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Alicia Hopper
Third Place - Tie
Seventh Grade, RAMS
Human Rights Essay

Human right #1 of the UDHR: We are all born free and equal. That means

that people everywhere, no matter where they are, who their parents are, or

what religion they believe in, is equal. That means that muslims born anywhere,

people who follow Christianity living anywhere, are all equal. And yet we assume

that Mexican immigrants are stealing jobs from Americans. That all muslims are

terrorists. This is not true. That is called prejudice. Prejudice is preconceived

opinion that\is not based on reason or actual experience.This can also be known

as stereotyping. When we stereotype people, we assume something about them

based on a characteristic or trait. People might do this because we are not

educated about them, because we only know one thing about them, or because

we are simply too ignorant to care. You may not realize how common

stereotyping is, but you very well might see it every day. Stereotyping is not

always as extreme as in the above examples, but that does not make it any

better. As you can see, stereotypes and prejudice can definitely impact human

rights. As fair people, we must take it upon ourselves to address prejudice and

discrimination.

One example of a small act of prejudice in my life was about my friend

Lucy. She is of chinese heritage, but was born in the U.S. One day, while

learning about the Vietnamese war, someone in the class asked her if she knew

much Vietnamese. She responded "No, why would I?". She was then asked if

she was vietnamese. "No" she replied. "Well, are you Korean?", "No!, I'm
Chinese." This one one time where the prejudiced person seemed genuinely

surprised, and was happy to fix the mistake. I had been able to tell that Lucy

was Chinese when I first met her, and was initially confused as to how one could

not know. This made me realize that stereotyping is much more common than

we would assume. A large example of prejudice I'm sure most people know of,

is in one of the many things Donald Trump has said. "When Mexico sends its

people ... , they're sending people that have lots of problems and they're bringing

those problems with us. They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're

rapists ... " Yes. He really did say that. Now, for the facts. Latinos accounted for

only 9 percent of documented sexual assaults in 2013. Therefore, what he said

is not only horribly offensive, but also incorrect. He basically said that because

someone is a mexican immigrant, he assumes that they are most likely a drug

dealer, rapist, or other criminal. This is not just offensive to Mexicans, but it

offends me personally that someone could morally say this.

Now that we have explored what stereotypes are and what prejudice is, I

would like to explore ways that we can take action to stop the discrimination

that we have seen. For some kinds of prejudice that we see, educating others is

a good way to solve it. We can tell others about the issue, we can This will help

many people too not make that mistake again. Knowledge is a very powerful

tool, but unfortunately it is not always enough. Sometimes we must take greater

action. We must utilize our right to public speech and assembly. Sometimes we

have to speak out. We can use peaceful protest strategies to do so. Examples
are petitions, sit ins, and strikes. Some other ways to do this would be to write

letters and create groups, to let others know how wrong it is, and perhaps by

positive peer pressure, we may be able to stop these stereotypes.

Stereotypes are a violation of many human rights, such as human rights 1

and 2 of the UN declaration of human rights. Human right number 2 states the

freedom from discrimination. Prejudice is a violation of this human right because

it is a form of discrimination, and therefore not allowed. Stereotypes are also a

form of discrimination, and if you are being stereotyped, that is a violation of

human right 1, the right to equality, stating that we are all born free and equal.

Stereotyping is not treating you as equal. This is a transgression of the human

rights. Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 10 December

1948, the intention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was to protect

the freedom and liberty of people around the world. Prejudice and Stereotypes

are eating away at the success of this act.

As you can see, prejudice and stereotypes clearly impact human rights.

But no matter how old or how young, how poor or how rich, anyone can speak

out. Anyone can find in in themselves to stop this terrible thing from overcoming

not just this nation, but the entire world. I urge you to dig deep within yourself,

and stand up for yourself and others.