| My Opinion toward Discrimination |
| Atsuki YOSHIDA |
I'm so sad that I'm standing here to make a speech about discrimination. Hello. My name is Atsuki. Have you ever heard of the phrase "Black Lives Matter"? In 2013，the Black Lives Matter organization was formed after Trayvon Martin's murderer was acquitted. The goal of the Black Lives Matters movement is to eliminate white supremacy and to support local black communities to protect them from police brutality and racial violence. And today, I would like to talk about discrimination against blacks and other people.
First, I will talk about black people who were killed, or mistreated and arrested by the police. Do you know who George Floyd is? He died after being arrested by the police outside of a shop in Minnesota. He said, "I can't breathe" many times to the police, but the police kept ignoring him and he died. Breonna Taylor was shot by the police while she was sleeping. The police fired over 20 times. Eight bullets hit Breonna Taylor and she died at the age of 26. And Joshua Willson. He is a man in a wheel chair. I saw the video, the police pressing down on him, and after he fell to the ground, the officer dragged his wheel chair away from the scene of the arrest. In the process, the wheel chair lost a wheel. Many who shared the video expressed anger at the officer's treatment at Willson. I was one of them.
This is not only happening in the U.S. Sadly, discrimination is happening all over the World not only against black people but many others as well. In Japan, there is discrimination against indigenous people, women and others. Actually, I have had an experience with that. Not all, but some old people still think men are superior to women. My grandparents think that way. One day, we were having a family dinner. My grandfather said that the oldest grandchild should speak for our family before dinner. I thought my grandfather would call my name because I'm the oldest grandchild. But he called my younger brother's name, just because he is a boy and I am a girl. I was so shocked, embarrassed, sad and angry. I even felt like my grandparents didn't regard me as their grandchild. And then, I knew how painful it is to be discriminated against.
Even though everyone knows that it's wrong and most white people are nice and kind, some people are keep doing this and it makes me so sad. Maybe some people would say, "Well, it's not my problem". But if any of your friends have the experience of being discriminated against for some reason, then this is your fight too. Is it not your job or your duty to open your mouth and say, "I love my friends but I don't care what happened to George Floyd"? Now how does that make sense? I saw a Dr. King quote that said, "The silence of the good people is worse than the brutality of bad people" So please use your voice.
Why am I here still demanding change? It breaks my heart. So I want you guys to love each other no matter what. And please use your voice to eliminate discrimination. I would be happy if even one person changes their opinion toward discrimination after listening to my speech.
Thank you for listening. |
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大阪府高等学校英語教育研究会が主題する「2020年度 動画による英語弁論大会」において、高１の吉田温紀さんが第３位に入賞しました。立派なものです。タイトルはMy Opinion toward Discrimination「差別に対する私の意見」です。本人の了解を得て、動画と本文を以下に掲載します。
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