Ask More to See More

(I originally posted this as a Facebook status on March 15, 2019)

Context: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/world/asia/new-zealand-shooting.html

I recently wrote a speech for my school that addressed the subject of bigotry. A passage in the speech discussed a friend of mine making a racist remark and the discussion that followed. In that discussion, I learned that there was context as to why that remark was made after some further questioning. My friend never meant to be offensive and to be fair, I had initially gotten upset and made some unfair assumptions about him myself. We had a misunderstanding.

Seeing stories like the one above (NZ Shooting) are horrifying and can sometimes feel disempowering. Despite our best thoughts and prayers, awful things like this can still happen. As demonstrated by the anecdote above (Speech Story), I am a firm believer in combatting hatred and bigotry at its root. If someone says something offensive, ask them why they said it? Ask why again? And again. You'll often find that prejudice is born not out of absolute hatred but out of confusion and misinformation.

In conclusion, I'm not saying that questions will solve hatred or end bigoted violence; but it sure does a lot more than sending thoughts and prayers. If we want to see a difference, we can all take action at the individual level to push the needle forward.