Recently it seems as if there is more discrimination, racism, and overall just more world problems, or, maybe, they are just more easily accessible. Conflict and terror have always been around, we’re just finally bringing it all to light. Older generations such as the Millenials and Gen X may call us “sensitive” but I think Gen Z is particularly socially conscious. Gen Z is bashing all the behavior that was appropriated before we were here.
It’s understandable that older generations don’t want to change how things are because it’s easier to ignore things than to deal with them, but that’s no longer an option. We have to change, we have to stand up for ourselves and the generations that come after us.
“There’s obviously a difference in each generation’s mindsets, a difference in opinion. Things that were okay to say then would get you canceled and bashed on now” says sophomore Mikaela Perez.
Back in the early 1900’s and still sometimes today, there was a lot of appropriation of Indian or Native American people and the exaggeration of their skin color. Specifically in Walt Disney’s Peter Pan, there’s a scene that depicts an Indian group with more embellished bright red skin and were speaking gibberish which is mocking their indigeous languages. People found it to be very offensive and inaccurate. Now when you go to watch the movie on Disney+, there’s a short screen that says something along the lines of this movie contains negative depictions of people or culture and then reassuring that the actions in the movie are wrong and that we should learn from this.
“I’m glad they’ve realized that it was wrong and they’ve learned from it. It’s nice to see them hold themselves accountable” says Henry Rodriguez.
That also applies to schools and teams using a “Redskin” as a mascot such as Dartmouth and the Washington NFL team and they have since then retired the use of that as their mascot.
The reason it was their mascot in the first place was because it was appropriate to describe Native Americans in this racist manner. Back then the world was being ran by the people we now call the older generations and these people grew up in a world where being racist and discriminatory was justified.
I believe that this ends with us, gen Z. Although there are some firm believers amongst us that say racism isnt real and it’s all in our head, the good outweighs the bad. It’s our time to have a say in what happens around the world, they already had their shot. One person at a time we shall take time the educate the uneducated on these global issues. I think by just putting into perspective the amount of people being hurt by these actions could help minimize the amount of people hurting others. At the end of the day, it all comes down to us to help our world become a better place.