Social justice — the one thing the world needs now more than ever
Humanity has hit an all-time low. Inequality and violence run rampant. How the hell did we get here? And, most importantly, where do we go from here?
I’ve been meaning to publish this article for a while now but have been putting it off for a while, and then the Capitol riots happened… that was the final straw.
Ever since I was a little kid, I could not fathom why humans could not live in peace with each other, with their environment, and all living things. I guess some may say that I still have the naïveté of a small child, but I truly believe that the world which we have created does not have to be this cold, brutal, unforgiving place. We can live in love and harmony with each other, celebrate our differences instead of being forced to hide them. If that makes me a hippie, so be it — the world needs more open-minded people at this point in time.
The injustices that we have set in place, the acts of violence that we have resorted to, and the blatant disservice that we have been continually doing to our own planet for years give us so many avenues via which we can instigate change. And we must see these social injustices as opportunities for positive change. I know we may seem hopeless as individuals speaking out against these issues, but we must not forget that there is power in numbers.
Easier said than done, I get it. I’ve already felt like losing faith in humanity for quite some time now. But, the time to act is now.
Society’s norms impose inequities among communities and build barriers that pigeonhole people into disparate categories.
How has this happened? Through the creation of binaries that have been plaguing our society for centuries on end. Categorizing people by gender, race, ethnicity, religion, income status have become standards by which we identify ourselves. And yet, isn’t there more to us than our skin color, the language we speak, the financial background we come from, or our political stance? And, at the end of the day, how have those come to determine who we are in this world? What right do we have propagating these narratives that are hurting so many individuals just so we can ‘get ahead’?
Certainly, we’ve become hardwired to believe that certain people merely ‘deserve more than others’. We live in our own egos, completing disregarding the needs of others, who could benefit immensely from our generosity. This has led to the many social injustices we see today, such as:
- climate injustice — leading to the devastation of the very place we call our ‘home,’ the unprecedented extinction of countless of species, the climate refugee crisis, and the loss of life incurred through natural phenomena
- healthcare inequity — leading to the lack of access to necessary medical treatment as well as mental health resources (which are alarmingly scarce due to the stigmatization embedded within mental illness)
- racial injustice — resulting in the mistreatment and discrimination against people of color in all spheres of life — from education, police brutality, media, to everyday life — perhaps, most prominently seen today as systemic racism
- income inequity — causing a rapidly increasing gap among the upper and lower classes, leading to an unjust accumulation of wealth by the top 1%, at the detriment of the poorest members in our society (specifically, those who lack access to food, water, shelter, and medicine)
- gun violence — leading to countless lives lost through mass shootings, homicides, violent protests, riots, and police brutality
Since colonial times, we’ve venerated ‘whiteness,’ subjugated women, normalized heterosexuality, ostracized alien citizens, disregarded the poor, abandoned the elderly, the list goes on. As citizens of the 21st century, it’s about time that we dismantle the harmful, archaic notions of our predecessors and establish just conditions for all of humanity. Enough is enough.
Yet, this type of action cannot happen without acknowledging the history of these social injustices. We can’t sweep the mess we’ve made under the carpet any longer. No. Instead, we must work with those who we’ve been oppressing for centuries on end and hear their story.
Dismantling society’s many outdated paradigms and creating an equitable future cannot occur if we continue to have the white, heterosexual, upper-class male dictating what is to transpire. It is time for those who were silenced for centuries to speak their truth. It is from thence that old ways of thinking can begin to crumble, making way for new paradigms to lead the way.
So, where do we begin? Here’s a list of a few steps you can take to create a more equitable, socially fair future for everyone involved:
- Identify your own biases. Our prejudices are a conglomerate of the environment we grew up in and the experiences we’ve had in our lives. So, it’s important to take a step back, go within, and truly uncover the unconscious biases that have been inside of us for so long. If you’re struggling with this, check out Harvard’s Implicit Association Test. You may find some hidden truths about yourself, you haven’t even considered.
- Listen! Attentive and active listening to individuals who’ve faced social inequities in the past is crucial. We must respect what these people have gone through in order to empathize with their experiences and learn from these stories.
- Seek out more information. Yes, I get it. We’re all busy. We’ve got a million things going on and, perhaps, gathering resources on the inequities facing society are not of our utmost importance. But, how else do we want to learn and make the world a better place? We cannot expect that these problems be solved by those who have suffered the undue consequences of theses issues. This is a team effort. Don’t know where to start? Check out these amazing TED talks to broaden your understanding of the social justice movement.
- Speak out. We hear racist, sexist, and prejudiced remarks (usally in the form of microaggresions) on the daily, yet many of us let these fly under the radar. Yet, this leads to complacency and ambivalence which only works to further the problem.
- Educate others. This is an extension of the previous point. Once you’re aware of the implications of societal issues, don’t keep it to yourself. Find a means to share your newfound knowledge. Start small — simply by sharing with family and friends. Then, build that up. Get involved in social justice groups, support social justice causes, and seek out avenues to reach a larger audience.
The world has become a grossly messed up place — a place where wrongs have become rights, individualism has replaced community, selfishness has replaced kindheartedness, and competition has made us turn against each other in a mindless struggle for power.
Let us not forget, however, that not one of us is better than the other, even though the structures and the people in power have come to reflect that.
At the end of the day, social justice is the only way out.
That’s why fighting for an equal future is not just an option anymore. It’s the humane thing to do.
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