We celebrate what makes us different in our diversity and how the melding of cultures, religions, ethnicity and preferences makes us stronger. We also look at fear, close minded and an unwillingness to learn are the basis of discrimination. Hatred and intolerance is the root of discrimination and all of the negative effects it has on us and how it holds society back. We’ll also look at what we as individuals can to do overcome discrimination, stand strong and celebrate the unity of our diversity.
Speaker 1: 00:00:01 Insightful podcast, informative sites, a podcast network.
Speaker 2: 00:00:26 .
Speaker 3: 00:00:26 Welcome to insights into teens, a podcast series, exploring the issues and challenges of today’s youth. Your hosts are Joseph and Madison, Whalen, a father and daughter team making their way through the challenges of the teenage years.
Speaker 2: 00:00:50
Speaker 4: 00:00:51 Welcome to insights into teens. This is episode 37. Diversity and discrimination. I’m your host, Joseph Waylon and my creative and artistic cohost, Madison Wayland. Hello, how are we doing today, Maddie? So we we’re talking about of fairly serious topic this week. Diversity and discrimination. Unfortunately there’s a lot of discrimination in the world, but there’s also a lot of diversity. So we’re going to look at both sides of the coin. We’ll talk about what diversity is. We’ll talk about some types of
Speaker 4: 00:01:34 A, what discrimination is obviously, but we’ll talk about what some types of common discrimination are, what the negative impacts are. We’ll look at some statistics and we’ll look at some ways to overcome discrimination. And then we’ll finish up with your closing remarks in shout outs. Awesome. So ready to get into it. Yup. Here we go. So our definition this week comes from teen talk Canada, which we’ve used in the past. It describes diversity as referring to the ways that we are all different from one another. Some differences can be our gender, sexuality, ethnicity or culture, religion or spirituality, our family, how much money we have or our social standing, our age or body size and abilities. We believe diversity, all things that make us different should be appreciated and celebrated. Loving differences starts with being curious and open minded when someone seems different from us.
Speaker 4: 00:02:51 That’s diversity. Now the opposite side of the coin there is discrimination. Discrimination is when people treat others because they are different from them in some way. A form of discrimination called oppression is often used to take power away from an individual or a group of people. It can be hard if we experienced discrimination, but there are supports and ways of resisting learn more about discrimination and supports and the ways of resistance, which is what we’re going to try to address today. So on a related note, the one thing I did want to talk about from my perspective on diversity is as you know, I play an online game and in that online game I happened to run a very large community of people and that community of people, which numbers well over 300 people at this point in time are people from all over the world.
Speaker 4: 00:03:56 We have people from Bangladesh, from Russia, from Europe, from Canada. I have someone, number of people from Australia, a number of people from the U K and you know, the majority of people are from the United States. But that’s mainly because of the time zone difference. And the one thing that I can say just from the seven years or so that I’d been involved in this group is that that diversity has been incredibly rewarding for me in a number of ways. One is it’s educational. You know, I’ve learned so much about other people’s cultures during this time period and it’s been a fantastic experience for me. Unfortunately in that same gamer community, there have been very controversial instances of discrimination as well. To the point of threatening violence to people. There was an incident, I don’t want to get into the details too much here, but there was something called Gamergate that people can look up.
Speaker 4: 00:05:02 That really came down. It was, it was more or less gender discrimination in games itself to the point of harassing people with violence. And, and unfortunately when something like that happens, we kind of all lose in that situation because there are advantages to the diversity side of things that if you’re not smart enough to take advantage of it, you’re losing out and you’re forcing other people to lose out. So I just wanted to kind of convey that up front as a couple of really good examples of diversity and discrimination. Have you ever encountered a discrimination in school or have you seen people encountering discrimination in school?
Speaker 6: 00:05:48 Actually, yes. It happened quite recently. I didn’t witness it, but someone from my science had told me that peop people were, were being mean to them because let’s just say they’re transgender and like they were just being mean to them. And knowing them and just saying that they’ll misuse their pronouns.
Speaker 4: 00:06:20 Right. Right. And, and I mean, if you really want to get down to it, that’s really a form of bullying at that point. And we’ll talk about the, you know, the types of discrimination that are out there and this, this falling under one of them. But a lot of times discrimination is a product of people that are afraid of the things that are different that they don’t understand. So there’s a certain amount of sympathy I think that I feel towards people who are discriminatory because one, they’re obviously afraid of something, and two, they’re just ignorant of the subject matter at that point in time. And I kinda feel bad for people who just aren’t smart enough to learn, you know, and especially when you’re given an opportunity with that level of diversity. So let’s get into the common types of discrimination that we are going to talk about today.
Speaker 7: 00:07:21 Okay.
Speaker 4: 00:07:28 So the first thing you were going to talk about is probably the, the one that nowadays and for a very long time has gotten the most attention and that is racism. Have you ever heard of racism? So racism is a belief in the superiority of one race over another and may also include prejudice, discrimination or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different race or ethnicity or the belief that members of different races or ethnicity should be treated differently. Modern variants of racism are often based on social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. And the definition goes on to a little bit more detail but, but basically it’s, it’s discriminating against people of color of, you know Asian descent, middle Eastern descent. A lot of times in the public now it’s Caucasians who are often the ones that are doing the discrimination.
Speaker 4: 00:08:40 You see a lot of mention of white supremacy in the news. Now. white supremacy isn’t something that’s new, unfortunately. I mean, our country has a long history of white supremacy. And I mean, going back to colonial times, you know, when slavery was legal here that our country has a very long and painful history of racial discrimination. And the, and the 1950s and sixties, during the cold war, it became an international incident. Because you had a lot of countries that were emerging from Africa, a lot of new countries that were forming after the breakup of the British empire. And they were independent nations and they were sending delegates to the United States because of the United nations. And you had people from African nations who were lyrical ambassadors and, and delegates who couldn’t get housing in New York and New Jersey and other areas near the United nations in New York because they were being racially discriminated against. So it, it caused a lot of, that was really when the, the nation’s history of racial discrimination became a national embarrassment on an international stage. Now, do you see a racial discrimination in school? You know, kids against, you know black students or Asian students or anything along those ?
Speaker 6: 00:10:16 Not really. Occasionally I would just hear people making jokes about them, but I didn’t really, I wasn’t able to, like, they weren’t like attacking someone else with racism, but like I would sometimes he jokes about it, but I know they didn’t really mean it. I could tell they didn’t really mean it cause they were saying it in a joking manner. But it’s really nothing to be joking about.
