And by social, I don’t mean social media or parties.
I’m talking about understanding how and why we work as a society, and the problems within the structure we’ve created.
There are a lot of things that I’ve learned in my sociology class, but some of them that really stuck out to me were the following:
- African American women are more likely to have miscarriages.
- Male students are more likely to be picked on in class by the teacher.
- Having a sense of community is the best way to prevent suicide.
In this class, I learned the reasons behind this; how it happens. Of course, we learned about the usual things such as the Stanford Prison Experiment and even watched some of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. However, a lot more was brought up that I didn’t even realize was a thing.
For example, the reason why African American women are more likely to have miscarriages is because of the stress caused by racism; for those that say racism is dead, look at the stats. The daily stress of being African American in the United States causes complications in the pregnancies of these women. Stress directly impacts our health, and the kind of stress experienced by these women is something that can be prevented if we as a country do more to stop racism. It’s been an issue in our country from the very beginning, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to abolish it completely. The more we educate on our history the right way, call those out around us, and demand for those in power to take action, the better we can make the day-to-day for minority communities.
Through this class, I’ve been able to observe my everyday life a little bit closer and ask more questions: why did this play out in the way that it did? What about this perspective is flawed? Is this information accurate or does it have bias? How can I make this applicable to not only white, straight people, but everyone? Being aware of how the world works outside of my personal bubble has been key to this, and helping others understand that as well is going to help to make some change.
So, from here on out, I intend to continue asking myself questions, as well as the people around me. How are we being conscious of everyone when planning this event or making this post or doing this job? I need to not only keep myself accountable, but the family members I have on Facebook; my classmates; the person I can overhear in the coffee shop. It requires being a little interjecting; of taking up some space and stepping out of my comfort zone in order to speak up, but that bit of discomfort can never compare to the things that minority groups and communities have to feel every single day. The best that I can do is my part, especially when it comes to the uncomfortable, and if we all do that, we can shift the way our society works, for the better. For everyone.
