Discrimination

Imagine coming to this new school full of new people. People don’t look like you but
they are human just like you. People are different, everyone has their own unique personality.
A school of almost the same people but different personalities. People who are similar like you
but have different aspects than you. Imagine being a brown person in a white school. Imagine
coming to this school and not having anyone by your side because no one is like you.
Many people have this struggle not entirely the same because we all experience it differently.
Being somewhere you are forced to be and not feeling safe or comfortable being there. Being
somewhere you are supposed to feel safe and comfortable because it's school. Feeling left out
because you are different from other people. Feeling the need to change just to fit in and being
able to have friends. Not being able to express yourself how you truly are because of the fear of
being judged and being the outsider. Not having friends to open up to because they all care
about something else.
Discrimination. People talk about discrimination but don’t realize sometimes they are the ones
who are discriminating people. Just because it's a “joke” doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt a person
doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect someone's life. People discriminate to make themselves feel
higher and make others feel less about themselves. It affects people in many different ways, I
have experienced discrimination it hurts. I bring myself down. I feel less than others, I don’t feel
good enough for anyone. I feel like I can’t express myself how I truly want because of that fear
of judgement, that fear of having people look down to me like if I were nothing, that fear of
people talking behind my back, that fear of not coming back and being myself. On top of all of
that, the problems I take home because we feel less than others because we all struggle with
the same thing and it brings us down. An article called “Family factors mediate discrimination
related stress and externalizing symptoms in rural Latino adolescents” states, “discrimination is
associated with changes in the family environment which in turn invoke elevated risk for
externalizing problems. The struggles of discrimination that one can’t imagine at some points it
doesn’t seem like a “bad” thing because it is something that we get used to… Just being
followed at the store because you look like someone that is going to steal or do something bad.
Not being able to get some jobs because you are different. Not getting a job because you are
“less qualified”. Getting treated differently in a job environment because you’re not like them.
Getting treated differently just because you are different is no excuse treating someone in
general is no excuse. Like I said before and I will say it again me and you are both humans and
we are the same.

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