Is Oppression Still A Thing In 2017?

Is+Oppression+Still+A+Thing+In+2017%3F

Chris Higgins, Staff Writer

Yes. It is.

Over the past few years, the topic of racial and queer oppression has really come front and center in today’s culture. Especially with the recent presidential election, the talk of these topics has really been boosted over the past few months.

Although some people don’t think it still exists in 2017, oppression is still present in today’s culture. In 2015, the FBI released info stating, “6,885 related offenses that were motivated by bias against race, ethnicity, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, disability, gender, and gender identity”

While Obama was in office he made guidelines that all schools across America must support transgender girls and boys. But now, President Trump has revoked that enforcement.

Trump’s removal of guidelines will mean that trans students will not be able to receive the extra support they need. This, of course, is bad since many children can’t get any support at home. And now because of this, they won’t be able to get support at school either.

Although some may say this change isn’t a big deal, this change will greatly affect the students of WA. Gill Limbert, the co president of GSA feels that Trump’s plan will hurt WA.

“We’re all very worried about legislation that is currently being passed and that people plan on passing, and Supreme Court judges that are being appointed and nominated, and our vice president openly condones conversion therapy, Limbert said.

Vice President Mike Pence, has stated before that he is a firm believer in gay conversion therapy. This is the belief that through electroshock therapy, or just therapy by itself, that one can change who they are attracted to.

With Latinx people (used as a gender-neutral or non-binary alternative to Latino or Latina) at 43% of survivors, and African Americans at about 23%. Victims of anti-LGBTQ+ crimes against make up the majority of the violence.

While some reports may say that crimes on white people are higher, you have to understand that white people make up about 1.3 billion of today’s current population of 7.125 billion, while African Americans make up 1.1 billion. This number may seem like a small difference, but when looking at crimes against a certain race, it’s important to understand how many people you’re comparing.

While I don’t believe you could find anyone who believes that there aren’t hate crimes anymore, many people do not realize the true extent still goes on today. There will sadly always be hate crimes against all types of people across the planet, but the main goal is to make that number keep getting smaller than it is right now.

The idea that oppression in today’s society is non existent anymore is completely false. Although some may argue that it’s gotten better over the past few decades, it’s still a perfectly relevant topic and something that is happening everyday which is the reason more people should help with ending the oppression of people.