Dear American People,
Racism was a titanic problem in the past, it is in the present, and it will be in the future if we don't do something about it. People of unique colors experience racism everyday. Especially in America, we have people from all over the world of different colors and customs.”America The Land Of The Free”,That's how the majority of Americans see it is as. But how can we be free if others are chained to the daily struggle of racism.Today we have all types of people in America; Muslims, Asians, African Americans, And many other types of unique races.
I was two years old when I got a citizenship to come live in America. I moved to America from Pakistan. I didn't know any English whatsoever. But slowly I started to talk in full sentences and have conversations. I did have an accent at first and I was always made fun of it. I started out in the third grade and wasn't the best at making friends. I stood out from the crowd, I was different from the rest. My teacher always included me into the activities we did in hopes that I would make some friends. Bullies were always picking on me, and I couldn't do much about it. I thought that maybe this was the price of living in America. I am now a senior, and still experience racism. As a muslim in America, since I've been treated as an “outsider”, I've gotten used to it. Using the words “terrorist”, “sandni**er”, and other racial slurs are still used to this very day. I've seen my little seven year old brother get bullied at school because he's “different”. When my family and I moved here to America, we had high hopes that it'd be a much better life for us and it would provide us with many new opportunities that we couldn't receive in our homeland. We have considered moving back many times because of the racist situations we've had. My mom suggested we moved back, she didn't like seeing her son's treated differently from the rest. My father agreed. But we decided to give it another chance. Whites have always been above the colored and for the first time in history, colored men and women are changing history for good. Books, blogs, and even speeches have been wrote to get the message of racism across society. One of the most famous books is “Fences” by August Wilson.The main character, Troy, explains how racism affected him and his ancestors. “A Negro go in there and can't get no kind of service. I seen a white fellow come in there and order a bowl of stew. Pope picked all the meat out the pot for him" (1.2.19). This quote shows how inequality affects African Americans, and still in some part of the country, we can still see this. Troy explains how a black man can go inside an establishment and get no service back in the 1960s. But a white man can go inside the establishment and get the best service. Here we see inequality. And inequality is still seen to this day. For example, I’ve witnessed myself that a colored person has to work harder than the average white person to reach the same goal. I’ve worked hard everyday just to not give too much of thoughts to racist comments. My father told me “We get called terrorist’s like it's our name”. And for the first time in my life. I saw how humanity used words or actions to put someone else down to make themselves feel better. Putting someone down for your happiness is not okay at any level. If putting the reputation down of someone else makes you happy, you might need to change yourself for the best.
Sincerely,
Danial Saleem
