People might say society is
developing. They can all say society has
risen above the fact that no matter how different we look, nobody shall be judged;
however, society itself faces cases of murder, criminal behavior and social
discrimination against various racial groups.
What I’m trying to prove is that there is a huge difference between worldwide
agreement against racism, and personal values and morals. At the end of the day
what you told people you believed in is no longer important to those who are
being judged; it all comes down to what you –as an individual–
believe and support.
On the night of February 26,
2012, a young African American teenager was killed. Trayvon Martin –only 17
years old– was shot by 28 year old, George Zimmerman. The young boy wore a
hoodie and was leaving a convenient store with a pack of Skittles and Ice Tea.
George Zimmerman was the neighborhood patrolman and according to his story, he
thought Trayvon was suspicious. The bullet shot by George Zimmerman killed this
harmless boy and no justice has been made. Police declare Mr. Zimmerman acted
in self defense but all Trayvon did was walk around his own neighborhood
wearing a hoodie. I’m sorry, is that considered suspicious behavior? What might
this 17 year-old have done to a patrolman? Attack him with the soda? Maybe I don’t
understand the new patrolling methods people use these days but to me, George
Zimmerman wasn’t defending himself.
I want all of you to put
yourselves on George Zimmerman’s situation. Why? Well because it’s easy for us
to say he is racist. Easy to say he is prejudiced and easy to say he is the
worst human being there is. But let me ask you a question. What would you do if
an African American male, is wearing a hoodie, late at night and is walking
around the neighborhood? Would that seem
strange to you? Maybe even, suspicious?
This is where your morals come in. This is where everything you say to others
stays at the door and the only thing left is you, and your beliefs.
To me, prejudice starts in you.
It doesn’t start with you going against what others think is right, it starts
with you thinking the same way all the time. I wish we could all say we never
judge anyone by their looks but truth is, we do. Its human nature and nothing
can stop us from thinking certain things when we see someone. Let’s start with
9/11. This tragic event did kill many innocent ones, but have you thought about
how many innocent Muslims are being judged for the mistake of one? How many
Muslims are looked at differently because everyone around him thinks he’ll blow
up the place? The answer is many, and is not only against Muslims. It’s not
only about 9/11. It’s about little things, little stories that go around
forcing people to think the wrong things about harmless Muslims, Latinos,
Asians and African Americans. Now, I’m not saying prejudice is wrong. Every
single person in this world is entitled to their own thoughts and beliefs,
whether they are biased or not. What I’m
saying is that prejudice will end up being injustice when you act based on what
you hear. Prejudice ends up being injustice when everyone seems to be ignoring
the fact that an innocent boy was killed and the killer is just walking around
as if nothing had happened.
What society should do to help
is start telling the truth. Stop acting like you know what happened because all
you did was hear stories. Stop blaming it on the weaker man because everyone
seems to be doing the same thing. People need to stop basing themselves on what
they hear, what they think they saw,
and start standing up for what’s right. Not for what people want you to do, but
for what everyone should stand up for. Stand up to defend the morals of life, defend
justice and leave the judging to the court. We have enough people out there
that judge each other on a daily basis and what we need now, in order to help
innocent people like Trayvon is a brave, strong society that is willing to stop
the guilty from running away.
Along the same lines of judging
someone based on something you heard there is fear. Now, I fear things like
loss. Loss because I know what it feels like to lose something or someone you
love. But what’s funny is that people fear of the unknown. They fear of a black
male coming up to them and killing them. When all they know is that some black males have killed people.
They now think every single black male is going to kill them. Why? Because that’s
what we do. We hear things, we believe things. We say things, and we start to
believe them. This issue has been discussed for as long as I can remember. The
issue of people thinking and believing things that you have no idea about. When
you fear of the unknown, you fear of the innocent. If you fear of the innocent,
you are basically scared of everyone. Once again, you need to learn to stop
believing everything people say and start analyzing the facts, start standing
up for yourself and start thinking and believing in what you think is right.
Not what others tell you is right.
This might come out as a
completely pessimist thought but I am going to be honest –this world is messed
up. I am only 14 years old and I already live around people that judge you on
everything you wear, you say, you think and you do. Everything. Sad thing is;
it’s not our fault because we live around judgments. Kids judge, teens judge
and even adults judge. It’s natural to fear of a man walking by himself with a
hoodie over his head. It’s normal. What if that male was wearing a Ralph Lauren
sweater and a pair of Armani shoes? Would he look, less suspicious? To human eyes, probably. But to eyes of justice he
could be as dangerous or as innocent as anyone else out there. That is what
stereotypes create. They create a layer of prejudice and fear in front of
everyone’s eyes; and the only way we can stop that from intruding into our own
beliefs, is to stop listening to other people’s definitions of guilty and
innocent. What you think, is yours to believe and what you believe is what you
should always stand up for.
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