Abstract

This IRB-approved project was a part of a larger study on abuse, bullying, mistreatment, and a lack of protection to victims in the academic settings. This qualitative narrative case study was designed and conducted in one of the Northeastern states of the United States of America. The focus participant in this study was Emma (pseudonym), a public elementary school teacher who was born as a girl and developed as a non-binary person. The current project was grounded in Vygotsky’s sociocultural constructivism theory. The research question was: Are there differences in treatment towards nontraditional genders in academe? Data were collected via informal written conversations and an interview with the subject. The interview was audio-recorded and transcribed. The data were coded and analyzed using the memoing and discourse analysis. This research found that the focus research participant had a history of mistreatment and abuse since the middle school. The subject learned helplessness due to the indifference and apathy of the academic environment. The purpose of this project is to raise awareness about the effects of unprevented bullying and unstopped prolonged abuse in the academic settings on a person’s emotional condition, well-being, and physical health. The significance of this study is global applicability. Insufficient preventive measures and a lack of the efficient legal punishment for abusers require urgent attention and action from academic administrators and governments.

Keywords

Acceptance, Bullying, Diversity, Gender, Human Rights

Introduction

Regardless of the attempts to alter the legislation and improve the education system, gender-related issues are still acute in modern-day American society. The acuteness of the problems of inequality and a lack of justice for people of different genders significantly varies by country, society, culture, and religion. The above issue strongly negatively impacts females. Nevertheless, the complications peak when issues with untraditional genders come into play. Sometimes, the members of conventionally educated societies fail to accept gender diversity. This lack of acceptance results in outbreaks of insult, bullying, violence, and a deprivation of the basic human rights maintained by the majority of traditional genders in relation to the minority victims of any age. Unfortunately, the above practices take place in academe, subjecting the people of nontraditional and newly identified genders to prolonged, ongoing psychological and emotional torments, which might or might not be visible to an untrained or careless eye of a bystander.

This current qualitative narrative case study on topics related to the abuse, bullying, and mistreatment of a female-born person of a nontraditional gender was concerned with the story of life narratively shared by this research focus participant, a young American educator, Emma. The gender-neutral pronouns they and them will be used throughout this chapter in relation to this research participant.

Study of the Nightmaric Experiences

Literature and Theory Underpinning this Research

Theory

This research was grounded in Vygotsky’s sociocultural constructivism theory (1978; 1987) in the lieu of poststructuralist queer theory. The choice of Vygotskyan theory can be explained by the fact that human beings while residing within a certain society and a specific culture and/or subculture construct their knowledge based on their social interactions with their environment. In the process of communication with the closest family members, educators, and the surrounding community members, humans deliberately and subconsciously learn and absorb the ideas fossilized within those social groups and formations. If no exposure to the new and untraditional to them information or experiences occurs during a prolonged period of time in each human’s life, the commonly accepted views, beliefs, and concepts of those cultures and societies are appropriated and internalized by society members and become the only possible truths.

Further, the preference of the Vygotskyan sociocultural constructivism theory over queer theory can also be explained by the fact that this research does not study the untraditional nor traditional genders, per se. Instead, the main focus of this research in on the effects on one disempowered individual and their experience of alienation because of empowered people’s feelings of superiority and sense of belonging to the local societal majority. The experience of powerlessness due to deviation from the accepted norm might equally impact a person of any gender, or any other diverse identity, in any vulnerable position within a given social hierarchy.

Literature

Problems with bullying have attracted the attention of many academic communities and have been extensively studied since the middle of the previous century, initially by the psychologist Dan Olweus. Multiple research studies found severe negative effects of bullying (e.g., Aboud & Joong, 2008; Alsaker & Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, 2012; Cappadocia et al., 2012; D’Escury & Dundink, 2012; Fischer et al., 2011; Graham et al., 2011; Olweus, 2012; Scherr & Larson, 2012; Vaillancourt et al., 2011). The studies conducted in the twenty-first century identified that bullying starts as early as pre-kindergarten and continues through all stages of human development in all educational establishments and beyond (e.g., Alsaker & Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, 2012; D’Escury, & Dundink, 2012; Graham et al., 2011; Hanish et al., 2011; Lutgen-Sandvik et al., 2009; Perkins et al., 2014; Rigby, 2012; Smith, 2012; Smith & Slonje, 2012; Steinfeldt et al., 2012; Tokunaga, 2010; Tracy et al., 2006).

