Injustice in Our Lives

Write about a time in your life when you experienced or observed an injustice. How did it make you feel and how did you react? Now, with some time and hindsight, how would you react to this situation if it happened again? Finally, how does your experience/ observation of injustice connect to other people/ experiences/ structures of injustice? Do a little googling and see what you find!

I experienced injustice as a child a lot. I was always picked on for my hair, my nose, and my ethnicity. It made me feel like I did not matter, and that I was useless. The first couple times I said something, I was always told I was being dramatic and that I needed not to tattle, so I just really shut down. I would in who I am now stand up and say something. I am very bold because I know how it feels to be the one that is being made fun of. One time at work I was working at a Catholic school and I had one student who identified as Muslim, and she was constantly made fun of and called a terrorist. I actually called the police station and we had an officer come in and talk to the girls, (I worked at an all girls school) about how bullying effects their friends and their life. We then changed their author study to the book called Wonder, and we dived deep into the effects of bullying people based on their physical appearance. 

My experience with injustice really helps me to connect with people like Malala Yousafzai. Malala is a young girl from Pakistan who was shot by the Taliban because of her views on education and the fact that she was a female who was Arab and educated. She used her platform to be able to speak to young girls about the value of school and freedom, and is even a Nobel Peace Prize. There is also a Kurdish singer named Helly Luv that I identify with because she uses her music to stand up to the resistance and instill hope.