Everywhere you go you can always count on hearing racist, homophobic, and sexist comments. Whenever I hear these types of comments it enrages me because it’s usually from older white men who have white privilege and don’t get held accountable for what they say. However with school starting back again I have been opening my eyes more to what people are saying and I’ve noticed that the students at my school constantly use derogatory terms in their everyday speech. At my school you can’t walk through the hallways without hearing someone call someone else f*ggot or r*tard. I attend a predominantly white rich kid school and no one ever thinks twice about what is actually coming out of their mouths.
I was recently playing a soccer video game with my younger cousin;I was beating him. Anytime my players scored he yelled at the screen asking his players if they were girls because they were playing so badly. I had to take a double take because here was my cousin who is only 8 years old being sexist and not even realizing it. I asked him if he thought Mia Hamm, Alex Morgan, or Abby Wambach were bad at soccer. He told me no because they’re the best women soccer players ever. I responded asking him if they were girls how were they good at soccer? I could tell a lightbulb turned on in his head. I was relieved to know that my point was carried across to him and I hope that when he thinks of saying something sexist again he’ll remember this conversation we had.
Before summer, I was naively dating a boy who wasn’t very smart. Whenever there was something sad or scary on the news,he would always tell me to “calm down” and “not care about that stuff”. I didn’t understand how he could say that. I asked him where he stood on a bunch of different topics ranging from presidential candidates, feminism, racism, and homophobia. His answers infuriated me. I didn’t understand how he could be against immigration when he was the son of two immigrants! I realized he wasn’t good for me and that he opposed everything I stood for so I broke up with him.
Millennials! This is your wake up call! We are supposed to be the generation that ends racism, homophobia and sexism. If you hear someone making a derogatory comment educate them. Start campaigns at your school that encourage people to think twice about what they say. Join a gay-straight alliance club. At my school there’s a new campaign called Spread The Word To End The Word which tells kids to think twice before calling someone a r*tard. Take a stand millennials, it’s going to be your world soon. How do you want it to be?