Speaker 4: 00:10:42 Well I agree. I mean even when you’re joking about it, it’s still hurtful things to say. And you know, even when you’re joking about it, there’s an underlying Charon of racism there. I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood and going to school, there were very few non whites in the school. My, so my, I think my sophomore year, junior year on the football team we had this young African American male who was on the team and I got along with him. Great. He was in a couple of my classes. He and I, you know, we didn’t hang out so much. You have to school cause he didn’t have close to me but you know, we were perfectly fine. But because he was the only black kid on the team he was picked on mercilessly. Which was, which was really a shame.
Speaker 4: 00:11:42 And me being the type of person that I am, I was always the type of person who had a tendency of sticking up for anyone who was bullied regardless of why you were bullied. So I wound up getting into some altercations on his behalf, trying to defend him. But you know, he, he, that was one of those things that he put up with and, and even that bad behavior was a significant improvement over what African Americans had to go through just to attend non segregated schools. Cause you figure back in the fifties and sixties, you had segregation laws, you know the first black students to attend a non, what they called back then colored school cause they separated all your services between white and colored, which I thought was kind of stupid because whites a color too. So that the terminology they used.
Speaker 8: 00:12:43 Yeah. And like you can’t just call white, not a color. It’s still a color. Pretty much every like white is like the definition of a color.
Speaker 4: 00:12:55 Right. So white light is all colors together. Yeah. but back then it was so controversial that the governor of the state actually called out national guard to stop the kids from going to school. I could you imagine, you know, you’re a minority technically because you’re Jewish. Could you imagine you going to school on the first day of school and the entire school being blockaded by residents of the town who didn’t want you to go to school because of your religion and the president of the United States having to send in troops to escort you to your class. Could you imagine what that must be like?
Speaker 8: 00:13:35 That just sounds stupid and just
Speaker 4: 00:13:38 Like
Speaker 8: 00:13:39 Why would that happen?
Speaker 4: 00:13:41 And it was because of racial segregation and prejudice and discrimination. Then again, our precedent is, well we don’t want to get into the politics on this, but that was what it was like. And 30, 40 years later, almost 50 years later, it still was there. That under Karen of of hate was still there. And it is today and it’s, it’s tragic that it, that it, you know, people can still hate just because of the color of your skin. Yeah. So the next thing that we had, the next common type of discrimination we have is sexism. So sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls. It’s been linked to stereotypes and gender roles and may include the belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another extreme. Sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape and other forms of sexual violence. Gender discrimination may encompass sexism and his discrimination toward people based on their gender identity, which is what your friend at school has experienced. Gender discrimination is especially defined in terms of workplace inequality. So you’ve seen, you know, based on what you’ve told us so far, you’ve seen sexism so far in this one particular instance, have you seen it elsewhere where people have treated you differently because of you being a girl?
Speaker 4: 00:15:20 Like in gym class, you know, something like that?
Speaker 6: 00:15:23 No, I think it was just because I was not flooded again. I was basically just a shy kid cause like they would. But then again I did notice some of the girls, like they would always normally pick the boys first and like some of the girls wouldn’t get picked first.
Speaker 4: 00:15:38 And that’s a form of sexism, you know, the, if you take it beyond school then what you run into is things like I’m a man and a woman getting paid different salaries to do the same job.
Speaker 6: 00:15:54 I know like I’ve had this example before, it’s like the man and the woman work the same time. They have the same shift, they work at the same place and they have the same job. But the man will be paid more than the woman oil. And I just think that is kind of stupid.
Speaker 4: 00:16:15 Right. And that’s because strictly because of gender. Yeah. So again, it’s, it’s being unfair. The military was guilty of this just as the military was guilty of racism for the longest time where they wouldn’t allow women to serve in combat units and they would make every excuse in the book for. But you know, one of the reasons that they wouldn’t allow infantry women in, in frontline inventory was because it was unsanitary and, and because women had different sanitary needs than men. So you couldn’t have women in the trenches with men during ministration. That’s like really, that’s the best that you could come up with. But nowadays you have women that serve as fighter pilots and women are fantastic fighter pilots by all accounts. And, and you know, a lot of times that the discrimination in these cases is a result of perceptions that men and women are capable of doing different things.
Speaker 4: 00:17:28 And there is physiological differences between a female and a male. And a lot of that is hormone driven. You know, women who carry a higher percentage of body fat than men. Men are less capable of multitasking than women because of the way that women’s brains are wired. And a lot of this goes back primitive paternal instincts. Women are more capable of, their bodies are built for nurturing babies. So the perception is well, you’re more fragile as a result of that. And I mean if you look at some of the, of the women that are in ultimate fighting for instance, I mean I did say that these women are fragile, is a ridiculous statement because some of these women and ultimate to fighting and could easily hold their own against the man in ultimate fighting. And, and in a lot of things, you know, you see women that are professional athletes now who are far more athletic than some of the men are. So a lot of it has to do with training, but most of the discrimination comes from perception, from people not understanding.
Speaker 8: 00:18:49 Yeah. Like, I know there’s like this thing where in the past to use to be commentary for men to do this and women to do this. Like men would go out and play sports while women would like stay inside, dress up, wear makeup, play with dolls and all that stuff and now like we can do a bunch of things. Like there were, there are some men who think that men are just med for video games and, and girls are like to play with dolls. But thing is I like to play video games and I’m pretty sure a lot of other girls out there like to play video games too. And some boys, even some boys like to play with dolls. Like some boys don’t want to go out and just be roughhousing with other boys. They just want to stay inside and just be calm like some, like I definitely think we’ve definitely come a long way in society for gender acceptance, even though we still have a ways to go, I can definitely say we’ve definitely come to a better understanding that we can, we are allowed to do what we really pleased.
Speaker 8: 00:19:56 Like girls can now play. Sports. Boys can play with dolls if they choose, but the sad thing is sometimes they can still be made fun of it for, and I don’t see any problem with anything that they’re doing. Sure. It might seem strange to you, but we’re all different and like that’s basically diversity and if you’re discriminating on people trying to be different or if people have different ways than you, you’re not thinking straight.
Speaker 4: 00:20:26 Absolutely. Right. I couldn’t have said it better myself. So the next type of discrimination that we often see is homophobia. You’re familiar with homophobia, I think of for the word, but I’ve never actually, okay. So homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. It’s been defined as a contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, antipathy, and may be based on a rational fear and ignorance and is often related to religious beliefs.
