Disclaimer: this is an opinion piece. The stories within were contributed by friends and acquaintances of the writer.
Imagine this: you’re fourteen, new to this thing we call life when suddenly your rights are taken away.
You have no clue what to do and your parents agree: yes, your rights should be taken away. You’re not allowed to love who you want. You shouldn’t have the same health care as everyone else because you have more melanin. Other human beings are being mass murdered because of their beliefs and your government is doing nothing about it. These “oh so wise adults” choose to lead us but they’re doing nothing for us. They’re breaking this country apart when they should be protecting their citizens.
The truth is, this country is corrupt. It has a biased justice system and we need change. Adults are blind to the damage that the government has caused.
Our government was led by Trump, an ignorant and foolish man. He is racist, misogynistic, homophobic and these adults elected him. How can they expect someone like him to lead such a diverse country?
This man doesn’t believe in climate change. He calls it “mythical”, “nonexistent” and “an expensive hoax” but then he also describes it as a “serious subject” that is “very important” to him. In 2012, he famously said climate change was “created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive” – something he later claimed as a joke.
During his term, there have been a lot of issues concerning POC and healthcare. I’ve had both positive and negative experiences. The negative one was based on race.
When I discovered that I had diabetes, a primary care physician said, “I need to write this prescription for these pills, but you’ll never take them and you’ll probably come back and tell me you’re still eating pig’s feet… Why do I need to write this prescription?”
“I don’t eat pig’s feet.”
My son broke my glasses so I went to get a prescription so I could buy some new ones. When I got there, the optometrist was talking to me as if I was ten years old.
As we were talking, they asked me, “What do you do?”
As soon as they found out what I did professionally, their attitude changed towards me. I don’t know if they walked into the room thinking, “Oh, this poor Indian doesn’t have a clue.” I definitely felt like I was being treated differently.
“Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care” states that “many participants unequivocally believed that the lack of respect health care providers have for them leads to lower quality health care services than people of other ethnicities, especially whites, receive. They spoke of instances where the office staff would not ‘look at them in the eye’ when they spoke to them or greeted other patients with a more pleasant attitude. Others felt a lack of respect when they were rushed during appointments and sensed that providers or their staff did not want to take the time to help them, answer their questions, or explain medical procedures to them.”
Instead of taking the necessary steps to change this, the government chooses to ignore it, just like they chose to disregard what’s going on in China right now.
At the moment, there are millions of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang “re-education camps”. In these camps they are being forced to consume pork and drink alcohol and do all kinds of things they would never normally do. If they disagree with the “re-education”, they are beaten, tortured and killed.
One woman said, “They forcefully took our children away from us and put them up for adoption.”
Another woman said, “They forcefully aborted my child and then sterilized me against my will.”
You must be asking yourself, if this is really happening then why haven’t I heard about it? It’s because the government doesn’t want people to know. Although the US has nothing to do with the torture, they’re not helping which is just as bad as participation. Why are adults allowing this to happen?
The U.S. relies heavily on China to supply low-cost items that allow income-constrained American customers to make ends meet. The U.S. also relies on China to finance its own exports. China is America’s third-largest and by far the fastest-growing global export market next to Mexico and Canada. Because of their greed and prejudice, they are allowing genocide.
I know for a fact that if things were different and younger people ruled this country they’d be helping them, not allowing the nation’s downfall. Our government is too busy twiddling their thumbs to actually do anything.
Instead of worrying about Covid or other more important matters, they’re getting involved with things that don’t have anything to do with them such as sexual identity and preference. Let people love who they want. How is someone’s sexuality affecting them in any way, shape or form? If a person wants to identify themselves with their preferred pronouns, they should respect that.
On April 12, 2019, Trump’s ban on transgender soldiers serving in the military went into effect. This is just more evidence of our government’s corruption. We need change. If this continues, they will ruin us with their ignorance and greed.
Kaylanee Huerta is an activist and advocate for human rights. She aspires to inform and inspire people through her writing and help people in any way she can
Featured Image by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
