Twins Jada and Justice Chapman
Over the summer, YouthCAST students worked with writing instructor Matt Petras and youth empowerment expert Nathaniel Brown to develop writing about social justice issues. These local middle and high school students wrote about a wide range of topics that emerged as meaningful to them as individuals.
The reason why I want to help get homeless people off the streets is because there are 567,715 homeless people in America. I don’t think there should be people on the streets because it would make them feel like they are not a part of society. It’s also not fair for the children who are out on the street to have to eat from the garbage. During winter, homeless people have to look for a place to stay warm, and they also can’t find a job because they would have no way of getting their way to their job or do not have the proper clothes for it. Sometimes they would have a hard time with other people.
- Jada Chapman
Dahnayl Champine
Why does it matter what shade of color you are? When I choose my friends, it's not because they are black or white. What should matter is if you are smart or kind. People come in all different shades of colors. They should be judged by their intelligence and not because they're different.
I never understood what discrimination was until we had to quarantine. I remember my mom talking about George Floyd getting killed. I felt scared, mad, and afraid. The first thing I did was go to the internet. I wanted to see for myself why my mom was so sad. I saw them kill him because he was black, and I’m black too. I imagined this happening to me. I wondered, if I was walking down the street, would the police kill me for being black?
In conclusion, I don’t know why people discriminate, but I can say it is ugly to have those feelings about people you don’t know. I don’t care if a person is yellow, all that matters is, are they a good friend to me and the people around them. If I am ever discriminated against I don’t know how I would handle it. It's a scary situation. If I speak up, will something happen to me?
- Dahnayl Champine
I feel that social justice is good, and we should keep persevering to put it out there and allow for everyone to be equal no matter their race, political view, disability, or financial status. I feel no matter where you sit on the Earth you are just as equal as anyone. Even if you are at rock bottom financially, you could still skyrocket up as you can’t go down any further and can only go up. If you are in any way a minority and are being targeted, you should fight back and have a voice to tell everyone that you are equal to them even if you seem different to them.
If you look into religion, there are people being killed for what they believe in all around the world. In places such as Pakistan and India, lots of religions are looked down upon and some people are killed. Just recently in India, five Christians have been killed in the span of two months, according to Vatican News. Also, 11 Christians are killed every day for their beliefs. If we would stop discriminating, that would lead to greatness in society. This applies to all minorities. People are killed for what they look like, stand for, and wealth.
Also, women are treated very unfairly. Up until recently, women haven’t been able to do much work wise. Also, women weren’t allowed much until the late 1910’s. The first women were eventually allowed in 1917 to participate in the army and, 2 years later, vote. But, only in the late 1940’s were women permanently allowed to participate in combat.
I asked my mother if being a female has affected her in equality. “No, I wouldn’t say so,” she said. “And I think that any man is equal to any woman. “But everyone is different and goes through different things. I just personally haven’t experienced that in my life.”
However, she did speak to the unfairness women face. “Because women are women we do not have the opportunities a man can have, and I do not agree with it,” she said.
- Jack Whetsell
“As long as I trust in him, I know I’m in good hands,” she said. My grandma is a very religious woman who believes God is always the answer and with that I do not disagree. She also said religions must be respected and protected.
Worldwide, 6.98% of wars are due to religion, according to the Encyclopedia of Wars. In fact, 16 to 31 million people have lost their lives in religious wars. Someone who loses their life due to religious beliefs or rejections are called martyrs. Even sadder, 90,000 Christians die a year. This does not even include all other religions.
Religion has caused a lot of bad things. But it has also caused a lot of good, too. Many different religious believers live in America and many are at peace. This shows that there is still hope for the world. There is hope for injustices to be stamped out regarding races, religions and beliefs, but, most of all, there is hope for humanity.