Speaker 6: 00:21:09 Yeah, I can see that. Cause I know like even though even though I don’t know too much about Christianity, I do know that it, it used to be about like you shouldn’t be gay or you shouldn’t be less.
Speaker 4: 00:21:26 Right. And, and from a religious religious standpoint a lot of Christian religions especially Catholic because I was raised Catholic, see homosexuality as a sin, although it’s never said anywhere in the Bible to be a sin. Yeah. and the, the really, the sad irony of the entire Christian, the Catholic church is that that homosexuality itself has been rampant in the priesthood. And you’ve seen countless numbers of priest who have prayed on boys in, in, in the church, and you’ve had numerous legal challenges and allegations thrown around. And instead of facing up to it and bringing these people to justice, really these monsters to justice, the Catholic church has done everything in their power to cover it up, which makes them even more guilty. Yeah. So they’re preaching one thing and practicing something else. But just like, it’s okay for girls to play sports or video games or boys to play with dolls if they want. It’s nobody else’s place to tell someone else who they can and can’t love. Yeah. So that’s another form. Another one that’s probably less common is ageism. Have you ever heard of ageism?
Speaker 6: 00:22:55 No. What? I’m assuming it’s a discrimination towards eight.
Speaker 4: 00:23:00 Correct. So ageism is stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. This way,
Speaker 6: 00:23:09 I just want to say this once, it just sounds stupid. This one just sounds even the stupidest.
Speaker 4: 00:23:15 Well, and we’ll give you some examples here. Okay, cool. So this may be casual or systematic. The term was coined in 1969 to describe discrimination against seniors and pattern on sexism and racism. Ageism is a combination of three connected elements among them were prejudicial attitudes towards older people, old age and the aging process, discriminatory practices against older people and the institutional and policies that perpetuate stereotype about elderly people. Some of the things that you’ve seen come out of this are mandatory retirement ages. You have family members for based on the grounds of safety who are trying to have elderly citizens driver’s license taken away from because they don’t feel that they’re safe to drive. And you have other people who are forced into retirement because of it. You have people who are fired from their jobs because they can hire someone younger.
Speaker 6: 00:24:23 Yeah. And you actually told us, I think on the father’s day podcasts that we made that your father actually had that problem. What’s his, what’s one of his jobs?
Speaker 4: 00:24:33 Yeah, my father was forced into early retirement when he reached a certain age. And they justified that from my father because my father was a common labor. So he was a grocer and his job was unloading and loading tractor trailers. And the justification, they said, well, you’re too old to do this. You can’t physically do the work anymore. Now had he been facing that in today’s society he probably would have been moved to a different type of work cashier or something like that that didn’t require the physical labor. But the other thing that you run into is getting a job. So a lot of times if you’re over a certain age, it’s very difficult to go out and get a job cause you’re competing with kids that are fresh out of college, much younger people, you know, people that are depending on the type of job that you’re trying to get, they might have more modern skills than you.
Speaker 4: 00:25:34 So when someone over the age say of 50, and statistically, I don’t have it in front of me right now, but say over the age of 50, you lose your job depending on the work that you do. It’s difficult, very difficult to get a job. So it’s discrimination based on age. So there’s other types of discrimination. And they show the same type of symptoms. It’s either fear of something you don’t understand. Favoritism of one group over another hostility towards one group. Like for instance, you’ll see people who are prejudiced against people who are overweight. I’m, I’ve faced that in my entire life. I’ve always been a large individual, so I’ve always faced people who have discriminated against me because of my weight. You have people who discriminate against those who are disabled. You know, if you are disabled as a result of an injury or of genetically a genetic defect, whatever it is, people will discriminate against you for that.
Speaker 6: 00:26:46 Yeah. The thing is, I think that’s basically the opposite of what’s been going on at my school. Like I have this one kid who I actually have a bunch of periods with. His name is Cole and I don’t know what happened, but he, I think something happened with his leg that he’s in a wheel chair and he’s in it for a few weeks and he has to get from class to class like that. And there are a bunch of people who will help him out. And I’m like, no one has made fun of him for it. I actually had to move my seat in math so he could so he could properly read without having to strain his neck. And I was perfectly okay with that because I may not want to help out. I’m not the kind of person that would discriminate only because he’s in a wheelchair.
Speaker 4: 00:27:34 See and that’s nice and that’s exactly how society should work. And now you should, you should treat everyone the way that you want to be treated regardless of of age or religion or race or you know, physical attributes. Everyone should be treated the same.
Speaker 6: 00:27:53 Yeah. And this kind of goes along with the thing I’m doing in ELA, we’re trying to find the theme of a story called the tale of the Mandarin dog. And the main thing is either don’t judge a book by its cover or treat others the way you want to be treated. That’s like the two main themes we’ve come up with.
Speaker 4: 00:28:10 And I think that’s a great lesson to learn. I think I’m glad to see the schools are teaching this type of philosophy.
Speaker 6: 00:28:15 Yeah. And I’ve heard it and this isn’t the first time I’ve heard it. I’ve heard it like a bunch of times.
Speaker 4: 00:28:19 Good. So we’ll take a little break. The one, the one last one I did want to touch on here is religious discrimination. Being of the Jewish faith. You’re a minority in your school. I’m sure you could probably count the number of Jewish kids in your school and one or two hands. So a lot of times religion has been used. I mean, you, you see nine 11, okay. Nine, 11 was a religious attack. And it’s not just Muslims. You know, we have people now in China where the communist government in China is cracking down on a Muslim minority group in China. You have people in the middle East, in Syria now who are being attacked as a result of religious beliefs. And you go all the way back to GS, the crusades, you know, we’re Christians, we’re slaughtering Muslims just because they had different belief systems. You go further back than that. And the oppression that the the Jews had under Egypt and Mesopotamian and numerous other groups. So religion has probably been the number one cause for death and violence in the history of mankind, which is really unfortunate.
Speaker 8: 00:29:42 And going back to an even bigger event, that is one of the most known religious and technically what they considered race racist attacks that we’ve ever known the Holocaust. Absolutely. Like that’s one of the biggest things that ever happened and that’s exactly what we don’t want to happen again. Like I think around, like if I’m remembering correctly, around 11 million people died during the Holocaust, six, 6,000 of them being Jews, 6 million around other of them being Jewish and like you have people like Hitler. He like, he not only hated the Jews but he also hated disabled people. Gypsies, homosexuals. Like, yeah, that was one of them.
