Today was the first time I visited tumblr, also this was the first time I visited that specific hate filled tumblr. As sad as this sounds, I've almost become part of the problem, because I would be lying if I said I've never had a racist thought before, or have been around a discriminating comment and have done nothing about it. Sure, I don't vocalize my own, and I most definitely don't post them on social media sites, but the fact that I've almost become desensitized to racist comments is disgusting to me.
As students at this fine university, we have to learn to become accepting. I'm not calling you guys out on this, but the fact that there is such discrimination happening makes me realize how little people are doing to end it. I didn't even think it was a problem on our campus until I visited that site. I'm glad that the site is around, because it really opens my eyes to the problem, and I'm sure that all of your eyes have been opened as well.
I'm reminded of a speech that Al Pacino made in the movie Any Given Sunday.
Now, the speech at the end doesn't quite correlate as well as I'd like it to, but the first few minutes of the video do. He says that we can "climb out of hell, one inch at a time." I think that's what we're going to have to do. There's not going to be a clear "end" to racism, and discrimination, but it sure can end. There's not going to be one moment in time where discrimination no longer exists, but we can all take "inches" like Pacino says. "The inches we need are everywhere around us--" which means, that there is racism everywhere, but we can be the end of it. The next time you hear a racist comment, or see something posted on Twitter about racism or discrimination, speak up. Tell the person that they're being insensitive, and immature. Tell them we need to move on in the world, because as long as those comments are still being made, equality isn't winning. Discrimination will never end if people keep posting these tweets, or statuses. It's our job, as human beings, to help end this discrimination. It's our job as students to clean up our campus, and make it a safe environment for everybody to be a part of.
Works Cited:
Warner Bros. Pictures, & Stone, O. . (1999). Any Given Sunday [Motion picture]. United States of America: Warner Bros. Studio
Wow. I just got chills. It really is an inch by inch project. We cannot stop it on our own but together all those inches combined can make a significant difference. Even if we just reach out to one person close to us and really impact them and show them that they must be accountable and then they reach out, we could have this whole chain going gaining inches and coming closer to equality and a society that is more filled with love rather than hate.
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