Social Justice for Racism

During this week’s module, the issue of social justice was a topic. What is social justice? According to Matthew Robinson, social justice is "... promoting a just society by challenging injustice and valuing diversity." It exists when "all people share a common humanity and therefore have a right to equitable treatment, support for their human rights, and a fair allocation of community resources." This means that no matter your race or ethnicity, we all deserve the same things in life and we all deserve equal opportunity in life. So why are we stuck in an era where even the constitution talks about equality of rights and there are laws against treating people unfairly by discriminating and many more ways. In past modules, the class was posed an important question about whether or not teachers should tell their students about the real story of Columbus. I’m the type of person who would say absolutely. If teachers do not tell the true story about how Columbus treated the Indians unfairly by killing them, injuring them, and taking their land, then they are setting a back example. Students need to know the truth about how Indian tribes were treated horribly. If these discussions were had at a younger age then during middle school and high school, teachers can then go into more important issues and have more in depth conversations about why racism and inequality still exists. I think that racism should absolutely be an issue discussed all through school years. In an article I read from the Institute for the Study of “Race” and Social Justice it says, “Racism is a major factor in determining one's health in our society, as it translates into persistent stress, associated illness and prolonged suffering or premature death. Over the centuries, American Indians, African Americans and Latinos have suffered from severe racism in various forms, and they experience the poorest health status as a result,” I believe that if racism and social justice was talked about in elementary, middle, and high school then racism and these health risks would diminish.

http://healthpolicy.unm.edu/about/initiatives/isrsj

http://gjs.appstate.edu/social-justice-and-human-rights/what-social-justice