The research identified numerous immediate and long-term negative effects on the health and well-being of the victims of bullying (e.g., Cowie, 2013; Tracy et al., 2006; Vaillancourt et al., 2011). Many researchers attempted to understand the roots of the bullying (e.g., Duncan, 2011; Farrington, 2007; Hartup, 2005). As if in support of the Vygotskyan sociocultural constructivism findings, the researchers found a correlation between the bullies’ character and the ways those individuals were raised and taught in their homes by their families (e.g., Duncan, 2011; Farrington, 2007; Hartup, 2005; Nickerson et al., 2012).

Regardless of the attempts of previous researchers and educators to help to eliminate or reduce the number of bullying episodes in the academic environments (e.g., Aboud & Joong, 2008; Cappadocia et al., 2012; Fischer et al., 2011; Jimerson & Huai, 2012; Lutgen-Sandvik et al., 2009; Rigby, 2012), their endeavors appear to be insufficient to be able to save and protect the suffering victims. This current research aims to raise awareness of the effects of bullying and mistreatment in academe on an unprotected victim. Additionally, this study will provide some useful examples of how the victims of bullying, harassment, and mistreatment might be helped, supported, and protected in their academic settings.

Methodology

This IRB-approved qualitative narrative case study grounded in Vygotsky’s sociocultural constructivism theory was designed following Ely et al. (1991) and Creswell’s (1998) principles for the qualitative inquiry and research design. Glesne (2010) framework served as a solid foundation for designing this case study. The current project was conducted as a segment of a larger study on abuse and mistreatment in academe tentatively titled “All the Games People Play.” This project was focused on one higher education student who, while enrolled in their university studies, was employed as a teacher at an urban public elementary school within a school district in one of the northeastern states of the United States of America. The duration of this smaller project within the larger study was three consecutive months. The research question for the current project is: Are there differences in treatment in academe of the people who were female-born but developed as a nontraditional gender?

The researcher utilized a purposive sampling method targeting the prospective participants who, though born as females, identified themselves as belonging to one of the nontraditional genders and/or sexualities, including but not limited to lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) people. The major motive for this study was the fact that the above gender-sexuality minorities often find themselves repeatedly mistreated, abused, assaulted verbally and physically, and treated unequally compared to people with traditional genders/sexualities. Yet, the above occurrences do not always receive the required attention from authorities, including faculty members and administrators.

Based on the prior informal conversations with the researcher on the topics of gender inequality in the academic settings, Emma (pseudonym), a 25-year-old elementary-school teacher, was recruited via email, which detailed the purpose and the significance of this study. Pseudonyms will be used throughout this chapter to protect the identity of the focus participant and all related to this project entities. Data collection via informal conversations and an interview with the focus research participant, as well as the data analysis, will be discussed in the following section.

Data Collection and Analysis

Data was collected via informal conversations and a semi-structured, remotely conducted interview with the focus participant. To prevent invasiveness in the communication atmosphere and with the purpose of reducing a possibility of embarrassment for the participant, the interview was conducted over the phone. The interview atmosphere was welcoming and unofficial. The interviewed teacher was located in the safety of their own home, while the researcher was miles away from the participant’s location. The interviewee was granted an opportunity to stop participating in this project at any time without providing explanation. Emma was informed that they could skip any question that they were not comfortable with. Yet, the questions for this semi-structured interview were carefully and thoughtfully developed according to Seidman’s (2013) postulates to exclude a possibility of harming the participant.

