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English Speech Contest

 

Higashi Uji High School holds an English speech contest every year, and this year, Mr. Ishiyama a 2nd year student from Class 7, won first place for her speech about Racial Discrimination.

She also presented her speech to the audience at our school open house on Saturday, October 24th.

You can watch the speech contest on YouTube by clicking on the link.


Theme「RACIAL DISCRIMINATION」

Today, I'm going to talk about discrimination, especially racial discrimination.

Do you know the recent news that has made the world fluster?

On May 25, 2020, a black man who was called George Floyd was killed by a white police officer. George lost his life on suspicion of using fake bills. If he had been white, would he have had a different destiny?

And now, I'd like to talk about my experience with racism . When I was an elementary school student, I had a friend who was half Japanese and half Filipino. Her skin color was a little dark, so some boys called her "Foreigner". She always carried on with smile, so I also enjoyed their joking. But one day, the boys said to her "Hey, foreigner!" same as usual, then, she started crying suddenly. I couldn't understand why she was crying then. After a while, I realized at last. She had endured, and she was hurt. I did a terrible thing to her. But it's too late to apologize.

I don't want you to do such a terrible thing to somebody, or to experience such a thing.

So, what should we do to eliminate discrimination? Some people say that if we make an effort, one day we can realize a world free of discrimination. However, almost all people may notice that discrimination will not just go away, right? But it's also wrong to do nothing. Even if the world doesn't change, there is something we can do.  So what do we really have to do first?

In my opinion, we must understand our privilege. What is your privilege? For example, the people who have black skin are imagined to have a bad back ground based only on their skin color. Probably, you have never experienced something like that. It's your privilege. Also, you can study at school, or you can eat delicious food as usual. Those are also your privilege.

In the world today, discrimination occurred because of privilege, but why?

In the first place, we are all the same human, and live in the same world. And it's so wrong to judge a person based on their skin color, gender, back ground and so on.

We know it's wrong, but this has become natural. It's not just a problem in America, but a problem all over the world including Japan.

Discrimination will never disappear from this world. This is a fact. All we can do is understand our own privilege. You can think from the other person's persective for the first time by understanding when you are treated in a negative way, or when you are treated in a positive way. Then, you can treat other people the right way. That's my view.

Today, when you get home, I want you to discuss this topic with your family. You may be able to find a new point of view

That's all for my speech. Thank you so much for listening.

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