was one of founding bases of the United States of America but is one that clearly should not be in our lives today. Our world has moved past those stages and in order for our world to move forward, racism must come to an end.
The problems we face with racism today are different from the ones that Martin Luther King experienced. King experienced discrimination such as not being allowed to go to certain public restaurants or sit in certain places and those are now things in the past. Today, we face problems with verbal and physical fights that break out due to the differences some people see in each other’s race and only cause cultures to constantly clash. Martin Luther King said in his letter to the clergymen, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” One incident with racism that occurs on one side of the country can encourage racism to break out in other parts of country which only leads to the spread of racism. Racism must be eliminated as a whole in order to have racism be eliminated, the people of the world must act and fight together.
One may say that racism is a form of freedom and a person has a right to be racist if they wish to be but freedom should not give people the power to bring negativity to the world. We must bring it to the attention of the leaders in our country that racism is an offense that should in all seriousness, be considered illegal. Racism should be a crime and the government needs to take action in order for this to take place. The government may not take this very seriously but if people rise up and are able to prove that racism really is a problem in our society. Until we, the people of this world, bring it to attention to the higher people in power, the world will remain full of hate and discrimination towards one another.
Protests and rallying are all great forms of fighting for a cause but in this case, these forms do not seem to have much effect for there have been endless rallies and protests whereon positive outcome is reached. Protests and rallies may just end up with more battles between the authorities and the people so therefore we must find another form of action. One that I believe has a great amount of strength is the use of the media we have available to us today. Making a statement through a television show, writing letters to the local mayors and senators, calling radio stations to have your voice be heard are all great ways of taking action. Physical fighting and marching on the streets only cause mayhem and is an ineffective way for our government to take notice. Writing and speaking out are ways that can really move the people in power and allow them to finally realize that making racism is a logical choice.
Looking at our world today, it seems that many people are affected by racism but not enough people care to take action against it. It is only a matter of time before the next generation of humans will be exposed to racism and therefore, racism must come to an end immediately. We must rise up and inform the people and the leaders of the world that racism should not be accepted at all in society and must be made illegal. There is no grey area for racism and any form of racism whether it be teasing or physically torturing, should not be allowed. The task of eliminating racism lies in the hands of us, the people, and it is up to us if we want to make a change in this world for the better.










Works Cited.
King Jr., Martin L. "Letter From Birmingham City Jail." 16 Apr. 1963.