Speaker 4: 00:30:39 Hitler was the epitome of what is classified today as white superiority. Even, even going further than that, it was what he was termed as Arion superiority.
Speaker 8: 00:30:51 I know, but like apparently his area and race was blonde hair and blue eyes. But the ironic thing is he had Brown hair and Brown eyes. Right. Like if you’re going to have an Aerion race, you’re not even part of it.
Speaker 4: 00:31:10 Yeah. He was the epitome of a hypocrite when it came to do as I say, not as I do. But yeah, I mean Hitler pretty much went after everybody. If you didn’t meet his ideal standard then you didn’t deserve to live. Yeah. And that’s a very dangerous and very small minded approach to things.
Speaker 8: 00:31:30 Yeah. Like I think that is like the Holocaust is definitely something we don’t want to have happen again, which is why we have to work on it. Like the Holocaust is a good example of what discrimination can lead to, like it can lead to death war and like just over overall like genocide. Absolutely. That’s, and we got like basically because of the Holocaust, we got a word for discrimination against Jews. We have, we have the symbol of the Nazis. Like even though they’re no longer around anymore, there’s still remembered. Like this is definitely one event which should not be forgotten.
Speaker 4: 00:32:17 Well, and that’s one of the things, even in today’s volatile political climate that people are concerned about because you see the rise of of Neo Nazi as you see the rise of white supremacy. And you see leaders in our government at this point in time who aren’t stopping. I mean to the point of even making statements to the effect of they’re decent people or good people which it’s simply praise on that hatred and the world. The last thing the world needs is more hatred and that’s really all that discrimination is based on. So we’ll come back, we’ll talk about some of the negative impacts of discrimination.
Speaker 4: 00:33:11 So there are emotional and physical impacts to discrimination. And this is looking at it from the victims perspective. So the victim may feel anxious, sad, guilt. They may feel empty or depressed. They may not have an interest in doing the tasks that they enjoy. They might have digestive issues or physical ailments from, from being discriminated against. And there may be physical injury and violence against individuals. And these are just some of the things that happen to victims of discrimination and some of these things are, are directly inflicted on the individuals and some of them, like the emotional stress are indirectly, like for instance, you’re not subjected to this, but let’s say for a moment that there were kids at school who didn’t like the fact that you were Jewish and every day you went to school, you knew there was a chance that they would make fun of you, they’d confront you with it or they’d harass you with it. How do you think that would make you feel every day?
Speaker 8: 00:34:30 Well, if it was continuous, I would definitely, I would definitely feel as though like for a moment until I got my thoughts together, I would definitely feel like they would just complete, they just didn’t want me there. I just would feel like they didn’t want me to exist. Like I’m in sixth grade. I felt like I was invisible on, not because of real discrimination, only because I wasn’t really that confident. And I think I might have felt that same and vis that same feeling of invisibleness, but I would also feel basically just discrimination towards me. And I’d probably think back to like the Holocaust when the Jews were completely discriminated and I’d fear of it was going to happen again. But then I’d have to remember that I shouldn’t let other people make me feel that way. And even though like at that point, it’s really hard to not think about what people think about, like at that point it just gets really hard.
Speaker 4: 00:35:40 Yeah. And, and some of the things that you talked about are, are things that kids face every day. I mean, you have racial discrimination is a huge issue that people have today. And it goes a lot of times beyond that mental aspect of things. Take for instance the example that I just gave you, but instead of making fun of you, they were physically assaulting you or pushing you or hitting you in the hallway or quartering you in the bathroom and hitting you or stealing your lunch. You know, th at that point in time it takes that emotional toll even further because now you’re in fear for your own safety. And there’s a lot of people that face those situations on an, on a daily basis, even to this day. And nobody should have to face.
Speaker 8: 00:36:30 Yeah, no one should like that can only lead to like, that can only lead to negative. Like with that, that can only lead to negative thoughts and a closer way to depression and eventually a loss of wanting to live basically. Like, I’m pretty sure like discrimination is like one of the main factors that comes into play when kids don’t want to live anymore.
Speaker 4: 00:36:56 Yeah. And you’re right, a lot of times discrimination and the bullying that comes from discrimination leads kids to a certain sense of dread and hopelessness that ultimately can lead to suicide. Which is why people need to be very mindful of it because it’s something that gets out of hand very quickly. And, and a lot of times there is what’s called the mob mentality where one person starts and the people that look up to that person want to fit in with that person. So they start doing it themselves.
Speaker 8: 00:37:33 And that just goes into the problem of popularity. We’ve gone over this a couple of times and we’ve discussed that popularity doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. Like sure the person might look good and they might be, they might seem cool and have the greatest trends, but that doesn’t mean they’re a person that’s worth looking for. Like if they’re trying to harm someone else, if they don’t even have like if they’re not, if they’re not nice, like that’s the problem with popularity that I see like, like I see kids obsessing over like the kids who like seem to have everything. They are rich, they have the newest trends, they have lots of friends like, but they have no good educational standards. They can’t really do anything. And, and worst of all, they are just, they hate towards others who don’t seem to look up to their standards.
Speaker 4: 00:38:30 Right. And no matter how much money you have, it doesn’t solve the fact that you’re probably in those circumstances morally bankrupt.
Speaker 8: 00:38:38 Yeah. The like you may have real money, but that doesn’t mean you actually have good qualities for yourself. Like I like some people, not everyone. Definitely not everyone, but there are certain people who think they are better than others only because they have more money than others. And like, I just want to say that’s kind of stupid cause like people who were spoiled as children eventually turn up into those people who ended up being mean. Others think that they’re better than everyone else and will eventually end up washing your car and well, French will end up watching the people’s car that they were mean to because the, because they didn’t take the time to take care of their educational standards, all they wanted to do was bully and they just basically didn’t do anything useful and thought they would just have everything.
Speaker 4: 00:39:33 Okay. And argue with that. Yeah. So the other consequences or negative consequence that we see affects a couple of things. So it affects the social as social educational and financial impacts. So what you said as a great transition. So some of the things that come out of that, our victim may feel confused or broken. Victims may lose trust in other people. In some cases, victims may turn to drugs to escape the abuse. Some victims may start avoiding, people may feel hatred towards other people. So you’re becoming that which made you what you are and it may lead to victims losing their jobs or losing interests in their studies. So ultimately what could happen through discrimination and bullying is that the bullies and those discriminating against you change you as an individual and they change you for the worse and you lose interest in the things that you enjoy and you stop studying and going to school and you try to, you will avoid the situations that expose you to these people. And ultimately it’s a negative impact on you.
