Philosophy of Social Justice
Social justice is the process of enlightening someone’s journey to good fortune and health. In other words, social justice helps those in need to achieve their rights in society. The only way someone experiences social justice is by experiencing social injustice. For example, the only reason why people of color in the civil rights era demanded equal rights was due to the fact that they had fewer rights as white Americans. Additionally, people of color earned less pay compared to whites in the same job positions and legally had to give up their seats for white people in buses. As a result, people like Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Rosa Parks rose up in opposition against these conditions that alienated them in society; thus, giving birth to the civil rights movement.
Personally, I have faced social injustice in my life. From those experiences I was able to understand what social justice meant to me. For example, I was bullied from fifth to eighth grade in my elementary school, Eli Whitney. In the fifth grade, I respected everyone in my class, helped them in their class assignments; however, someone didn’t treat me the same. In my physical education class I was talking with one of my friends about some episode of the ‘Power Rangers,’ suddenly I was in the corner of the gymnasium being beaten to a pulp. At first, I was amazed by the fact that none of my classmates intervened even after the bully stopped punching and hitting me with his shoe. This continued for a few minutes until he stopped, sat back into his seat, and acted as if nothing happened. I was afraid if I told the gym teacher the bully might beat me harder the next day. I felt powerless.
In the sixth grade, I was bullied again, but this time by my own friends. It might be due to how I was getting more attention from my teachers for having good grades, while they had lower grades than me. This time, the name calling was far worse. I was called alien and egghead. I felt less than human. Even when I have told my teacher about their name calling obsession, they didn’t do anything to stop it. Overall, I felt dehumanized.
In the seventh grade I became a bully. I was so fed up with being bullied that I bullied one of my own friends by making fun of his German heritage. However, when I have noticed his pain that reflected mine in the past grades full of bullying, I have learned that I had to stop this cycle of suffering. So, I stopped bullying him and to this day, I am friends with him.
With my experience in the fifth to seventh grade, I have learned how to deal with my other bullies in the eighth grade by not giving them power over me by ignoring their name calling and other actions they have done to lower my spirit. From this experience, I have learned what social justice means and that is to treat others equally and to avoid repeating the cycle of oppression in society when those that are oppressed don’t become the villains of tomorrow.
Personally, I have faced social injustice in my life. From those experiences I was able to understand what social justice meant to me. For example, I was bullied from fifth to eighth grade in my elementary school, Eli Whitney. In the fifth grade, I respected everyone in my class, helped them in their class assignments; however, someone didn’t treat me the same. In my physical education class I was talking with one of my friends about some episode of the ‘Power Rangers,’ suddenly I was in the corner of the gymnasium being beaten to a pulp. At first, I was amazed by the fact that none of my classmates intervened even after the bully stopped punching and hitting me with his shoe. This continued for a few minutes until he stopped, sat back into his seat, and acted as if nothing happened. I was afraid if I told the gym teacher the bully might beat me harder the next day. I felt powerless.
In the sixth grade, I was bullied again, but this time by my own friends. It might be due to how I was getting more attention from my teachers for having good grades, while they had lower grades than me. This time, the name calling was far worse. I was called alien and egghead. I felt less than human. Even when I have told my teacher about their name calling obsession, they didn’t do anything to stop it. Overall, I felt dehumanized.
In the seventh grade I became a bully. I was so fed up with being bullied that I bullied one of my own friends by making fun of his German heritage. However, when I have noticed his pain that reflected mine in the past grades full of bullying, I have learned that I had to stop this cycle of suffering. So, I stopped bullying him and to this day, I am friends with him.
With my experience in the fifth to seventh grade, I have learned how to deal with my other bullies in the eighth grade by not giving them power over me by ignoring their name calling and other actions they have done to lower my spirit. From this experience, I have learned what social justice means and that is to treat others equally and to avoid repeating the cycle of oppression in society when those that are oppressed don’t become the villains of tomorrow.