This interview was audio-recorded and transcribed. Memoing data coding was utilized in accordance with the principles developed by Miles and Huberman (1984). Saldaña’s (2012) value coding allowed the researcher to identify and position the values outlined by the participant according to their significance for the subject. The multimodal discourse analysis, as per Norris’s (2004) methodological framework for analyzing multimodal interactions in interconnection with Bakhtin’s (1981b) philosophic embracement of the interpersonal and intrapersonal discourse, investigated the combination of the verbal and nonverbal language in the speeches produced by the participant. The nonverbal language elements included the tone of Emma’s voice and its changes, the variations in their vocal pitch and depth, breathing patterns, deep sighs, stuttering, taking different length pauses between the utterances, the patterns and changes in the patterns of the subject’s speech, etc. The researcher utilized Kress’s (2010) social semiotic approach to contemporary communication principles to deeper understand the interrelationships of the modes in the participant’s responses to the interview questions. This multimodal analysis allowed for conclusions about sincerity and transparency of the participant’s revelations to be reached. It also gave the researcher a deeper understanding of meaningfulness of the discussed topics to the participant. This type of multimodal discourse analysis also led the investigator to a more profound realization of the significance and the scale of the values stressed by the subject.

In the process of the multimodal discourse analysis of the interview data, the entire interview was broken into shorter portions by their position on the timeline of the life of the participant. The starting point was Emma’s early childhood, which they described as good. The end point was the time when this project was in progress. The intermediate sections included the elementary-school period, the middle- and high-school period, the in-between-schools period, the post-secondary education period, and the co-occurring employment period. The analysis of every meaningful to the participant stage of their life allowed the researcher to have a deeper insight into the nature of the problems experienced by the subject during different periods of their life. Saldaña’s (2015) methods of thinking qualitatively helped the researcher gain a greater understanding of the ideas expressed by the participant.

Based on Janesick’s (2010) recommendations for presenting oral histories for the qualitative research, the findings of this study will be presented narratively, as they were shared by Emma to recreate the timeline and the development of this participant’s life story and to show from the inside the life-world of this young person. This research report was also developed based on Saldaña’s (2018) work postulated for writing qualitatively.

Findings

Beginnings

Emma was born female but promptly developed an understanding that they did not quite fit the gender norms accepted by their traditional environment. As early as the age of five years old, they (Emma) observed the relationships and conversations between their peers and families and friends. Emma felt that the pronoun she/her fit well to the girls in the neighborhood, while they (Emma) did not feel comfortable being referred to in the same way. Yet, starting from this early age through the end of the elementary school, this young child could not reach an understanding of their identity. Emma did not realize in what way they were different from the rest of their female classmates and friends. Neither could they relate to the boyhood world of their male class or community members.

It rarely happens that very young children have the capacity to process a complicated situation, engage in deep self-analysis, and, as a result, find the exact vocabulary to express their feelings to explain their being. Emma could not quite realize nor explain themselves to their loving and caring family who at that time remained oblivious of their child’s difference. The elementary school teachers and staff were caring toward and nice to their students. So, Emma’s early childhood through the start of the middle school went smoothly and without any significant complications.

Medieval Dark-Age Evil

Unfortunately, in high school, the situation for Emma changed. That is when the differences between peers’ traditional gender appearances and Emma’s changed, and the deep-underlying philosophy of Emma’s concept of self  became visible. Looking back at that time from the age of 25 and from the position reached through life experience, Emma recollected all the horrors of their junior high school as a survival challenge.

By the teenage years, many children gain confidence, power, and voice, but not much compassion, intelligence, and understanding towards the others. Emma’s peers started bullying them from Day 1. In that stage of life and development, the bullies were smart enough to avoid getting in trouble by tormenting Emma covertly.

Nevertheless, the daily emotional and psychological abuse created a vacuum around Emma. It was hard to overlook the development of the situation: the ostracization of the new schoolchild, marginalization, victimization, and oppression, which showed on Emma’s face. The signs were readable in the child’s body posture, according to them, as well as in their physical position – back and away from everyone else.

The school teachers did not interfere with the relationships between the students. Emma attempted to read the faces of the adults and could see that they noticed or sometimes heard the other students’ jokes about Emma. The teachers could hear the offensiveness of the teenagers’ tones of voice and the content of their ridiculing utterances addressed to Emma. It was hard to overlook the derogatory gazes accompanying the humiliating speech of the students addressed toward their helpless and unprotected peer. Even the number of Emma’s locker, which was 69, was used by the bullies as fodder for obscene jokes and vulgar gestures directed at Emma. All was ignored by the adults in charge of their school. Could adults, just for an instant, consider the pain of the psychological torment Emma experienced? Every day became the new nightmare for Emma. The unstoppable mistreatment and abuse turned this academically high-achieving school-kid into an undefended Stanford-school-prisoner locked inside their own frail frame, where the guards seemed united by hatred with the student body.

