The Injustices of Society

It all began in elementary school. There were kids in my classes that had different skin
color than me and just looked different. I never really thought much of it, it just was. It never
occurred to me then that racial differences were the most controversial issue in the world around
me. Of course we learned about different places and I understand that people from different
places looked different, but it never crossed my mind that this simple fact of life was the source
of some of the most bitter and debilitating persecution and suffering in existence.
Fast forward to middle school. By this time I understood at a primitive level that people
throughout history had been oppressed because of their religion and race. I still did not
comprehend the full extent of the damage throughout history, nor did I realize that it was
happening right around me. By the end of my middle school experience, I had learned more and
more about the cruelty of humans and how brutal they can be against each other just because
they feel different. It was at this time that this issue really began to bother me and I became much
more aware of the injustices taking place in my own town.
Last year. This awareness was greatly augmented largely because of my human
geography class. My scope of the world was broadened exponentially and I was able to get an
insight as to the motives and reasonings of those that afflict others because of religion and race. I
learned of the primitive caste system in India and the brutality that is inflicted on the lower
castes. I learned about the mass killings of different ethnicities. I learned of the racial segregation
in our history as well in the very recent history of South Africa. I learned about the unrest in the
Balkans due to ethnic conflict. These events and others influenced my perception of the world on
a monumental scale.
Then came this year. Due to the prompting and urging of several of my teachers I have
become much more involved in the world around me and in current events. These happenings
have awakened me more than ever before to the dismal state of racial and religious equality. This
is why I decided to do something about it. There is not much I can do alone as a 16 year old in
Sandy Utah, but this is precisely why I havent been acting alone. Every Tuesday for the past
several months me and my mother and my siblings have gone to the Sunnyvale Neighborhood
Center, a place which aids refugees in obtaining the services they have a right to. I help in an
after school program at Sunnyvale. Elementary, middle school, and high school aged students
that are refugees come in after school to the center and I help them with their homework. This
varies each time to math, to reading fluency and comprehension, to improving their English. By
doing this I have been directly exposed to people of all different ethnicities, religions,
backgrounds, and race. I have been able to observe and see firsthand that they are just people like
the rest of us. Though they may look different or may believe other ideas than us, this does not
correlate whatsoever to a decrease in intellect or to an inferior status in society. This is how I am
making a difference and how I have come to this point in my life in standing against racism and
religious intolerance. The solution to this issue is very simple yet can be challenging. We must
simply get to know people who seem different than us because these ideas of separation will

soon be dispelled by the reality that we are all just humans, none better or worse than the other
regardless of race or religion.