Social Justice: My Story of Sadness and Hope - Essay Sample

Introduction

The reason as to why social justice is appealing to me is because of the fact it ensures that members get adequate wellness in terms of their health (Huberty, 2019). My story is one of sadness, and the epitome is whereby I could not access health care despite being molested several times. As a social worker, I would, however, change the life or lives of rape victims like myself or bring some form of light, hope, and alterations in their situations. The importance of good health cannot be over-emphasized.

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Fighting for Healthcare Equality and Fair Access

Today's healthcare system is both corrupted and biased in the sense that it determines who gets health and also determines the type of quality of healthcare one should receive. In my opinion, this is quite absurd as every person is as important as the next. There should be no discrepancy in how healthcare services are being offered out. It should be a fair practice, and everyone should enjoy exclusive rights to proper medical care.

As stated above, in seeking social justice, I would then fight for equality and motivate those around me to strive to fight for easy access to medication. These insurance plans would be affordable and better working conditions for social justice workers. As my story illustrates, I could not get access to quality health care; the first time rape took place back in my Aunt's house. If then, I had the privilege of meeting a severe and well-meaning social worker, and then the chances are that my story would have been different today. That is one of the reasons as to why the ideology of social justice speaks to me so. I want to become the voice of reason for the voiceless. I also want to encourage those victims who are suffering in silence like I did, that it is not their fault that incidents like rape would take place.

Protecting Religious Freedom and Combating Discrimination

Next, social justice appeals to me because it is a discipline that offers protection to people from religion-based stigmatization and discrimination (Huberty, 2019). It is no secret that a majority of nations in the world have numerous scenarios of curtailment of an individual's freedom of worship. Most times, the two religions that have been at logger-heads since time immemorial are Christianity and Islam. As a result, some nations are Christian-based and fail to offer some form of protection to their Muslim people and vice-versa. Therefore, both factions suffer greatly for no fault of their own other than being affiliated to a particular religious denomination. It was through religion and specifically, the Lutheran Church that I was able to get the help I needed and to make it till graduation. The Church helped transform me and my life around. I am who I am today as a result of the Church.

Besides, when I lost my grandmother, members from the Church understood my pain and stood with me. Therefore, as social workers do, I believe that religion is fundamental in the lives of people, definitely yes. I, therefore, would strive to ensure that everyone gets fairly treated regardless of their religious affiliations. Life is precious that way, and so is religion. If it were not for my religious beliefs, I would not have gotten out of the hole of depression that I was in considering the kind of life that I had led.

As a young child, losing a best friend was not an easy thing. At that very point, I should have snapped, but I did not. I was able to soldier on thanks to my grandmother and her staunch religious ways. Religion is a part of the success that I have today. It is, therefore, paramount for me to see its freedom and practice being free from all prejudice and malice. Religion is dominant as it is also the glue that keeps people together at times.

Challenging Ageism and Advocating for the Elderly

Another reason as to why social justice is on top of my list is because it protects from ageism. It is accurate as people do get older; they are discriminated against because of their age. Some are disrespected for one reason, or the other and others are replaced by younger persons, especially in their areas of work or specialization (Huberty, 2019). Take a look at my grandmother, for example. I was taken away from her from the simple fact that it was believed that she could no longer take good care of me. The reason was that she was too old to care for her grand-daughter.

It is quite a sad affair as no one bothered to find out with me the very reason for the molestation and rape incidents that I underwent. To make it even worse, no one bothered to find out about the lies fed to me by my Aunt concerning the same. The DCFS did not listen to my story and instead tore me away from the one person that truly loved me for who I was. I had to live away from my grandmother and watch her memory fail as she was on her death bed. My grandmother suffered pain and loss at losing me not to say the kind of pain that I went through when I was nursing her, knowing full well that she had no recollection of who I was. It was quite a trying time for both of us. For this reason, social justice would be perfect for me as I seek to correct this glaring flaw in our societal system.

Embracing LGBTQIA Rights and Eradicating Stigmatization

Social justice also offers protection to sexually abused or sexually discriminated individuals and allows everyone to be themselves regardless of their sexual orientation. It is a widely known fact that members of the LGBTQIA community have, for years, been shunned against or ill-treated. The main issue being they are different and queer. According to our society, queer is not typical. Whenever a person is different or appears to be struggling with a specific problem, then the society deems them unfit to be in community. It is quite shameful as I suffered from such stigmatization during my Lupus. No one understood why I lost my hair. No one realized why I was angry all of the time, and to most, I pose as a thing for recreational activity or only as an amusement object.

The idea of social justice is grand as it fights for the equal rights of the LGBTQIA community and also gives them an ear and a voice to be heard. For any society that is worthy of being deemed, then fairness to all gender orientations must take place. In such a case, social justice major is the platform that would set the ball rolling, and if I would be able to touch one or even two lives, then I would suffice to say, I did it! I changed someone's life for the better!

Confronting Racial Discrimination and Building Cultural Equality

Social justice also protects against the issue of racial discrimination. This touches closer to home as I come from the Black community, and as stated earlier, we were labelled as people "from the hood." Such labelling always did make me feel ashamed of the place I came from, my black community, and as an individual as a whole. Growing up as a black kid, I have always been sheltered from the world, my grandmother. This was due to drugs, crime, and violence in my neighbourhood. Nothing good ever came from the hood, and therefore, it became hard for me to see any potential I had in either becoming successful or even graduating. The situation was so bad that after my childhood passed away from gun violence, grandmother put a tight leash on me.

Racism is a social evil that would bar one from securing employment opportunities, marry or get married, live, and grow old in peace and generally cause havoc and mayhem. Social justice, as a facet, takes care of this societal evil. It relieves the oppression places upon by some races that think themselves superior to others and finds a middle ground to work out the cultural differences.

Conclusion

In conclusion, social justice corrects the above mentioned and can bring about equality that is also economical to the people. It eradicates racism, gender bias, sexual discrimination, ageism, and religious-based accusations. It also promotes the tenets of proper healthcare and real friendships between members of a different community.

References

Huberty, Emmaline Soken. "10 Reasons Why Social Justice Is Important." Human Rights Careers, 21 Dec. 2019, www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/10-reasons-why-social-justice-is-important/.