Racial inequality has been part of the world for thousands of years. It has affected millions of people worldwide just because of their race. There have been many protests in response to people being oppressed due to their skin color, something they can’t control. People have been violated, bullied, hurt, and experienced much more just because of a factor in their life that they have no control over. 

Black Lives Matter has been a movement since 2013 and was created as a response to  African Americans being oppressed. According to Pew Research Center, half or more of the people say that being black or Hispanic puts people at a disadvantage in our society which is NOT acceptable. Recent incidents, such as the tragic murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, have opened the public eye. With the efforts of other researchers, reporters, protesters, these reports of racial inequalities in police violence are now being used to motivate the need for major, systemic improvements in how we police communities. 

With Covid-19, the amount of racism towards Asians has spiked worldwide. This racism was especially prevalent in America towards Asian-Americans. According to Forbes, “1 in 4 Americans have seen Asian Americans blamed for the coronavirus pandemic in recent weeks.” This poll was taken promptly after eight people, including six Asian women who were killed in Atlanta. Our Asian American community is being harassed just because people think Coronavirus is their fault. Another statistic according to USA TODAY is that 43% of Americans say a specific organization or group of people is to blame for COVID-19 which is not true. It’s easier to assign blame to a single group of people who are considered to be outside of your culture during periods of great confusion and fear. This is referred to as scapegoating, and it has been a political technique for hundreds of years. Giving a target to a troubled community has always resulted in the dehumanization of the targeted group and a diversion of attention away from policy decisions.

Racial inequality has been a major issue in society and it needs to change. People need to stop using groups of people as scapegoats for the problems happening around them and confront any prejudice they may have towards people from a different background than them. A shift from this racist, backwards mentality is long overdue, and this shift begins with us, the youth! 

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