Speaker 8: 00:40:52 Yeah. And that’s like, that sounds similar to like those friends who are peer pressure to do things that you don’t want to do. It sounds sort of similar to that, but it has even more of a negative effect. Like they’re like, they’re not pure person unit change. They’re, they’re like making you feel down and that ultimately makes you change who you are, what you do and how you feel. And that overall is like one of the worst parts of it. Like they could eventually start discriminating other people because they just can’t handle the fact that they’re being discriminated, which will eventually lead into having more people who are, who will become these bullies and they’ll eventually discriminate on other people. And it’s just a chain line of affects,
Speaker 4: 00:41:46 Right? It’s a cycle. And at some point in time, if society is going to step above this, you know, primitive, animalistic instinct to try to dominate others, that cycle has to be broken and somebody has to do it. And, and there have been a lot of standup people in history who have tried to do that. You know, you see examples like a Martin Luther King Mahatma Gandhi. You see people all through history who have decided that they’re not gonna just stand by and, and let it happen. And we need more people like that. Our leaders need to be those people. Yeah. So hopefully in the future that will get better for us. Yeah. So I’d like to get back come back in a, in a second and we’ll talk about some statistics that are kind of eye opening statistics on discrimination. Okay. So these numbers come from an NPR national public radio and Robert Wood Johnson foundation study called discrimination in America. Final summary. And there’s a couple of different categories here. So the first one we have is the percent of each group that believed discriminate gait discrimination against their group exists in America today. And these are broken down by ethnicity, discrimination and gender discrimination. Okay. So when we look at this, we see the number one group that thinks there’s discrimination. What do you think that would be?
Speaker 8: 00:43:32 I think either the Asians or the Jews.
Speaker 4: 00:43:38 It was actually African Americans. So African-Americans came in, 92% of those polled felt there was discrimination. Wow. Latino or Hispanic came in next at 78%. Native Americans at 75 and Asian-Americans at 61% Caucasian Americans only 55. Oh. So, and I think that is kind of what the societal perception is. The next is gender or sexual orientation. So your choices are male, female, or LGBTQ. Who do you think feels experiences the most? Discrimination?
Speaker 8: 00:44:20 Probably the LGBTQ community. 90%
Speaker 4: 00:44:25 Women came in at 68 men at 44. Yeah. Not surprised. I don’t know what 44% Americans feel like they’re being discriminated against.
Speaker 8: 00:44:33 Why would men feel discriminated? Like,
Speaker 4: 00:44:37 Yeah, there is. And, and I will, I’m not going to defend anyone in this case here, but there is reverse discrimination at times. And I have to give the benefit of doubt to those 44% to think that they may have come from a reverse discrimination. I probably think the vast majority of those 44% aren’t actually being discriminated against, nor do they probably even understand what discrimination really is.
Speaker 8: 00:45:07 I mean, I can like, I can definitely understand the LGBTQ community and women, but I can understand man at all. Like how is that even possible? Like, man, we’re basically the main people in society. Like during the time where there was this segregation, like men got pretty much everything. They got to do whatever they really wanted. And though technically white women are the non-colored women, they were basically Housewives. They weren’t allowed to do it. Right.
Speaker 4: 00:45:43 Well even the colored women or two women themselves were discriminated against regardless of race.
Speaker 8: 00:45:50 Yeah. Like regardless of their race, women were discriminated back then, but men like,
Speaker 4: 00:45:55 But even now you have, you know, the concept of white privilege. When people say that it usually means white male privilege, you know, the constitution says, you know, we the people. Yeah. What it really meant was we, the white men who are landowners
Speaker 8: 00:46:13 And like I know one of the laws one of the things it’s said, like we, like we, all men are equal. And for me that’s just like complete sexism. Like in our, in our, like in the things we’re supposed to be abiding by. Like you would just put that out like,
Speaker 4: 00:46:38 But we won’t dwell on that. We’ll move on to the next statistic. Sorry. The next statistic is percent of each group that believe they have been unfairly stopped by police. So these are specific incidents. So again, we’ll go with ethnicity. So you have Caucasian, American, African American, Latino and Hispanic, native American or Asian Americans. Who do you think feels they’ve been unfairly stopped the most African-American 60% this is a lot of where the black lives matter came from. Okay. what I thought was interesting was the second group that felt that way was native Americans at 32% and Latino Hispanic coming in at 27 Asians at 12 and then Caucasian Americans at six. So those kind of surprised me. No way. Apply the same question to gender. Who do you think feels they’d been stopped most by the police? Unfairly male, female or LGBTQ? I know it’s definitely not. Now I can tell that for a fact. No, wait, it’s actually, no it’s not. Oh, okay. Gut. Who do you think is number one?
Speaker 7: 00:47:50 Yeah,
Speaker 4: 00:47:52 It’s LGBTQ. Yeah. Now the interesting thing is here, when you’re stomped by a police officer and you’re African American, there is a visual trigger there. If you’re LGBTQ, there’s not always a trigger. So it might be a perception issue. For men. You know, sometimes men bring it on themselves because of the way they drive or what they drive. Women are 12% so women don’t feel as though they’re being oppressed because of that. Oh, that’s good. That is, that is good. So the next statistic that we have is the percent of each group who have avoided calling the police when in need due to a concern that they’d be discriminated against. So this is a lack of trust in police here. Ethnicity. Who do you think is number one African Americans, African Americans. This is what society has done at this point in time. Yeah. So society has discriminated against African Americans to the point that they don’t trust the police in off to call when they’re in need of help.
Speaker 4: 00:49:03 That’s a real crime on society. Native Americans at 22 Latinos at 17 Asians at eight and Caucasians at two. Ah, same thing for gender. Now gender, they split it up. So you have male, female, LGBT, Q, Caucasian and LGBTQ of color of minority. Who do you think was the number one group there? Who doesn’t trust the police? Oh, GBTQ of color. Yeah. 30%. 30% and then female at nine males at eight and then LGBTQ, Caucasians at five. I didn’t either. So that’s some very interesting. And, and, and what you’re seeing, what those numbers is, what society is doing to us as individuals and it’s eroding that trust that people have in the authority that Serta to protect them. So we’ll come back and we’ll talk about real quick, some of the effective ways to overcome discrimination.
Speaker 7: 00:50:11 Alrighty.
