Sue Park, 12 (South Korea) How Nationality Affects the Eyes Sue Park, 12 I still remember the day my teacher introduced me to the project. It was a cloudy day in April 2019, and the whiteboard had consisted of three bloody-red words that frightened most of the children: North-Korean Interview. I did love projects and adventurous trips at that time, but I knew this trip would be different, and somewhat spectacular. I had planned the new unit, different countries and cultures, to be about the ‘normal’ countries, not the countries that were known for their militaries and strict dictatorships, like North Korea. To make matters worse, I had always thought negatively about North Korea and its citizens. From school and TV shows, I naturally had a lot of prejudice about the place as it was planted in my mind as a brutal and unstable country with violent people. Additionally, I grew up watching the immense tension between the two countries in practically every political or social issue. It was incredibly easy to find news articles about the unbelievable actions of the North-Korean government officials, primarily Kim Jong-Un. … I stood in the middle of the hallway, frightened. I took a deep, slow breath as I took a giant step through the whooshing crowd of children. I quickly scanned the group of kids next to me; they looked like 3rd-graders that were enjoying the trip. I was blankly staring at them for a while when I heard someone calling me. My homeroom teacher motioned me to come, then smiled at me. At first, I thought she was waving at the playful boy behind me, but as I stuttered, she came up to me and told me that it was my turn for the interview. At that moment, I screamed, inwardly, “I don’t want to do this!” As my teacher carefully held my wrist and took me to the man from North Korea, I did not practice my script but rather practiced the karate skills that I had learned in kindergarten, fearing sudden violence. When I finally reached the door to the interview room, which looked like a torture chamber, my teacher nudged me calmly. At that moment, my teacher appeared to be a frightful green monster pushing me to the town of hell. Recognizing my fate, I trudged to the chair and quietly sat on the corner of it, ready to leave at any moment. Surprisingly, the man didn’t look any different from a normal South Korean man. He had a warm smile and he did not wear the military clothes that I had pictured in my head. As I quickly scanned him and looked into his plain black eyes, there was an awkward silence. And it felt like a millennium. When I couldn’t stand the silence much longer, I blurted out my first question: “What is the main obstacle you have faced in South Korea?” and as he answered accordingly, my stomach rumbled with guilt and fear. The man calmly listed out the prejudices and perceptions South Koreans had of him, and how difficult it was for him to find a job due to the people neglecting him after listening to his North Korean accent. As he listed out these examples, my guilt increased more and more due to the fact that I could relate to all of them. As if he noticed my pain, he asked, “Is something wrong?” and I replied, “No, I’m fine!” But, I knew this was a lie. As the interview went on, and I watched others interact with him, it became clear that this North Korean man was a complete contradiction from the picture I had drawn in my head. He was completely different from the military that was portrayed on the news. He was amiable, friendly, and loved making new friends. He was not violent nor rude, but was careful with his actions and was very gentle toward all the students. He bowed respectively to any newcomer that agreed to take the interview and was more than welcoming to anyone that came across his way. I slowly started to realize that it might be an unkind mistake to overgeneralize North Koreans as the “antagonists.” I learned that without meeting them, we should not criticize a certain group of people just because of their nationality. This is because even though their nationality might have a rough background, their citizens might be different as they might not be influenced by these experiences. This is why the interview provided me with the lesson that we should not judge a person by their nationality. This experience definitely encouraged me to recognize problems related to prejudice in society that still exist today.
