Anthony Joseph

Pantin “KEY TO UNITY: Fighting Oppression, Ending Discrimination”

Oppression. It is defined as a cruel or unjust treatment of a person. It is an abuse. Many of

the world's most serious and long-lasting conflicts are rooted in oppression. Conflicts over race
and religion; conflicts between dictatorial governments and their citizens; the battle of the sexes;
conflicts between management and labor; conflicts between heterosexuals and homosexuals; and
conflicts between liberals and conservatives all stem from oppression or perceived oppression.
As the agents of change, the youth and the coming generations shall be the ones to spearhead
advancement and progress for humanity’s sake. Children possess the innate ability to think
outside the box and break the stigma of stereotyping which is one of the main issues we have in
society. The new generation ends the cycle of inequality in terms of service and even occupation.
This is why oppression must not foster especially in the lives of people of color and those who
belong in the marginalized sector.

The world we live in today is unrecognizable when it is compared to the society that
flourished 50 years ago where people of color and considered different are being treated badly.
However, despite the decrease of these instances, we cannot still deny that oppression has
already ceased. Even in the Philippines, people from Luzon usually pick off Visayans and
Mindanaons for speaking Bisaya and stereotyping them for not having the urbanized way of
living. According to a study made by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS),
people often incorporate Muslims to Terrorisms and Visayans to Black Magic and their medium
for communicating as a major turn-off. Oppression starts when we tolerate such things to happen
until we realize that the root cause of discrimination is already embedded in our veins that has
been handed to us by our ancestors. With the high-profile police killing of an unarmed Black
man in Minnesota in the summer of 2020, racial tensions have erupted once more. This event
released a global response of world-wide protests and has once again brought the oppression of
Blacks (in the United States) and other minorities to the forefront. A woman who is having the
same amount of work and same type of work of a man is being paid less because of her gender,
that is a form of oppression, being blind to the brutal, seeing this happening and not doing
anything about it, it is like practicing injustice, so tell me, if one does not agree to it, what is the
difference between them, the person who is just looking and that person who is exerting their
cruel dominance?

The advocacy “Fighting Oppression, Ending Discrimination” will help give and serve
justice to the oppressed specially to give emphasis on the oppressors who have been taking
advantage of the things that surround them and to teach everyone that if we want to change, we
have to start within ourselves. Aside from solving things internally, we too shall need the help of
our leaders, locally and globally in order for us to reach a wider audience and to leave a huge
impact on the lives of others.

REFERENCES

https://www.borgenmagazine.com/the-power-of-advocacy-black-lives-matter-and-global-
poverty/ https://dirp4.pids.gov.ph/ris/drn/pidsdrn06-4.pdf

Hampton D. (2021, April 13). In Minnesota, a grieving community desperate for change
after officer killed Daunte Wright. Retrieved December 12, 2021 from
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/minnesota-grieving-community-desperate-change-
after-officer-killed-daunte-wright-n1263892.

Morton, D. "Oppression and Conflict: Introduction." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy

Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Information Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder.
Posted: March 2005 http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/oppression-introduction.