Environmental justice means to me that no matter what your race, sex, gender, sexuality, immigration status, or class is that you are entitled to live in an environment where you have the ability to breathe in clean air, eat healthy food, and live in a society where your natural rights are NOT taken away by not being one that is ” privileged”. Meaning one that is usually white and upper class. By having environmental and social justice we are destroying the structural cycle of oppression that occurs today.

Oppression is based on “targets” and “agents”. Targets are the minorities and the working class, while the agents generally have privilege and are the whites and upper class. I  learned that there are three types of oppression: vertical, horizontal, and internalized. Vertical oppression is target vs. agent, horizonal is agent vs. agent or target vs. target, and internalized, Anson, says is one of the worst because you are against yourself.

I learned that society is structured so that minoriteis live in poverty and toxic waste are placed in these areas.

This is a little piece of what I have learned this week!

There are many different types of oppression. There are two that I would like to mainly focus on. Target being the minorities and agents being the rich folks. Why cant we  all be one?

Oppression in my community is seen in the lack of resources I have access to. Walking down my block, I see the same thing everyday. I see the same apartment buildings that look like they survive one too many earthquakes, I see men sitting on the pavement with sadness in their eyes, I see kids playing on the street with sticks and stones because they don’t have toys, and I see women pushing shopping carts with homemade food to sell in hopes that they make enough money to pay for rent, bills, and food. Some of the things I don’t see in my community are hospitals, schools, clinics, and parks. My first impression was that my mayor and my representative didn’t have enough money to provide the resources my community needs. I realized that I was wrong, the only reason why I don’t have the resources I need is because the color of my skin is not white. On the other side of town, rich people live their lives without the stress poor people have everyday. The rich don’t have to worry about anything because their community consists of hospitals, schools, clean parks, etc. I was sad to see that we don’t have any of those resources. The lack of resources in my community feels like a punishment for being a minority. For so long, the people in my community have been wearing a mask to hide the torment we go face everyday. I think its time that we receive the resources we deserve. The working class can’t be neglected anymore. We come to this country because we believe in the lie we are continually fed: “This is the land of opportunity.” So far the only opportunities we’ve had are having low paying jobs, a small place to live, and attending schools that look more like prisons. I can’t no longer sit with my arms crossed, waiting for something miraculous end oppression. It’s time that we all come together and remove the mask that has hidden our identity. We all need unite and fight against the oppressor. Only then we’ll have the opportunities that we always hear about.