As a white male in America, I am mostly blinded by real-world issues due to the white privilege I was born with. As obvious as it sounds, we do not choose our race, religion or gender at birth. Everyone is given individual traits at birth that are unique to them.

As I grow older and start to realize how unjust people are, I feel the need to express my emotions. By having no control over who we are at birth, we have no control over how we look.

However, we do have control over how we treat others. If you are born “non-white” in the United States, you are set up to be criticized, challenged and questioned throughout life. These issues that non-white Americans face have led to corruption, hate and fear throughout America.

Diversity needs to be acknowledged and acted upon in the “land of the free” because I have noticed that at UWO, this isn’t being done. The lack of diversity on campus resembles what our country consists of — predominantly white, straight men.

Our country thrives on that image, and we generally lean toward those individuals because that is who we know and understand as the “normal person.” As a country of equal human beings, we need to be more inclusive and aware of our lack of diversity.

Change can occur by being conscious about creating an inclusive environment to attract diversity. We need to understand that every single person in this world was born the same way. There should not be an unfair advantage due to skin color, gender or sexual orientation. Collectively, we need to do better.

Austin Lee