Individuality, Acceptance, and Respect: why it's important by Rhyan

Individuality, Acceptance, and Respect: why it's important by Rhyan - November 2018 Scholarship Essay

“We should all consider each other as human beings, and we should respect each other.” -Malala Yousafzai

Speaking from the point of view of my life now, the previously mentioned sentence would be my senior quote because I have a big passion for, individuality. acceptance and respect between every single person on this Earth. Race, class, gender, sexuality, religion and culture contribute to one’s belonging to or isolation from groups in a very evident and apparent way. It’s one’s identity. It’s who you are. So, of course, you’re going to attract or repel people based on your views in relation to theirs. With that being said, excluding someone because of their appearance or belief is unfair, immoral and unethical without getting to know them first. In a society that judges you based on how expansive your social networks appear, loneliness and isolation is difficult to fess up to. Here’s something to think about; “Social isolation impairs immune function and boosts inflammation, which can lead to arthritis, type II diabetes, and heart disease.” (Olien) Social isolation also kills more people than obesity does.
Race is probably the longest standing reason of isolation from groups such as, separate bathrooms, separate schools, rejection from jobs, etc. I identify with being african american/ black so I can personally tell experiences of “my people” from the point of view of others and myself. I personally haven’t experienced severe racial isolation but i have received comments. People tend to tell me “you’re pretty for a dark skinned girl” or “your hair is very beautiful, are you mixed with something?” I don’t believe the comments were meant to be offensive or malicious but they made me think of how people isolate black people and, even more specific, black girls in a small, dark box (no pun intended). A group that, most noticeably, isolates based on race is the police. Hip Hop/ Rap group N.W.A., which included Ice Cube, MC REN, Eazy E, Yella and Dr. Dre, had a very huge response to mistreatment and isolation as a result of being black from police. One of their most notable songs in response to this is “ Fuck tha Police”. The lyrics that address this issue are “A young nigga got it bad cause I'm brown. And not the other color so police think they have the authority to kill a minority.” and “You'd rather see, me in the pen, than me and Lorenzo rolling in a Benz-o”. Rapper, Tupac Shakur also had a response to this issue in a less violent and raging song called “Changes” in which he said “Cops give a damn about a negro. Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero”. He references to how if the police kills a black person he/she is praised for it instead of being isolated in jail as a black person would for the same crime. “It ain't a secret, don't conceal the fact: The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks”. This is also responding to the isolation of being put in jail because of race. In a collective way, all these lyrics refer to the police isolating blacks into jail because of uncontrollable diversity.
Culture is also a very easy target to isolate people, literally and verbally. Donald Trump has recently made very insensitive and derogatory comments on Muslims in America and and around the world by saying "They're not coming to this country if I'm president. And if Obama has brought some to this country they are leaving, they're going, they're gone." He plans on starting an anti-muslim policy to remove any Muslims from the United States and restrict any from entering the U.S. either until “authorities could "figure out" Muslim attitudes to the country, in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shootings.” I don’t have a personal connection to this plan other than, as a human, I feel that that is completely ridiculous and disgusting to enacte. Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani activist for female education and muslim woman, responded to these statements as being "full of hatred" and blaming Muslims for terrorism would only "radicalise more terrorists". Donald Trump’s words have, obviously, gotten a lot of backlash and his response is "We are not talking about isolation, we're talking about security. We're not talking about religion, we're talking about security. Our country is out of control." This is, no doubt, absurd but it is a very open way of isolating a group of people based on their culture.
As many people face exclusion and isolation from groups based on their race, class, sexuality, culture, gender, and religion, we have, in some situations, made progress and, in some, failed to make progress, it is still there. We have to take action to show awareness for exclusion and isolation. We need to, not only, show awareness but show that it is not tolerated and not okay to isolate someone for anything, in reason, that defines them as a person and makes them happy. We can not make those decisions for them. Though, we can, make the decision to not be close to them; do not shame others for their individuality.