non-literary genre
Brain, Not Body, an essay by Anandi Kulkarni, 11
Anandi Kulkarni, 11 (Sunnyvale, CA) Brain, Not Body Anandi Kulkarni, 11 When 19-year-old Lindsay Hecox was banned from running on a girls’ team by the state of Idaho, she decided to fight for her rights as a citizen. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, and she should have been eligible to run for her school. “I just want to run,” she said. Why was Hecox unjustly restricted from running track? Lindsay is a transgender woman, meaning she was born in a boy’s body but had a girl’s mind. After she transitioned, she was looking forward to running for Boise State University. Still, she wasn’t able to run on a girls’ team due to a bill that had just been signed by Governor Brad Little, restricting transgender girls from playing on High School and College teams that match their gender identity. Many states have followed Idaho’s discriminatory law, including Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma. Eighteen states in the US have banned trans athletes from playing on the teams they belong to. Many other states are considering adopting the law. The Government should not pass this bill. It is hateful, transphobic, inaccurate, and one-sided. Not only that, it sets a bad example for future generations, and is harmful to transgender people. Governor Little and the rest of America should take back this unjust rule, as it is not factually correct. The Government proposed this law by considering the classic myth that transgender girls have more athletic ability than cisgender girls. People who believe this also may think that trans girls are stealing cis girls’ places, scholarships, etc. This is not true, as almost 80% of transgender girls take hormones or hormone blockers. This means their bodies will not or will stop producing testosterone, the hormone responsible for muscularity. Studies show that after two years of hormone treatment, trans girls and cis girls with identical training have the same athletic ability. Since the reason lawmakers have enforced this law is illogical, the sports ban should be lifted. Along with being inaccurate, this law being established across America is also harmful to transgender peoples’ mental health. Trans people already face bullying and harassment, which sometimes can cause problems such as suicidal thoughts. According to The American Civil Liberties Union, 10 percent of transgender girls were kicked out of school for being themselves. This harassment leads to mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression. According to The Trevor Project, more than 50% of LGBTQQIP2SAA+ youth have depression. Not letting transgender people play on their appropriate teams will worsen the harassment and discrimination, causing more and more mental health issues among trans teens. To protect our nation’s trans youth, we must withdraw this harmful regulation. Not only is the law disadvantageous, it is extremely discriminatory. According to the U.S. Trans Survey, 22% of transgender women were bullied because of their gender identity, and had to switch schools. As the ACLU says, “The idea that women and girls have an advantage because they are trans ignores the actual conditions of their lives.” Transgender people face problems like discrimination every day. Should we, as a country, make that harassment worse? Of course not! It goes against one of our values and morals as Americans, which is that everyone should be treated equally. Our government goes out of its way to stop discrimination. Is it right to enforce a law that goes against what we stand for as a nation? When you think about Governor Little’s law, consider the ethics of the American government. Why should we support this unjust law? We need to use our voices and fight for what is right for transgender girls everywhere who are being denied their rights. Will we choose to allow bigotry and ignorance, or equity and justice? We should not give in to this law, because it is counterfactual, unfair, and harmful. Transgender women belong on the sports teams that match their gender. Transgender women are women. Works Cited “Trans women targeted in sports bans, but are they really at an advantage?” by Ashley Schwartz-Lavares, Victoria Moll-Ramirez, Kayna Whitworth, and Anthony Rivas, published by ABC News “The fight for the future of transgender athletes” by Will Hobson, published by The Washington Post “Four Myths about trans athletes, debunked” by Chase Strangio and Gabriel Arkles, published by the ACLU “Trans People Belong in Sports: Lindsay” published by the ACLU “Trans girls belong on Girls’ Sports teams” by Jack Turban, published in Scientific American “COUNTER: Transgender women should be allowed to participate in women’s sports” by Sara Al-Yasseri, published in The Daily Nebraskan Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings
The Roots of Our Peace, by Meleah Goldman, 10
Meleah Goldman, 10 (Oakland, CA) The Roots of Our Peace Meleah Goldman, 10 When I think of peace, I look to nature. I have spent so much time during this pandemic looking outside of my large, clear window. In the background, I can hear the worldwide marches of Black Lives Matter on my television. While our fellow humans are fighting for basic peace, my window shows me endless examples of how different parts of nature work together, each tiny gear depending on peace and cooperation within their differences. Peace is the blueness of the sky being different from the purple of the flowers and the green of the sea, yet they all work together. Peace is accepting the rich history and memories inside the roots of the many different trees. Like humans, they long to break through the heavy sameness of the concrete that coats the streets of every town and city. Peace is not walking the streets of earth, worrying if you are safe because of your roots or the color of your skin. No. Peace is finally breaking up the concrete, releasing the long-covered wild roots and allowing them to color our world. Why should nature be better at creating equality and peace than our own human race? Our sun beats down its warmth freely and equally; it leaves no one in the shadows. So why should anyone shine their rays of discrimination on the faces of our beautiful human race? Peace is not found in a shattered mirror; a dangerous, broken glass, holding only reflections of people who look and act the same. No. Peace is an infinite sky, where the possibilities are limitless. Peace is you and me, together in our humanness, celebrating the power of our garden of roots.
