A social issue that interests me is the abuse of immigrant detention. The use of detention centers is a strategy the government uses to enforce immigrants that travel to the United States, even those who seek asylum. Government detention centers has not only locked up innocent immigrants, but has treated them with such inhuman and cruel. This topic mostly caught my attention due to the majority of my family being immigrants and the obstacles they had to endure. Thousands of immigrants are being locked up in cages with lack of medical attention, nutrition, and explanation. Children are forced to take care of themselves with lack of food and some stripped away from their families. If the roles were switched I wouldn’t know what to do without my family by my side. Enforcement operations aren’t taking the lives of immigrant people serious, treated as if they weren’t humans. The social issue of what immigrant people have to endure when in these detention centers truly breaks my heart, and needs more accurate attention. The media is broadcasting a series of propaganda when not speaking on how ICE is treating these immigrant families. I would like to know if there is any open investigations on ICE and what are the governments plan to end the horrific brutality on immigrants. I would also like to know why has the media covered up ICE and the disturbing detention centers. Most importantly I would like to understand why the government has turned a blind eye on immigrant people.

As a woman who experiences the effects of gender inequality daily, my question has always been, “why does this happen?” or “why doesn’t anybody speak up about it?”. Walking home from school was always the most difficult thing for me because I had to cross streets just so I wouldn’t be catcalled. I was always told to cover-up because of men and because “you don’t want them thinking a certain way”. As I grew up and became more educated on the topic of feminism and gender inequality, I finally realized why I and many other women were treated the way we are. Gender inequality has existed since the beginning of time. With the implication of gender roles to the lack of resources or the lack of opportunities solely because of your gender. It has certainly been a long and exhausting battle for women all over the world. This topic is intriguing to me because of the personal impact it has on my own life. While writing, I expect to be more informed about the effects of gender inequality, not only from my own experiences but from the experiences of women around the world. I plan to read about women of all different age groups, religious backgrounds, and ethnic backgrounds because I am aware that many other social issues have a strong enough impact to affect the way we experience gender inequality. In the end, I hope to be able to use this knowledge to benefit people around me and bring light to these effects to further spark conversation about this important issue.

One social issue that interests me is homelessness. This issue interests me because I have seen homeless people all around the world, from California to China, Philadelphia to the Philippines, New Jersey to Nicaragua, and so on. I feel like we, as a society, have grown so comfortable with this issue, it has become an acceptable injustice. Growing up in New York City, I have been exposed to homeless people for as long as I can remember. My attitude towards homeless people has changed throughout the course of my life. When I was younger, I was more influenced by those who raised me, like my mother, grandma, and father. My grandma told me to not give money to homeless people who beg because they will just spend it on drugs. My mom never said this, but I also never really saw her give money to those who begged. My father was the only adult I saw who would interact with and help homeless people. I later became aware that my father, and even my mother, was homeless at some points in his life, and have realized that some friends of mine have been homeless before too. The issue of homelessness had felt so far away when I was a kid, as if only a stranger, someone with no connection to me, could be homeless. As I started middle school and began to travel by myself, I was always inclined to give to those who beg. Even if I myself needed the money or the food or the water or the sanitary napkins, I still was aware that their need was more dire. Today, I am still like this. By writing and researching about this topic, I hope to learn about the reasons people become homeless, the demographics of those who are homeless here in the United States, how does the government play a role in keeping homelessness alive and well and vice versa, what can be done to help homeless people in my communities, the history of homelessness in America, how racism, capitalism, colonialism, and white supremacy have an effect on homelessness, and other attitudes people have towards this issue that I may not know about.

Abortion is currently one of the most controversial topics in the United States. People are divided between pro-choice and pro-life, with no in-between. Between the two groups, there is the debate as to whether or not abortion should be legal or illegal, considering how there is the argument of whether or not the fetus is considered a living being, and whether or not it is morally and religiously right, and if a woman has the right to choose exceeds the rights of the fetus. People who are pro-life believe that the fetus killed in question, is a living being, therefore they have the right to live and when one decides to abort, they are essentially murdering another living person. People who are pro-choice believe that they have the right to decide how to live their life and some of them believe that the fetus is not a living person.

