A social issue that continuously garners my interest is racial inequality and discrimination. It is no secret that racism has always been prevalent in America; this country was fundamentally established through slavery and white power. These discriminatory roots have trickled into modern society, with police brutality, denied services, and racially-motivated attacks being common occurrences. I believe that this is what interests me so much about this issue; it has withstood the test of time, just in different forms. Although blatant segregation and slavery are not present anymore, there is still racial discrimination present in social settings based on how people of color are treated, and even in professional settings like the workforce, where people of color statistically have a lower chance of getting hired compared to white people.

I have always found it difficult to actually grasp the concept of racism, because I do not understand how an uncontrollable physical feature could possibly affect someone else. However, I have realized that the issue of racism has turned into a political one, which has caused it to become a debatable topic and has enabled people to defend it in support of their political beliefs. For example, the Black Lives Matter movement was created to bring an end to police brutality, but quickly became a political debate when Donald Trump vocalized his disapproval of the protests. This resulted in the birth of “Blue Lives Matter,” which is supposed to demonstrate support for the police, but has really become a way to mute Black Lives Matter. This highlights why racism has remained so prevalent in society; there is always backlash that turns any improvement on the issue into an extreme argument, which is an interesting concept to me.

There is so much more that I would like to know about racial inequality, because the unfortunate truth is that different racial groups face a variety of challenges everyday due their skin color. I would like to learn about more of the smaller challenges that these groups face, because they are still challenges that should not exist, and even simply being educated on them is a positive step towards change.

As the daughter of a Mexican- American citizen, who was only 16 and 19-year-old immigrants that work hard to became American citizen, faced many challenges to come to the United States to give their children a better future, support their families, and have a better life for themselves, just like any other immigrant in the U.S. Even up to this day many people from different countries come to America for a better future. An example would be the people from Afghanistan, leaving their homes because of the war. Another example would be Mexicans leaving their homes because of poverty because they have to help their families, their children to have a better future. Not just Hispanics but people from different countries who immigrated to the U.S are criticized, being called immigrants, dangerous people, terrorists, being stereotyped for our looks, where we come from, or even from the way we speak and dress. The treatment these people have is unfair and disrespectful to them as humans/people, being locked up in cages treating them as animals because “they do not belong in this country”. This social issue has been going on for many years and has gone from building a wall around the U.S so no one would come in, to giving people visas to stay in the U.S to have a career for themselves. Going on a rollercoaster, reaching a point where there are changes being made but also failing to keep promised made by presidents/U.S government. Yet there are still people who are willing to stereotype these people and make them live in fear of going outside. Listening to different people’s stories to watching Tik Tok videos to tv series of people being harassed shows that people need to take stands. Just because they are not from the same country doesn’t mean that they are a different species and just because one person from that country committed a crime doesn’t mean everyone from that country is the same. I would want to know what ways we can show awareness to these immigrants, to let them know that there are people who can help them, that can be who they are and not hide from those who stereotype them.

Mental health is something that is not taken as serious as it should be within our youth and even adults. Many children fear speaking up to their parents because their parents have not created a safe environment for them which then creates emotionally closed off and isolated adults who do not express or know how to deal with emotions. This topic interests me so much because I’ve known and still know people who suffer from mental illnesses and mentality issues who are doing that suffering in silence. I can only do so much when it comes to helping but I truly believe that every parent and every school should focus heavily on raising these kids of the next generation in a healthy, nonjudgmental, safe environment to voice their feelings. I believe that this issue hits men and women slightly differently. I really cannot speak for women because I’m not one but as a man I see how it affects young boys and even sometimes still affects me where we’re seen as unemotional, cold, and strong all of the time. It’s not healthy for someone to be held up to that standard because its very robot-like. We all have feelings that we should be able to express but in todays society if you’re feeling any kind of way you need to “suck it up”, “stop being soft”, “stop being a bitch”. Theirs parents who tell their children today that “boys don’t cry” and that’s a terrible thing to raise a child on. That mindset becomes embedded in a boys head so that they shut off all emotion so that they do not feel or be seen as weak. When in reality feelings are normal and being vulnerable requires more strength than being silent.