Where and How Does Discrimination Start?
It is not as important to figure out how and why, but to continue to band together for social justice movements to stop it. The younger population is setting the tone for moving the country forward and speaking out against discrimination. In the past five to seven years, the country has been emboldened to speak up, stand up, and make statements about what seems to be unfair, and wrong-headed ideas.
The reason that we are able to reach the masses is our voice within social media networks. Fighting against any discrimination starts when people do not stand up against it. It starts when individuals do not band together — when they see injustice in their own backyards. The topic can be as wide and complicated as recycling in your neighborhood because the toxins that are in plastic bottles need to be rectified; as not to poison the drain water for example.
Who was it that said, “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere. Maybe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said during those times while African-Americans were being beaten by policemen, hosed by water from hydrants, or bit by dogs, spat on at a lunch counter, slapped for wanting a drink of cool water from a “whites only” water fountain was wrong. Would that type of discrimination be tolerated today? I don’t think so. It’s a different world — that still has a long way to go. It changed when people said, “we are not taking it anymore.”
My personal beliefs are to live and let live. I feel empathy for those who are thought of as “different.” I feel that all of us are different in one way or another, and we all have a duty in this country, the United States of America, to protect those who may not be able to protect themselves from the ravages of discrimination. It is the right thing to do.
Appropriate Changes
Back in the 1960’s, the country was in turmoil in the Southern States because somebody wanted to keep the status quo. Well, others said, “not so,” and made changes. Today we see less discrimination, yet we see it coming down on other individuals for other reasons. Where ever you are and whomever you are discrimination on your agenda should be unacceptable–no matter where it starts to seep. We have to say not in our backyard and strive to make this an extraordinary place to live. The United States is still the greatest place to live. You can live where you want, eat what you want, date who you want, marry who you want. Isn’t this the point of democracy? If not it has to be.
We have work to do, and if the LBGT community is being discriminated against, we have to stand against it and get between it any way we can. Trust me, there will be a time when someone tells you that you can’t do something and you will rebel against that notion. We can not sit back when we see injustice and unfairness taking place. We have to make a stand against it… anywhere and everywhere.