In this assignment my goal is to bring more awareness to the true hardship of minorities in the face of discrimination. In order to clearly articulate to the reader how the lives of these individuals are continuously impacted I plan to incorporate quotes from individuals who were discriminated from a position or a classroom based on their race, gender r disability. In my assignment I plan to answer the question “what happens when a minority is discriminated against in a classroom or workplace and whether they are able to succeed despite their hardship”. We conduct so much research on diversity and inclusion yet we have yet to read first hands account of individuals being degraded by the system in place. In order to truly understand my research and the injustice being faced daily we must hear first hand accounts of those who have experienced it.
In my research it has been depicted the individuals who experience racial discrimination in terms of class placement sometimes fall behind and end up dropping out of school. The action of one individual profiling a minority student as unable to succeed can make or break this child at such a young age. The actions of careless individuals can ruin the lives of the student and anyone who has ever been treated differently because of the way they look. It is important to me that we hear these stories and understand what happens to an individual when they aren’t able to accomplish things beach of the way the system is built. I want to understand what type of lasting effect can this have on someone life.
Every summer I work at a summer camp as a lifeguard with a bunch of other high school/college aged kids. However I am the only minority on my team and the only member of my race. I sometimes feel self-conscious about being the only person around me and wonder how I can be the only minority working such a prestigious job. Then I realize that not many opportunities are awarded to minorities and although I work there it took many years of practice and hardship. Some people never get the same opportunity and it is unfair that workforces can facilitate such discrimination in their walls. I think it is important to have equal representation within each workplace and I think this piece will help bring attention to that.
I have mainly been focusing on the experiences of school children and work offices. These locations exhibit the most discrimination and they have countless stories of either bias or inclusion within their different programs. I will of course be using Syracuse libraries and I hope to also incorporate the experiences of college aged students or individuals similar in age .