by Zane K., 6th grader
“Hmmm, that was interesting.” Is something you might say after reading an article. The writer may have just said something you didn’t know or something you thought was proven right. Well, have you ever thought that writers were putting false ideas in your head? Many writers hide their ideas or opinions in articles, to avoid comments from the public.
There is an interesting article about Hurricane Katrina that judges people based on what they look like. The two words that stand out in the article are the words “stolen” and “found.” Why would a person use these two words when people are doing the same thing? This is how hidden language works.
Another example is the Bossy Campaign. Women who are leaders are being called bossy while men are being called “brilliant” or “smart.” Another example was when Nelson Mandela was called a terrorist. We let the U.S. government trick us into believing that just because he didn’t have the same views as us. A final example is what is really true about Christopher Columbus; do you think you’re honoring a good person? Why do we let writers and governments take away our voice?
Heroes are being called terrorists. Back in the 1980s, Nelson Mandela had views different than many people the U.S. He didn’t want apartheid any more, and disagreed with the South African government. Just because of that he was called a terrorist. Governments and other people can discriminate and exterminate people just because they don’t agree with what they think. Races, religions, and rights can be torn apart just because they are different.
My parents have always said be different. When I look at this, it scares me to be different knowing that harm could come. If this world is ever going to succeed we need to learn to honor our differences, rather than discriminate against them. I don’t want to lecture you about social justice. I’ll leave that to the U.N., but I do want people to change their ways. Have you changed yours, and if not, will you?
“Class please turn your dictionary to page 2014.” In this class, we are using a dictionary that compares two words. The two words we’re using are “stolen” and “found.” A white man fits under the “found” category, and the black man fits under the “stolen” category. The problem is they are both doing the same thing. During one of the worst hurricanes of all times, Katrina, a writer published a very interesting article. This article used the two words “stolen” and “found.”
As I stated these two words are both describing people doing the same thing, but one person was black, and the other was white. A little while after this article was published, Van Jones wrote a piece saying how these two words were not describing the situation correctly. I read this article and realized how wrong many writers, and yes, the country as a whole, are being. Why are we comparing people based on their skin color still? My english teacher, Ms. Gibba, said that it might be that writers don’t realize what they’re doing, but wouldn’t a publisher realize that? All of this says that we still have something to work on. Why aren’t we?
Bossy is a word we might use a lot. I usually joke around calling my dad bossy when I have to do something I don’t want to do, but this word is a very serious matter. Women who are powerful and inspirational are being called bossy. For the rest of this paragraph let’s call the word bossy “The B Word,” as if to think of it as a curse word. Back to what I was saying, a campaign was created to encourage girls to be the “B Word.” Not in a bad way, but so that they can be powerful, and stand up to people who think differently about them. I definitely recommend searching the campaign video on Youtube because it is very inspiring. Remember to ask yourself, am I bossy?
Honoring a killer, we all do it. What have you learned about Christopher Columbus? You might have heard he “discovered” America and that he accidentally came to America. He was “looking for spices,” and that he was a nice guy. I am only scratching the surface of the untrue statements about Columbus. Yes, all of those things I stated are not true. Columbus was actually looking for slaves to look for gold. Anyone who didn’t get enough gold was killed. In the book Columbus: His Enterprise by Hans Koning, there is a line that can prove my point: “During those two years of the administration of the brothers, Columbus, an estimated one half of the entire population of Hispaniola was murdered or killed themselves. The estimates run from 125,000 to one half million.” Throughout the ages biased language has made people believe this single story and distract them from the real one. Do you think Columbus is such a hero now?
Words can change people’s minds and sometimes in a bad way. Writers can express hidden opinions. Words can completely change the situation. People can be judged based on gender, race, or ethnicity. Great people can be against everything we believe in just because they have different opinions and terrible people can be mistaken for amazing ones. Words are our world’s most powerful tools, and weapons. Why do we use them to hurt people?
