Constitutionally, our right to free speech is not being taken away from us; socially it is not either. We have come to a point in our society where minorities are no longer voiceless. They speak up against racist and oppressive words that should no longer be spoken. Small minorities have never had that free right before. For decades, rude and hurtful slander has suppressed groups of minorities without any consideration to their humanity. Times are changing; minorities have identified that these words and phrases damage them emotionally.
With safe spaces being created across the nation, oppressive ideologies have been slowly disappearing. Young children hear racial stereotypes and it becomes ingrained into their adolescent brains. Children become to think that they are the stereotypes, growing up their whole lives thinking that they are a criminal for having a different skin color or not worthy of being beautiful. It is an unhealthy way to grow up in this world. Children can receive protection from these ideologies from their parents or guardians, however discrimination still reaches the children. When the children leave their homes, they lose that luxury of protection.
Safe spaces are areas that college students can escape and obtain help from discrimination. These places can help a student cope with hateful words and behaviors. Safe spaces help students with mental illnesses such as anxiety and PTSD, from being triggered. Coping with hate can be accomplished through the use of these safe spaces. The creation of safe spaces helps groups with different ideologies to cope in our society. “Run and hide. Run and hide. We have to get to the safe space, before the rhetorical bombs start falling,” Mark Steyn said on Censored in America.
Safe spaces first started in the 1960’s when people of the LGBT community were persecuted for their sexual orientation. In the 1970’s, safe spaces evolved to fit with the feminist movement. Many of these safe spaces were not physical locations, but a sense of community for women. Safe spaces have developed into places with gender-neutral bathrooms, asking people for their preferred pronouns, trigger warnings, and oppression free zones. With evolution of safe spaces, they have remained active decades. Noticeably, safe spaces are not as safe as the creators want the areas to be.
Leaders of safe spaces cannot create a utopian area that all will agree in; the oppressive ideas ingrained into our brains will always be there. Safe spaces are not created to destroy freedom of speech. Safe spaces simply bring people together with the same ideologies and need of protection from persecuting parties. Uprising controversies with safe spaces have developed the idea of “bubble-wrapping” young adults. The term “bubble-wrapping” implies young adults that utilize safe spaces, are being over protected. However, these students are helping change the way society sees minority groups.
One controversial event happened this past year. A professor sent out an email about how the staff should not need to determine what the students could wear as costumes. The email seemed harmless, but some costumes today contain cultural appropriation towards minority groups. Costumes now stereotypically depict minority groups as one entity, such as Native American costumes. These costumes may include: a feather headdress, tan “cow hide” dress, fringe, and braids. The person wearing the costume may not find this significant or racist, nonetheless the costume is taking away the meaning of culture for Native Americans.
Every time cultural appropriation occurs, it lessens the meaning of the culture for minorities. This happens in everyday life, but privileged groups easily overlook it. People pass by patterns on clothing, clothing styles, and braids in hair, that have been taken from cultures and made into something “cool” or “trendy,” without any recognition of the history. None of this oppression can end without society working together and overcoming it. Our nation has become a society that wants to help and protect everyone for a prosperous life.
The only way we can continue on with this way of life, is if we take into consideration other’s want and respects. If we do not respect what other people find offensive to their culture, cultures from around the world will slowly turn into a joke or an insignificant fashion trend. We have our freedom of speech, but we must also protect others with that right. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. ” Citizens must protect each other and protect our free and non-oppressive society.
