All Asians are smart. All white people are racist. All powerful, business women end up not being able to balance their family to career ratio. All Hispanics mow our lawns. All Christians hate gays.

These are just a few out of the millions of stereotypes our society makes today. No matter who or how many times we say this, one thing will still remain the same: these stereotypes will never be true. Whenever I tell my non-Asian friends that I ended up bombing a test, or that something was difficult for me, I usually get the same answer back: “But you’re Asian.”

Yes, Asians fail tests. Yes, Asians make mistakes. No, not every Asian is a doctor. No, not every Asian becomes a lawyer. There have always been these kinds of false stereotypes flying around and it is up to us to stop or even try to exponentially lessen these types of stereotypes from continuing on their “legacy.”

To personally try and lessen these kinds of stereotypes, I have decided to spread this “call to action” by discussing with my friends and classmates the effects stereotypes/racial prejudices have on people and how it can negatively affect a person. I hope to also possibly turn this into a club or organization at school to further spread the word to people farther than just the people in my classes and friend group. Once I am able to turn this into a club, I hope to even further expand the awareness to the rest of our community to teach them and let them know these stereotypes are false in every way.

<Danielle Lee OCSA 11th Grade>