Race is an identity that I've been on the wrong side at times. I've been threatened by groups of individuals to get out of a certain area because I was white and didn't belong. Then I come back 2 weeks later to the same place but with a black friend of mine and those same people had no problem with me. Now i'm not ignorant and I know that race equality is definitely and issue when it comes to certain issues but it doesn't exclude any race. Discrimination is something that all races have to endure as it will never fully go away and is based on that individual in position or empowered.
Gender is an identity and i'll give and example on how it is used in my military career up to this point. Women equality is becoming a bigger issue in the military and is currently aiming for opening special forces up to women. A lot of people have an issue with women in special forces, however I do not. I believe it you can meet the standards that are set in place for that course than you should be able to join. However the issue that is coming to light is that majority of women that are entering the special forces course can't pass the physical standards and are lobbying to reduce the standards. This is an issue I have because the physical standards are set for a reason, if a man or woman can't reach it then they shouldn't be accepted.
A non identity I would say I associate with would be being male. Equality for men and women still has a little work to do. An example I would like to bring up is the Men's and Women's US National Soccer Team. The Women's soccer team has filed a wage discrimination lawsuit because although they have brought in nearly $20 million more revenue than the mens soccer team, they have been paid about a 1/4 of what the men have earned. This surprised me because you know discrimination happens at small businesses but when the Nations Sports players are being discriminated against you know we still have some work to do.
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ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting on what you said about discrimination being something that all races have had to deal with. I definitely agree with you. Even though I am not white and have experienced racism in some fashion, I have also seen discrimination towards those who are white in situations where they are the minority like the example you gave above. I feel like it varies from situation to situation and, though it is rare to see discrimination against those in the non-target group, we can't forget that sometimes it does happen.
ReplyDeleteI liked that you talked about race and gender because that's also what I talked about! It's important for people to understand the inequalities that are going on in the world and how they're impacting our society.
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