An example of a systematic injustice I have witnessed recently is the unfair treatment of the Uyghur Muslims in the country of China. In case you haven’t heard, there are currently millions of Uyghurs being sent to camps and being tortured because of their religion, and the world has been very quiet about it. This has the potential to be the modern day version of the Holocaust, and it is disheartening that people are just letting it happen without speaking up. It is something that means a lot to me, especially coming from a family where my mother and her family are all a part of the Muslim religion. In the link I will provide here, The Guardian provide an aerial view of the internment camps that these Muslims have been sent to, and information behind the terrible mistreatment of these people by the Chinese Government. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/24/china-has-built-380-internment-camps-in-xinjiang-study-finds.
There have been over 380 camps built for the Uyghurs, and there are more being built as I write this post. They are being systematically dragged away from their homes, families, friends, and lives to these camps on the basis of their religion and political affiliations. The Chinese Government is using these camps as a way to “re-educate” these Muslims into the way the Chinese government want them to think and behave. There are several ways that the Chinese government finds these Muslims, from the fact that they do not consume pork, to simply owning the Qur’an. This has a lot of relation to the course material The Leavers, where Deming, due to not particularly fitting in with new environments, was practically forced into changing everything about himself to fit in, even going as far as to be called Daniel. This is a lot of what is happening in China, as the Muslims are being “taught” how to be how the government wants them to be.
There isn’t much one person in myself can do about this, however spreading awareness with the people I know about it could lead to somebody more important hearing about it. If this can become a mainstream story, then the countries can condemn the Chinese government and work against letting them discriminate against these people simply on the account of their closely held values and religion. If we can catch and stop this through awareness and condemnation, we can be proactive instead of reactive and not let something such as the Holocaust repeat itself in any fashion. That is an example of a systematic injustice I have seen in recent times, and I hope talking about it and speaking out can help to stop and free the Uyghur Muslims in China.
Adam,
I like that you chose something that was personal to you and your family. This makes it all the more interesting to research and allows you have passion while writing about it. My heart breaks for the topic you chose. It was very eye opening to read your comment about it having the potential to be a modern day Holocaust. This form of systemic injustice due to religious differences does have many parallels to the Holocaust, and it is scary that the world has not progressed from that dark time in history. While this information was very hard to swallow, I appreciate you bringing these issues to light, since many people do not hear about it. Well thought out post, Adam.