Speaker 4: 00:50:17 So celebrate our diversity. Being different is what makes us unique and splash us by special. It doesn’t help us speak, apparently embracing all of the differences that everyone has as a whole makes us more than we can achieve as individuals. Number one lesson to be learned from this podcast. Embrace your beauty and strength. So it’s embrace everybody who is different. But you have to love yourself too. Yeah. You don’t love yourself. You can’t love and accept other people.
Speaker 8: 00:50:50 Yeah, I can definitely see that. Cause like if you don’t really love yourself, you can’t really show that compassion towards others because the first step is to really love yourself because if you don’t love yourself then you’ll end up just feel job. Just not really caring about others. Like if you don’t like, I know there are some people who say they love themselves but also tried to bully other people, but there are people who do it peacefully. Like there’s a way of doing it peacefully and a way of doing it non peacefully. Like if you just love yourself because you think you’re perfect and everything, then you’re going to lead into the bullying state and the eventual discrimination state. While if you think of it like think about your positives and negatives. Like, think about the things you’re good at, things about. Think about the things you’re bad at or think about. Ways you can fix them and think about just like what makes you good as a person. It’ll help you find the good value. It’ll help you with finding good values and others.
Speaker 4: 00:51:57 That’s very good. And that leads into the next couple of points that we have here is take good care of yourself and learn to cope. One of the best ways you can fight discrimination is by taking good care of yourself. Your survival is not just important, it’s an act of revolution against those who would discriminate against you. Stand up for yourself, let others know how their words and actions have affected you. And those you care about. Fight for your rights. In order to effect change, people need to be made aware that the problem exists.
Speaker 8: 00:52:31 Yeah. So I can see two different ways. If you were to stand up for yourself and one way it would go in the positive way and one it would go the negative for the positive. When you would try to say when you would S if you said a peacefully, both times. So when you say peacefully in the positive aspect, it could potentially stop them or less sin or less than progressively, whereas the bad effect that people wouldn’t care. Like at that point you’ve definitely proven you are not a good member of society. Like if you don’t take the time to listen to people or know that you’ve been causing people trouble and you’ve decided not to do anything about it or maybe even a worse than the problem, that just makes you a pretty bad member of society anyway.
Speaker 4: 00:53:16 And that brings us to the next point is strategize and know the consequences before you act. There truly is a for daring and a time for caution. And an intelligent person knows the difference. Weigh the costs and benefits and decide for yourself what you’re able and willing to do. Take stock of yourself, capitalizing on your strengths and put a plan in motion to compensate for your weaknesses. Know your limitations.
Speaker 8: 00:53:44 Yeah. So I just wanted to quickly throw out an example of that. Like we’ve talked in the peer pressure podcast people telling you to use drugs. Well yeah, use the two different perspectives. Drugs are dangerous and would you do it? Like you have to put all that in your mind that people who don’t do that are the ones that eventually get addicted to it. The people who do are the people that say no and finally get it up. The fake friends,
Speaker 4: 00:54:16 Very good. And the last point that they have is reach out and organize. Don’t go it alone. People really are stronger and safer when they stand together. Mobilize your friends, family and coworkers. We’re stronger when we stand together, share our stories and make our voices heard. Uniting with others who face a similar situation as you do can help you obtain the resources and social support you need to survive. You can even give you a base to mobilize should you decide to organize and fight for your rights. So a lot of it is know who you are, fortify yourself and don’t be afraid to stick up for others.
Speaker 8: 00:55:00 Yeah, like I can definitely say that like, no, no. Your strengths and weaknesses is definitely a good part of knowing yourself, but also be thankful for your strengths. And even though you may have weaknesses, don’t let them drag you down. If you think too much about your weaknesses or you just, or people find people find out about it, they can find your weaknesses and use it against you and that. And, and if you don’t overcome your weaknesses or don’t think about them or think about them too much, that’s just leading you harder into it. And if you stick up for other people, it shows the fact that you care about other people. And if you don’t let other people bother you, it’ll show that you won’t let other people drag you down.
Speaker 4: 00:55:51 And I just wanted to bring it full circle with what we had talked about at the beginning of the podcast about my gaming group. And that is celebrate our diversity. Our diversity is what makes us stronger. It doesn’t make us weaker. It doesn’t tear society apart. What does that is the hatred of discrimination. Yeah, we are all better when I know about you and your society. And your culture. And when I know more about culture, everyone’s culture and ethnic background and religion has something constructive to lend to society. Yeah. And we can only experience that when we embrace that diversity.
Speaker 8: 00:56:38 And I just wanted to go on one thing. I remember we had this when I was in my elementary school, we had this one assembly where it was this man who was born with out with only two fingers on one hand. And like he talked about how people would judge him for how he looked. And that’s like also a problem like first impressions. Like when you see someone who looks different, you immediately freak out. And some people resort to bullying or just acting like they’re freaks. But after we got to know that the man who was doing it, he was a really funny guy. Like that definitely taught us like don’t judge people with first impression, get to know them and you’ll see that they’re actually a pretty good person. Don’t judge what’s on the outside judge, which on the inside,
Speaker 4: 00:57:34 Right. And don’t be afraid of something that you don’t understand. Ignorance should not govern your actions if you don’t understand something. Educate yourself.
Speaker 8: 00:57:45 Yeah. And I just wanted to quickly say like how judging someone based on their appearance can affect them. And then I’ll go into an example afterwards so someone could look beautiful and just overall nice looking, but they could be like completely bitter and terrible on the inside. Whereas someone could look completely different and not appealing the look yet. But they could also be a really sweet kind of person and they’ll be super funny as well.
Speaker 4: 00:58:17 As long as he stopped hitting the microphone, they should be
Speaker 8: 00:58:20 Okay. And I just wanted to do this one example that happened to me on my third day of school when we had our substitute teacher for science. He was trying to guess whose name belonged to who and when it came to an like he got every single one wrong. And it was basically a lesson on why you shouldn’t guess people based on their appearance. Like he went to, I remember he went to me and he he thought that the name Madison was basically like the sweet kind of smart girl. And that’s kind of me somewhat. And like there was another Madison and he said she looked like a Madison, but when he turned to me he said, I didn’t look like a Madison because I think I was actually wearing this exact Cody as well. So I basically had my dyed hair wore a hoodie and didn’t exactly look like the sweet kind of Madison yet. I’m basically Madison. Yeah. Like that’s why you shouldn’t judge people based on the appearance I am this week kind of Madison, but I don’t like to wear like fancy clothes. I prefer my ideal outfit as a hoodie and jeans or shorts with sneakers. Yeah. And the reason I dye my hair is only because I think it looks cool.
