Reverse Discrimination | Teen Ink

Reverse Discrimination

March 14, 2010
By BroadwayJukebox BRONZE, Vancouver, Washington
BroadwayJukebox BRONZE, Vancouver, Washington
4 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Favorite Quote:
"Don't let sooner than you think become later than you hoped."


I looked at you and smiled. I was raised right. I knew that your skin didn’t effect who you were. I laughed at your jokes. I gave you a hug. But then I said something that you didn’t like. And I saw who you truly were.

You accused me of saying what I believe because I was prejudiced. I say things because I mean them. Not everything is about the fact that you speak Spanish or that my skin allows me to pass for a vampire. And now you turn to your friends, speaking in your tongue so that I don’t understand. I can’t share my opinion without you getting offended. I’ve been the enemy for so long and it’s just never been let go.

Why can’t I belt Lift Every Voice and Sing? I can’t sing about freedom? I haven’t had dark times that I can tell about in song? “But you’ve had freedom all your life, handed to you on a silver platter,” you say. “Let someone of color sing it at the MLK assembly.” Martin Luther King Jr. fought for equality, though. Dear old Dr. King would care if I create glare when a picture is taken with flash. I’m free. And I can rejoice. And who is chosen to stand at the microphone in my stead? A girl of color—who was born in the U.S.A.; who had freedom just as long as I had.

I’m sorry. Could you forgive me for whatever my ancestors have done? I personally haven’t attacked you. Why am I being judged the way you once were. It’s my time to fight for freedom. Freedom from judgment. Because I’m not the enemy here. Our real foe is hate.



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This article has 1 comment.


on Mar. 28 2010 at 7:01 pm
humanity_vs._reason BRONZE, Hayward, California
2 articles 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
Why should I be afraid of falling to the ground if its soil was the very thing that blossomed me?

I understand completely. Yet, remember: there is no such thing as reversed discrimination, because discrimination attacks every ethnicity. Hold your head up high, because you stand on truth, and therefore, you will not be shaken. Our freedom was never free, and you deserve it as much as anyone else, despite the pigment of your skin.