How Racism has affected our society.

Racism has impacted humans lives for decades. The most recent incident on George Floyd, an innocent man who was beaten up by police because they misinterpreted what a person said when reporting George Floyd, was horrifying to say the least. It brought out multitude of emotions ranging from fear to anger to uncertainty. This also made me think about my color, something that I have never really given much thought about. My parents were immigrants from India, although their struggles might not have been about racism, but the hardships were nonetheless comparable. Leaving your hometown to come to a place you hope will be filled with new opportunities can be tough. I am a citizen of the United States, I was born and raised here. I come from an immigrant family, I have never really given much thought to who I am until recently where incidents and books shaped my idea of who I am and my place in this society I live. The struggles that immigrant families face is immense. Kelly Yang a world-renowned author, brings to light racism towards Asian communities in her book “Front desk”, with her protagonist Mia Tang, as she takes on a whole lot of struggle to pursue her passion. Kelly Yang’s book has impacted me as a teen knowing that girls younger than me have already acquired jobs to help the family out while managing school and trying to pursue their passions. It shows others are facing a much harder life than me. Mia and I are similar in a lot of ways: I come from a collectivist background, while I am growing up in an individualistic country, since a lot of Americans are mainly individualistic. Mia struggles with this as she needs to give more credit for herself if she wants to be a famous writer, as she pursues her dream in life to become a writer, but she always wants her family’s encouragement, and thrives from it. Kelly Yang has shown the struggles children my age face, she has shown me about barriers you face based on your skin, and that I am lucky even though I may be Asian I never faced such discrimination.

Another author who has shown the hardships of life is Veera Hiranandani. Her main character Nisha is half Muslim half Hindu, this creates some racial barriers when she crosses from Pakistan to New India. This has historically impacted me in multiple ways. I knew that Muslims and Hindus have had racial tensions in India, but its unfathomable that a border change forces someone to flee their home. This level of discrimination is appalling. I am a Hindu girl, my neighbor is Muslim we are very close, this makes me wonder what would happen if I had lived during Nisha’s time and been friends with Maryam (my friend). Nisha’s family went all the way to fleeing Pakistan because of a border change, would I have to end my friendship with her and be looked down by my family if I lived in her time. It makes me wonder how relationships are being mended between Muslims and Hindus now, it also makes me wonder since Nisha is half Muslim half Hindu why did not both places accept her. Why did both places look down on her for her father marrying a Hindu girl and her mother marrying a Hindu boy. Veera Hiranandani has shown the discrimination occurring between two people even though a long time ago the two places used to be connected and everyone used to be friends, in a way this shows how society is going backwards because of racism.

This just makes racism take different shapes and dimensions globally, and the one true solution that can help us move forward is representation of these stories that makes us think a little more about where we come from and who we are. In conclusion racism has impacted humans lives for decades, books have proven that our society is not perfect, one of the main causes of that is racism, the bias we have towards certain people is infuriating. Society is getting better, but it needs to get a lot better a lot quicker. That is why books are great way of presenting information to teens of my generations on the problems of racism. It is about time my generation has the right information and makes informed opinions about race otherwise there is nothing stopping us from becoming a regressive society.