As the world grasps the rude awakening that this pandemic isn’t going anyway soon, racism, homophobia and xenophobia are alive and kicking, the sooner we can be done with this. Right? Contrary to what we know, some might even say that we were so caught up in doing what we think is right, we forgot what we knew to be right in the first place?
While we can continue to live our lives as though nothing has happened, the reality remains the same. The pandemic has provoked businesses to close up shop, unemployment rates to rise, individuals to be rejected for healthcare treatment based on their color of their skin, nationality, economic status, etc. Unfortunately, these issues are going to keep coming and that will not change unless we do something about it. This ongoing phenomenon continues to spark the conversation of what are we doing wrong and what do we need to do to resolve this?
To create a healthier atmosphere, we must first face the fact that we need to do away with tiptoeing around the problem; ourselves. Whether we know it, we have an unresolved bias about groups of people who are different from us. Rather than pretend these thoughts do not exist, now, we need to be honest and realise that confronting the change within ourselves by opening up about these biased thoughts are instead of staying quiet.
Now, more than ever, we need to be honest with ourselves of how we truly feel about others who are different from us. Do we perceive them as other? Do we think of them as less capable than what we can do? Do we like how we are treated by the majority group? How about the minority group? Why do we get treated a certain way? What are the factors? Do race, class, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, etc., have anything to do with it? Is that okay? Should it be okay?
If you are a member of a certain minority group, you would want change. If you are a member of a majority group, there’s a chance you might know that you are the key to making the change.
However, in the event we are bounded by factors we cannot control, we can only get better at confronting reality through conversation and the act to continue those conversations. Whether these conversations take place for talking with those who are close to you or at the workplace, donations, petitions and more, what matters is that while staying silent was an option, we are making the conscious choice to open up and allow ourselves to be heard and provide the opportunity for others to teach us. Because the longer we hold our feelings to ourselves, the more power it will have over you. We cannot control what happens next in our reality, but what we do right now.
Like a bandaid, we need to rip off our silence what we know to be our weaknesses, our implicit bias and the worst things we know to be true about ourselves. When we do, not only does the opportunity present itself for change to happen, but for us to influence others to change as well.
petiteshark 