Speaker 4: 00:59:38 Okay. It’s your self expression and there’s nothing wrong with it.
Speaker 8: 00:59:41 Yeah. And like I, I can tell there are some people who like, there is some people who discriminate people on why they should look a certain way. I’m like
Speaker 8: 00:59:58 Like if you think like someone who is, if I think I’ve seen this sometimes, like some people might think this, like those kind of depressed people, they would wear all black, have black hair and just be antisocial. But like, that’s not all depressed people like Chris who I mentioned earlier, who I, the kid I mentioned earlier he is sort of depressed, but he doesn’t wear all black. He doesn’t have like hair. He’s just, he’s not always
Speaker 4: 01:00:32 Talking about stereotypes in this case.
Speaker 8: 01:00:34 Like there are stereotypes. Yes.
Speaker 4: 01:00:36 Yeah. And, and don’t stereotype people
Speaker 8: 01:00:39 Exactly. Like that’s what I’m basically trying to put out there in this way. Don’t stereotype.
Speaker 4: 01:00:46 Right. That’s always bad. So I think that’s all that I had today. We’ll come back if they’re the quick intermission. And have you finished up with your final thoughts? If you have any left because you’ve given us a lot. Yeah. And any shout outs that you might have? Awesome.
Speaker 7: 01:01:08 Okay.
Speaker 4: 01:01:10 To you for final thoughts and shadow.
Speaker 8: 01:01:12 Okay. So I’ve put things in perspective with different things. So I’m going to put this perspective of people who have been discriminated and the people who do discriminate. So I’ll go with the people who are discriminated first. So if you are being discriminated for whatever reason, your sex, your race, your religion or any other way, even your age, just know that you shouldn’t let the people get to you. Yes, it will be hard to do that. I’ve definitely tried to learn to not let other people get to me and I’ve definitely have to say it is hard, but the main thing I normally like to do is you just ignore them. Like if the people are annoying you would just words just ignore them. But if they are physically trying to hurt you because of who you are, you should definitely go and seek help from someone who will offer it to you. That’s definitely a turning point. Like if they start with vis physical violence, then you should definitely seek help. But if it’s just verbal abuse, you should definitely make sure to tell an adult. But you can also use it yourself. It’s not as dangerous as, I mean, it’s still dangerous, but it’s not as dangerous as physical violence. And to those people who do discriminate, just know that
Speaker 9: 01:02:31 You should know where you live. Oh my God. No, no. You literally scared me. Do not do that. No, no, no. I’m not putting that message.
Speaker 8: 01:02:40 Don’t know this guy. And you. So for those people who do discriminate, people I send people too many times didn’t die. Okay. commission for those who do discriminate, others just know you’ve got the wrong idea. As I mentioned earlier with some of the type of people, you don’t want to be the person who’s stereotyped or discriminated people. If you even do any type of physical violence to others, that’s a crime in itself. But like, if you’re physically, if you’re a verbally abusing someone that’s also a crime and you shouldn’t be doing that. You have to put, you basically have to put yours. It’s basically putting your feet in my shoes. Whatever the saying is. I don’t remember sir. It’s like put your perspective and other’s perspective. Like, what if you were the person being discriminated for your race, gender, et cetera, how would you feel and what would you do about it? Which is why you definitely should not discriminate because as you mentioned earlier, it can have very negative effects on other people. And yes, I know some other people who do discriminate don’t really care about that, but you just have to know what if it happens to you. And I think that’s the main idea of basically don’t stereotype, don’t discriminate and hopefully we’ll eventually in society will become a nondiscriminatory or stereotypic society
Speaker 9: 01:04:19 And hopefully it will evolve to that point sooner rather than later. Yeah, that’d be good. So shout out, so you shot now through today.
Speaker 8: 01:04:25 I’ll give a shout out to my friend Chris. Chris is in my science class and I know he, he is in my lunch period. He he is trans and he has ND as I mentioned earlier, he has been going through discrimination and I really feel bad for him. Like he’s being discriminated because one he is depressed too. He’s trans and three, technically he’s lesbian. It’s hard to say that. Okay. But, and like I’ve gotten to know him, I bet. And he is a talented artist and he’s definitely funny and which is why you definitely shouldn’t stereotype on people. Like that’s just a crime in itself.
Speaker 4: 01:05:19 Right. All right. I think that just about does it for this week. Awesome. check out the podcast will be up available online on YouTube on Monday email@example.com slash insights in a things you can check out the audio version available at the same time on podcast. I didn’t say it’s in the teens.com where you can hit us up on Facebook at facebook.com/insights into things podcast
Speaker 8: 01:05:54 And don’t forget to check out our other podcasts,
Speaker 4: 01:05:57 Which are,
Speaker 8: 01:05:58 Which our insights in the entertainment and our newest one insights into the,
Speaker 4: 01:06:04 Yeah, that’s correct. You can also email us your comments and insights into things.com. We’ll be back next week with another great podcast. Thanks a lot. Everyone.
- Insights Into Teens: Episode 37 “Diversity and Discrimination”
- My creative and artistic co-host Madison Whalen
- What is Diversity and
- Teen Talk Canada
- “Diversity” refers to the
ways that we all are different from one another. Some differences can
be our gender, sexuality,
ethnicity or culture, religion or spirituality, family, how much
money we have (our social standing), age, body size, and ability. We
believe diversity (all the things that make us different) should be
appreciated and celebrated! Loving differences starts with being
curious and open-minded when someone seems different from us.
- Discrimination is when
people treat others badly because they are different from them in some
way. A form of discrimination called oppression is often used to take
power away from an individual or a group of people. It can be hard if
we experience discrimination, but there are supports and ways of
resisting. Learn more about discrimination, supports and ways of
- “Diversity” refers to the ways that we all are different from one another. Some differences can be our gender, sexuality, ethnicity or culture, religion or spirituality, family, how much money we have (our social standing), age, body size, and ability. We believe diversity (all the things that make us different) should be appreciated and celebrated! Loving differences starts with being curious and open-minded when someone seems different from us.
- Common Types of
- Racism is the belief in the superiority of one race over another. It may also include prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different race or ethnicity, or the belief that members of different races or ethnicities should be treated differently. Modern variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities.
- Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls. It has been linked to stereotypes and gender roles, and may include the belief that one sex or gender is intrinsically superior to another. Extreme sexism may foster sexual harassment, rape, and other forms of sexual violence. Gender discrimination may encompass sexism, and is discrimination toward people based on their gender identity or their gender or sex differences. Gender discrimination is especially defined in terms of workplace inequality.
- Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT). It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear and ignorance, and is often related to religious beliefs.
- Ageism is stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. This may be casual or systematic. The term was coined in 1969 to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. “Ageism” as a combination of three connected elements. Among them were prejudicial attitudes towards older people, old age, and the aging process; discriminatory practices against older people; and institutional practices and policies that perpetuate stereotypes about elderly people.
- Other types of
discrimination show similar levels of contempt, exclusions and
hostility towards individuals who are overweight (Fat Phobia or Body
Shaming), individuals with disabilities or physical limitations
(ableism), and individuals of a different system of beliefs (religious
- Other types of discrimination show similar levels of contempt, exclusions and hostility towards individuals who are overweight (Fat Phobia or Body Shaming), individuals with disabilities or physical limitations (ableism), and individuals of a different system of beliefs (religious discrimination)
- Negative Impact of
- Emotional and physical
- The victim may feel anxious, sad, guilt, empty or depressed
- They may not have an interest in doing the tasks they enjoy doing
- Digestive issues could arise that cause other physical issues
- Physical injury if an
incident gets violent
- Social, educational and
- A victim may feel confused and broken.
- Victims may lose trust in the people
- In some cases victims may turn to drugs to escape the abuse
- Victims may start avoiding people or may feel hatred towards people.
- It may lead victims to
lose their job or lose interest in their studies.
- Emotional and physical impacts
- Statistics on Discrimination
- Discrimination in America: Final Summary
- NPR/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation/Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health
- Percent of each group that
believe discrimination against their group exists in America today
- Caucasian American – 55%
- African American – 92%
- Latino/Hispanic Americans- 78%
- Native Americans – 75%
- Asian Americans –
- Gender/Sexual Orientation
- Male – 44%
- Female – 68%
- LGBTQ – 90%
- Percent of each group that
believe they have been unfairly stopped by police
- Caucasian American – 6%
- African American – 60%
- Latino/Hispanic Americans- 27%
- Native Americans – 32%
- Asian Americans –
- Gender/Sexual Orientation
- Male – 18%
- Female – 12%
- LGBTQ – 26%
- Percent of each group who
have avoided calling the police when in need due to concern they would
be discriminated against
- Caucasian American – 2%
- African American – 31%
- Latino/Hispanic Americans- 17%
- Native Americans – 22%
- Asian Americans –
- Gender/Sexual Orientation
- Male – 8%
- Female – 9%
- LGBTQ (Caucasian) – 5%
- LGBTG (Of color) –
- Percent of each group that believe discrimination against their group exists in America today
- Effective Ways to Overcome
- Celebrate our Diversity
- Being different is what makes us unique and special. Embracing all of the differences that everyone has as a whole makes us more than we can achieve as individuals. Enjoy the cultural richness you can experience from people of different ethnicities, faiths, philosophies, geographic backgrounds and perspectives on life. Through that diversity we as a community are stronger, more well balanced and worldly. Shutting any of that knowledge and experience out through discrimination robs us of a valuable resource that we can all benefit from.
- Embrace Your Beauty and
- Find ways to embrace and
celebrate your identity—the strength and beauty of you being you. Read
books, talk to people, and go to identity-affirming events. Call upon
trusted friends and relatives, people with a healthy sense of self, for
- Find ways to embrace and celebrate your identity—the strength and beauty of you being you. Read books, talk to people, and go to identity-affirming events. Call upon trusted friends and relatives, people with a healthy sense of self, for support.
- Take Good Care of Yourself
and Learn to Cope.
- One of the best ways you
can fight discrimination is by taking good care of yourself. Your
survival is not just important; it’s an act of revolution. Make your
life revolutionary by exercising, eating healthy, and finding ways to
de-stress every day. Strive to be the best person you can be even if
those around you might not do the same. Embrace yourself, your
personality, your uniqueness and be fully accepting of who you are so
you can do the things that are best for you.
- One of the best ways you can fight discrimination is by taking good care of yourself. Your survival is not just important; it’s an act of revolution. Make your life revolutionary by exercising, eating healthy, and finding ways to de-stress every day. Strive to be the best person you can be even if those around you might not do the same. Embrace yourself, your personality, your uniqueness and be fully accepting of who you are so you can do the things that are best for you.
- Stand Up For Yourself.
- Let others know how their
words and actions have affected you and those you care about. Fight for
your rights. In order to effect change, people need to be made aware
that a problem exists. The more people who can see the real life impact
and injustice of what’s happening, the more we can fight to end
discrimination once and for all.
- Let others know how their words and actions have affected you and those you care about. Fight for your rights. In order to effect change, people need to be made aware that a problem exists. The more people who can see the real life impact and injustice of what’s happening, the more we can fight to end discrimination once and for all.
- Strategize and Know the
Consequences Before You Act.
- There truly is a time for
daring and a time for caution, and an intelligent person knows the
difference. Weigh the costs and benefits and decide for yourself what
you’re able, and willing, to do. Take stock of yourself. Capitalize on
your strengths, and put a plan in motion to compensate for your
weaknesses. Do your best to protect yourself and others and to minimize
risk. Timing is critical. Strategize carefully to achieve maximum
- There truly is a time for daring and a time for caution, and an intelligent person knows the difference. Weigh the costs and benefits and decide for yourself what you’re able, and willing, to do. Take stock of yourself. Capitalize on your strengths, and put a plan in motion to compensate for your weaknesses. Do your best to protect yourself and others and to minimize risk. Timing is critical. Strategize carefully to achieve maximum impact.
- Reach Out and Organize.
- Don’t go it alone. People
really are stronger, and safer, when they stand together. Mobilize your
friends, family, and co-workers. We’re stronger when we stand together,
share our stories, and make our voices heard. Uniting with others who
face a similar situation as you do can help you obtain the resources
and social support you need to survive. They can even give you a base
to mobilize should you decide to organize and fight for your
- Don’t go it alone. People really are stronger, and safer, when they stand together. Mobilize your friends, family, and co-workers. We’re stronger when we stand together, share our stories, and make our voices heard. Uniting with others who face a similar situation as you do can help you obtain the resources and social support you need to survive. They can even give you a base to mobilize should you decide to organize and fight for your rights.
- Celebrate our Diversity
- Closing Remarks and Shout Outs