The most recent video to have caught social media by storm is one of a man getting escorted off a plane for speaking words in Arabic. What’s more shocking, perhaps, is that the plane was managed by one of the biggest airlines in America, Delta Airlines. As expected, people have responded in conflicting ways: some have been indifferent while others have been supportive to the victim’s cause. In 2016, this is unacceptable. There are so many signs of how crooked the world has been, how crooked the world is, and how crooked the world will be in the near future, yet there are slim to no signs showing people how globalized, multi-cultural, and diverse America has become. It’s a matter beyond politics and ideology; the way in which the United States has grown accustomed to simply denying and putting aside these race-driven acts of hate is unacceptable.

Many Americans, especially in light of the recent election, have grown more vocal and impassioned on their view of illegal immigrants, citing welfare, unemployment, and race-relations among various reasons to enforce stricter immigration policies. It is all too easy to obsess over the political and economic ramifications of immigration policy and overlook these undocumented immigrants as all but a number on a page. These are people. Hard-working, motivated, and genuine people. All immigrants alike came to the United States with the simple hope of living under better conditions compared to where they came from. These people often take up blue-collared work positions, compromising their physical and mental health, all in an effort to preserve that very hope they immigrated to the United States for. But Americans (and here, I’m talking specifically about white Americans) have denied even this, as exemplified by the most recent election, which most scholars cite as a “white-lash.” These immigrants take up work such as construction workers, housekeepers, street cleaners, etc. They might sound lowly and insignificant, but history tells us time and time again that these individuals make up the backbone of our country.

As an Asian-American student, I am more perceptive to the kind of discrimination that pervades our society. I was disappointed especially when such discriminatory remarks have been cast towards the values I treasure so highly. I think this is very disrespectful to people who came from other countries with hopes of being successful to America especially in Southern California, where we see cultural diversity everywhere we go. It is this shift in cultural awareness and understanding that I sincerely hope people can begin to see

<Jisoo Ku JSerra Catholic High 9th Grade>