Changes throughout the ages: The perception of discrimination evolves

Although equality has been established as a ruling principle in the United States, there are still many people who struggle with different types of discrimination, such as racial, religious and gender discrimination.Peninsula is made up of many different ethnic groups, consisting of 46 percent Caucasians and 38 percent Asians. As a representative of a school minority, president of the Black Student Union and senior Brooke McAdoo leads a club to unite African-American students on campus. This group works towards the common goal of serving the Los Angeles community while recognizing African culture.

“One day at a coffee shop, I placed my order and the people behind me, who happened to be non-African-American, received their order before I did,” McAdoo said. “I waited patiently trying to figure out what was going on and after everyone left, they gave me my drink.” McAdoo believes racism is still part of the American experience.

Although most people no longer engage in overt racism, subtle racist interactions linger.In today’s society, racial discrimination is often expressed through different outlets, such as media. The media’s contribution to people’s opinions about culture and ethnicities can influence the way that people see things. One of the most recent displays of racial discrimination involves the selection of nominees for the 2016 Academy Awards. The tag #OscarsSoWhite spread across social media, which called out the lack of diversity of the Oscar nominees. According to the LA Times, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences nominated only white actors and actresses for the second year in a row. This raised again the issue of racism in the film making business. Racism has gained a lot of attention in the past decade. As individuals and groups address the institutional racism that exists in the workplace and in some law enforcement agencies, many people use their influence to initiate movements and activities. There will always be more people who strive to make more improvements, but aspects of racism will still linger in the lives of students, families and communities.

Based on a survey of 125 students, 78 percent of students believe that the issue of racism has improved over the past few decades. Only 26 percent believe that there is a lack of diversity at Peninsula and 47 percent feel that racism on campus is still present.

“The definition of diversity is the condition of having or being composed of differing elements and the inclusion of different races or cultures in a group or organization,” McAdoo said.

“Peninsula only reflects a slice of the middle to upper income population and the [majority of the students] do not believe that there are racial issues but subtle problems persist.”

Another problem that is present in today’s society is religious discrimination. It is stated in Title Seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that workplace or job segregation based on religion, including religious garb and grooming practices, is prohibited. Despite those protections, people continue to struggle with religious discrimination. An example from the 2016 election involves Republican candidate Donald Trump who suggested temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States legally. His proposal was met with enthusiasm from his supporters, but many accused Trump of religious discrimination.

According to junior Suha Ahsan, people fail to realize that if Trump gets elected, he would have the power to do this and that it perpetuates the stereotype that Muslims are dangerous.“I think that any type of discrimination starts with a sense of fear,” Ahsan said.

“Once that fear is instilled in a group of people, it becomes powerful enough to take over and create an negative ideology toward the group of people being discriminated.” Ahsan feels that the problem of religious discrimination is not as big of a problem at Peninsula as it is in other parts of the world. She says that this is because along with being diverse, students at Peninsula are more educated and have the ability to think for themselves which creates a safer environment for  Muslims. She says that it is important that students at Peninsula realize that Muslims are not a threat to them.

“Less than one percent [of the world population] of the Muslim population are labeled as terrorists,  and I feel that people [who judge the Muslim faith] based on this do not understand my religion,”  Ahsan said.

Prejudice in races and religions is a recurring problem today, along with another form of  injustice, sexism. The earliest feminist who displayed resistan to the common conception of men  over women was Mary Wollstonecraft. She wrote an influential pamphlet, A Vindication of the Rights of Women  prompted many women over the world to rethink their status. Gender discrimination has improved greatly throughout history. In the 20th century, hundreds of  women began to protest about their rights in the government. Although America has ma great strides in regards  to the rights of women, discrimination lingers. Thus the call for equal pay for equal work and the  movement to place more women in government and corporate positions. Generational changes have made the world what it is today. Racism, religious discrimination,  gender inequality and more, have progressed over the last few decades. Despite these strides,  students still struggle to see improvements implemented and feeling of discrimination remain.