This social issue is a topic of interest for me because it is a dilemma where everybody–regardless of gender, race, and religion, can participate in for a discussion and choose their stance on this topic. Furthermore, and it does make me question myself on what side I choose and if there is a possibility of a middle ground between the two sides, and if that middle ground would be if someone was raped or if the fetus is a product of incest. How would that affect people’s opinions about abortion? I hope to learn more about both sides and I hope to see if science would be the one to end this argument. The major argument for the pro-life side is that a fetus is a living person. But, what is considered a living person? Based on science, a living person is one who not only breathes and is conscious and aware of their surrounding but also has the ability to think. Is a fetus able to do that? There is still no answer to this, but when one looks at the sonogram of a fetus at around the age where abortion can be conducted, the fetus looks a lot like an infant. Only time and research will tell whether abortion is right or not and whether it should be legal or not.

A social issue that interests me is the discrimination against religion. It is not an issue that everyone talks about, but it definitely is one of the major issues throughout our country and many others. People makes jokes about Muslims in the US almost every day. Most of them throughs their disrespectful comments about someone’s belief at them with something like “It is just a joke”. Even though freedom of religion is part of our 1^st amendment a large amount of people faces discrimination in a daily basis. By making little comments, people create even larger issue then they intent to. There have been many situations where people were rejected from jobs, places, groups because of an item of clothing that is a part of their faith. Personally, I was asked to not wear hijab at my workplace because it is against the company’s rules. I demanded to keep it, because of the shortage of workers they were imposed to keep me. However, I find it really disrespectful to have to demand a right that is given to me by our amendment. Today’s date is a tragedy for the American history, which killed thousands of people, it also left many more under the title of “Terrorist”. I have been asked if I am hiding a bomb under my hijab many times with the phrase “it Is just a joke”. However, America is not the only country that is not taking any step against actions like these. Cristian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu and many more are facing this problem all around the world. There is a genocide happening in China where the government put over millions of Uyghurs, Kyrgyz, Kazakhs and many more ethnic Turkic Muslims in Concentration camps. It is destroying lives and families. This camp was created months ago to torture Muslims to neglect their religion. People of different religions are facing issues regarding their belief and people with the most power are not doing anything to change it. We live in a modern world where we have many people who has influenced others’ lives in many ways. I want to know if those influential people are taking any action. I also want to know what we can do so people can stop discriminating each other based on their religion.

A social issue that interests me is abortion. The government should never be able to dictate what you can or cannot do with your personal life, especially when it doesn’t affect other people. I’m pro-choice. This issue interests me because I’ve leaned pro-life. This is because all I was told was that a baby was being killed. I feel religion plays a large part in this argument which is ridiculous because of the separation of church and state. I understand that pro-choice allows for a decision to be made. I feel that my knowledge from both sides helps me in making a more informed decision. I believe that there is a spectrum people fall on for this issue. Some people want abortion with certain restrictions while others want it to be illegal with certain exceptions. There is a bit of an overlap in these sides. On the other hand, there are people on the extreme ends. There are pro-lifers who have harassed people going into clinics. I’ve never understood this hate.

 I have learned that when abortion is illegal and is still performed it doesn’t end very well. Sometimes there is little to no access to the proper equipment to keep the woman safe. Abortion; the word has baggage within itself. It’s stigmatized. I want to know more about the specific laws and regulations regarding abortion. I want to understand the history of abortion because I haven’t tackled it before from that angle. Usually, I argue about moral issues. I also want to learn more substantive arguments from the pro-choice side. 

