Teens today: The ongoing racism in society

Now let me just tell you this. First, the amount of racism that is still happening in this world is unspeakable. The teen world is crazy; we are surrounded by social media platforms that make it so easy for other people to make hateful comments without being identified. We are also in a confined space at school where some people decide it’s ok to say racist things. Now, this isn’t the case everywhere but it’s so common. Is this issue really being addressed?

Adults should know that their sons or daughters could make these hateful remarks, and they should take this very seriously. The adults in schools and communities need to take initiative and do what they can to make sure these teens who are saying these things that it is not ever okay.

So many innocent teens of all different races go out knowing that they will be laughed at or criticized for their ethnicity. For example, I read an Instagram feed about a young black boy who got beat up on his way to school by a group of white teenagers. They yelled racial slurs and claimed that the young boy came at them first, it was all caught on video by multiple of the bystanders.

This was a very eye-opening story for me to read. No kid at these young ages should have to go through situations like this, especially in their growing years. They should feel included and appreciated and they shouldn’t have to go home with this weight of hate and criticism on their shoulders, but unfortunately, that can’t be the case everywhere.

How are we supposed to trust the people that claim to be our mentors if they are racist too? There is so much evidence of this and mostly overlooked because it’s the adult’s word against a teen, which is never fair. For example, there was a situation at a school in Vancouver where a white teacher was involved in breaking up a fight between a black student and an older white student. It was clear in the video and from the comments from the bystanders that the white student started the fight. The black student wasn’t fighting back but just trying to protect himself. When the teacher arrived, he broke them up and didn’t ask any questions but just told the black student to go home, later in the week the student was suspended.

This just shows how serious this issue is and adults need to pay more attention to it because teens struggle with it daily.

Adults may think that I would feel included everywhere, and for me, that is mostly the case. For example, I rarely experience acts of racism towards me in my life, but there have been a few times where I have had encounters. I am a black girl who may be perceived as masculine in the corner of an eye, living in a somewhat expensive part of Vancouver. Once with the police, I was targeted more even though I was clearly not doing anything in the wrong. I have also been told by my parents that when stuff like that happens, I should do what they say because it could be riskier for me as a black person. I will say that I am very blessed to be surrounded by supportive and inclusive people.

I know for a fact that there are so many teens like me and different ethnicities that feel this discrimination towards them. I have heard adults say that teens are being “dramatic” or “overreacting” when others are clearly being racist, this is so upsetting to see and hear because it is a serious thing. And yes, sure some people will exaggerate but adults should still take it seriously.

There have been young black lives lost because of racism. This is an issue that was “trending” for a couple of months, but it's not a trend; it’s a daily issue and it needs to be addressed way more frequently, I mean sure there will always be this controversy in the world but are we really doing what we can to solve it? We can’t do it alone. This world is filled with amazing young people who are being beaten down by all this hate. It’s not fair that teen's voices aren’t heard as much as they should.