The war on discrimination — what will our grandchildren say about us?
Throughout history, many large scale human tragedies have been sparked by discrimination and hatred based on religion or race. We cannot forget the millions of innocent lives robbed for being Jews during the Holocaust. We cannot forget the unimaginable treatment of black people and slavery in America. We cannot forget the systematic mass murder causing the Armenian genocide in Turkey. Today, we look back on those times through history — and we can’t help but wonder “How was that acceptable?”
But one question runs in my mind over and over again — what will our grandchildren say about us today?
Over the past few weeks, we witnessed a series of horrific, racially driven events across America — the killing of an innocent jogger Ahmaud Arbery by two white men, Breonna Taylor shot 8 times by police in her own apartment, and most recently; the suffocating death of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer that has initiated wide-spread protests across the globe.
More than ever, we are seeing the anger and sorrow that has become the common voice all over the world — “I can’t breathe”.
The very same words uttered by George Floyd a week ago, and Eric Garner, an African-American man who was also choked to death by a police officer in 2014 where the police did not face any criminal charges.
It’s not just America.
Millions of people from minority groups around the world are suffering — it is painful to hear, but we must not be ignorant or it will never end.
In China, innocent Uyghurs are being deported by force and taken to re-education camps where they are living in harsh prison conditions and shuffled into forced labour. One would think that slavery was an unspeakable act of the past. However, modern slavery still exists today, fuelled by religious discrimination.
In India, Delhi riots have become a norm, leading to the deaths of over 46 people of which two thirds were muslim. Certain areas have banned Muslims from entering the vicinity and boycotted Muslim businesses.
Discrimination comes in all shapes and sizes
During the pandemic, we have seen a global rise in anger towards China for lack of transparency — which in effect has fuelled individual hatred towards Chinese (some individuals, not all). I cannot lie and say that I was not scared of what it would mean for me and many others in the Asian community. Although I am Malaysian by birth…by looking Chinese, I fear the impact of racial discrimination that is rising. My parents warned me from travelling to Europe for a while. An Asian friend of mine had profanity shouted at her whilst walking — she was born in Australia.
I can’t help but scream inside — Why does this happen?
People tend to forget, the acts of one individual or party does not represent the nature of an entire group. This is the viscous cycle of stereotyping and discrimination which has time and time again fuelled significant pain and suffering in humanity.
The acts of the Chinese government should not be the representation of an entire race. The brutality of some racist police officers, does not warrant hate and violence towards all police. The acts of one terrorist group should not be a label on all the country’s people. Even in the Holocaust, there were individual Germans such as Gerhard Kurzbach and Oskar Schindler who boldly risked their lives and helped save thousands of Jews.
We need to see people without looking through a lens of bias- to treat everyone as an individual and see them for who they truly are, not who they look like or where they are from. Time and time again we have seen; all it takes is for one, emotion fuelled individual filled with discriminatory bias to create destruction. We cannot forget the mass shooting at a peaceful mosque that happened in New Zealand last year by one man with a deep hatred in his heart.
Will this ever end.
We must not fight hate with more hate (note: It is saddening to see that the violence and looting of some protestors in America right now are hurting more lives than doing good, and is no longer about George Floyd.). I am hopeful for a day our grandchildren or great grandchildren will look back and think “How could they ever have thought religious or racial discrimination was okay”.
I hope this post has raised awareness; perhaps even sparked some people to speak up and take action. Every voice makes a difference.
Here’s some links where you can show support:
Love for people.❤
