In the 21st century, there is much more discrimination and racism against the teenage generation compared to previous years, in my opinion. Teens are judged by other teens because of their ethnicity and they are instantly put in focus if they are foreign or a different skin colour . They are also harshly judged because of what other people in their ethnic race do, as people may unfairly associate them with the indescribable behaviour portrayed by the media and the opinions of people with a greater amount of power. If teens are new to the country or if they have a different accent, there are circumstances where they are made to feel like the odd ones out.
In many secondary and some primary schools many insults are made about a person’s race. Asian and South American races are insulted by being called illegals , for South Americans the very common insult is being called a drug dealer or a cleaner. These personal opinions affect many lives and it does not just exist in the younger generation, but also in the older generation. Many Asian ethnic people are called terrorist, this is because some terrorist acts are committed by people from their country – but it doesn’t mean that they are. For the African and Caribbean races or for the youths with a darker skin colour in general, the common word used to insult them is the ‘N’ word. There was an occasion where a boy only nine years of age hung himself because he was bullied for being ‘white’. The boy was called Aaron Dugmore, he lived in Birmingham and went to Erdington Hall Primary School where 75% of the pupils came from ethnic minority backgrounds. He was continuously threatened by an ‘Asian gang’ in school. He was threatened with a plastic knife, the kid that threatened him said it will be a real one next time and he will use it to kill him. There is now a law that says schools must have a minimum of 50% of pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds. Statistics have proved that there is racism and discrimination in every school.
Ethnic discrimination is a very big issue in the youth generation, as people use the looks or backgrounds of people to target and insult them. There is ethnic discrimination towards all the races, there is an insult for every race. It is a known fact that racism lives in every environment, but it exists in the youth generation the most, not only as insults but also used a reason for assault. There have been many cases where teenagers have been killed or very seriously hurt because of their skin colour or their ethnicity. A boy just 17 years of age was murdered after having racist comments hurled at him: Nilanthan Murddi was with six friends in Croydon when a cab pulled over at a traffic light, and a man hurled insults at him. His friend described what his murderer had shouted before, “Go home, you f***ing p*ki,” he said. Then it was said that the man got out of the cab and threw a punch at Nilanthan, no-one knowing that the man had a knife in his hand, slitting Nilanthan’s neck and killing him.
Personally it disgusts me that people in my generation are being killed just because they are different; racism and discrimination is having a great impact on the behavior of the teenage generation.
From past experiences, people have been racist towards me, not to harm or hurt me but as a joke, not knowing the emotional damage they caused in me. I have witnessed racism in older generations as well. I have seen people rejected from being given work placements or even entering a store because of their colour or what accent they’ve got. I believe that the media does not help in stopping racism, but enforces it to develop into it being more acceptable; in the English media over-exaggeration is very common, articles are published with non-sufficient research. What could we do to change this? Well in my opinion i believe that the media should not publish brain-washing articles that victimise races or religions without sufficient research, as well as starting youth clubs that help the youths develop the understanding of religions and races.
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