A social topic that interests me is racism. A couple of months ago began a huge protest regarding racism against African Americans called Black Lives Matter. The reason why this topic interests me is because of how racism is universal, it is something everyone can experience, which is not only limited to Caucasians and African Americans but every single race on the planet. Besides, racism isn’t a new concept, despite the recent outburst of racism in these past few months, racism has been a problem not only in the United States but in other countries for a long period of time. Also, racism is the cause of many issues that are occurring in modern history, such as, racial profiling, ethnic cleansings, and slavery. As a minority in America, I have gone through my own shares of racism from people of other races and not only Caucasians, I wish to understand what causes these negative perceptions each race has on other races. I want to learn what causes racism, I myself find it ridiculous to hold prejudice against a particular race based on their physical traits. Also, I want to understand if there’s a correlation between the population of certain races and the direction racism is projected towards. For example, in a country heavily populated by a specific race would the minorities of that country face racism from the more populated race? Finally, I also want to know is how humans can stop discriminating against each other solely based on racial differences, and how as the human race as a whole can move forward from this continuing problem.

Even though Brown Vs. Board of Education took place 66 years ago; schools in the United States are more segregated than never. Growing up in my country, I never understood what segregation was until I came here and lived with my own eyes. I formerly graduated from a school with a diversity index of 0, all the students with the same Latin American background: Hispanic students, no whites, no blacks, no Asians, just Hispanics. After researching more, I realize that my school was not the only of this kind. Half of the city public schools are segregated, being them over 90% black and Hispanic schools. It is interesting how people usually don’t talk about this social problem or juts ignore it. When the truth is that public schools are more segregated now than 60 years ago, today. Many black children still attend schools that are racial and economically isolated—represented as 39% are black children from low-income families background, compared to the 12% represented by white children. The fact that families, no matter the background or ethnicity, always look up for the best education for their children to, later on, realize the better schools are predominant by whites or Asians expose a lot of problems in the school system of the country. According to the New York Times, New York City’s public schools were not the most segregated: Public schools in Chicago and Texas are the most segregated in the country, with 75% of their schools segregated. And while people are focused on other social issues or are just ignoring the fact that segregation in schools still exists. The truth is that we are getting far and farther from getting the victory of Brown Vs. Board of education. 

Ethnic and racial profiling is when someone, like the law enforcement, take action simply based on appearance. Without a trace of evidence, or even any type of investigation, people have lost their lives because someone decided they were doing something wrong or out of the ordinary. Individuals are told to never act a certain way, or to never make a mistake because once they do, it’s a higher chance that they just put their lives at risk. What gives someone the right to point fingers based upon their race, ethnicity, or their demeanor? When did it become justified for someone to shoot before gathering all the facts?There have been minors who don’t even have access to a weapon, but because they look suspicious, someone decides it’s okay to take action. This affects minorities and immigrants, this affects Muslims, Arabs, Latinos, Asian-Americans, etc., this affects different races. Even if you’ve never experienced ethnic or racial profiling, there are people out there who have, there are people who have lost friends, there are people who have been ripped from their families. Some of us have family who we fear we’ll lose because of the dangers that come with ethnic or racial profiling. I want to learn the history behind ethnic and racial profiling, I want to learn what is being done about the matter, I want to read the experiences people have gone through, I want to be informed about the organizations and groups that exist to put an end to these situations, I want to be further educated on the matter.

I want to stick with my topic on immigration. However, I want to research the common misconceptions around this topic. Probably investigate some stories where the family succeeds with their status in the United States. As I did my last assignment on immigration, I want to stick to what I know. This interests me because I’ve seen my loved ones deal with these issues (but they end up overcoming them). For example, my family has never experienced any issues with the government with their immigration status. Yes, they were born in the Dominican Republic but after all the paperwork they’ve been doing well. My grandfather took more of most of the paperwork and made sure his children can come to this country to gain more opportunities for their future. This is where the misconceptions come in. Some people might think that most migration to the USA is illegal. But this is not true because in 2013, 19.4 million residents in America were naturalized citizens, a process that takes five years. They’re also many families who come to America for more than the benefits. It’s obvious that America may offer them more options than their home country, but it becomes much harder to get these healthcare or education benefits when the government is aware of your status. Therefore, I want to know more about the families that the media does not report on. I want to focus on the families that get far in their life once they come to America. Those families that can prove everyone else wrong.