The only bright ray of light in Emma’s nightmare school life was another teenager who looked and felt in exact same way. Brief instances of communication in between the class periods with that peer helped Emma to gain a greater understanding of their gender identity. “You are not a girl, and you are not a boy,” explained Mari (pseudonym), “You are just you.” Though it was a relief to find a friend, the two bullied teens were singled out and attacked and had no power to withstand the unequal battle on their own without help from the adults who were trained, educated, and obligated to provide safety to all children in their school.

The students at that junior high school formed smaller or bigger gangs and cliques based on the culture, gender, athletic team membership, common interests, hobbies, and such. Belonging to most of these groups guaranteed their members some level of protection. Emma found they were not able to fit in to any of these social formations; to be more exact, Emma was not accepted by any. So, this young teen’s life became more and more unbearable in a merciless world of derision, humiliation, and emotional and psychological torment, with no strength to resist or stand up to the entire school.

Things became worse over the time. The cruelty of the powerful majority first oppressed, then, broke down Emma’s personality. This helpless child was left to survive without any protection from their junior high school teachers and administrators. The adults showed no interest in their treatment, with Emma’s only fault looking, thinking, speaking, and behaving differently from the other students.

Yet, different does not mean bad or wrong. The word different is no way synonymous to any of the above. Emma was never mean, nor did they respond with their own insults. The medieval witch hunt-like terror cornered the poor being while depriving them of all the joys of the teenage childhood: friendships, whole-class parties, birthday cupcakes, field-trips full of chatting and laughing, sports competitions (when one feels the support from a coach and the entire team). This was all unavailable to Emma who found themselves imprisoned in the unbearably tight and seemingly unbreakable cage of social isolation.

Luckily for this child, their parents and other family members provided a lot of support at home. It was the love to and from Emma’s two little brothers that kept this tormented teen alive. Emma recalled that it was the love to their boy siblings that helped them to overcome the urge to commit suicide.

Illness Without Remedies

Emma fell into a deep depression. They dropped out of school as well as any kind of social life. The presence of another teen with a similar gender identity was not enough for Emma’s fragile teenage psyche to sustain themselves in the face of the deriding multifaced and multipowered crowd united by the sole inclination to bully them.

The end seemed inevitable to Emma. They lost not only the appetite for, but the very ability to taste or even smell food. Life looked hopeless. The mere thought of going back to school, any school, was repulsive. Emma could not sleep, walk, play, or pray. Talking to their family members felt like a hard task, if not a burden.

The family understood their child was at risk of losing their life in one or another way: due to their refusal to eat or drink, due to their lack of desire to live, due to being totally emotionally and psychologically exhausted, frustrated, devastated, drained, and, worst of all, totally physically exhausted. Emma’s skinny body was visibly and observably drained of life. The family doctors were highly concerned and referred the child to psychiatrists and psychotherapists.

Antidepressants did not help Emma to heal. One can take pills, but one cannot forget those daily torments and tortures, which, though verbal, reached Emma on the physical level. Emma’s body hurt; they were living in the constant state of pain fed by the unforgettable torturing memories from the past, which felt like an endless and unbearable present.

Some medications slowed down Emma’s thinking and relieved the acuteness of physical pain. Still, there was no sustainable relief. Some other pills made the teenager feel angry all the time. Emma’s exhausted body felt even less able to accomplish the task of survival rather than prior to medical treatment. There were packs of pills, bottles, and boxes emptied over the entire long year before Emma felt some relief, which Emma mostly ascribed to the therapy. Apparently, words have the capacity to heal as well as harm.

The medications were eventually dropped, as they failed to offer relief to the inflamed mind of the child who struggled to comprehend, “How, why, what for was I tormented and hated by all? Should one be tormented for being different? Not mean, bad, aggressive, defensive, just different? How can this be? Where to hide? Where to go for protected life? How to move on? Move on where?”

Salvation

Later that year, a year apart from dropping out from the public junior high school, Emma’s supportive and caring family found a way out for their child, an escape. It was a private religious school, with very untraditional teaching styles, approaches, and methods, a friendly, welcoming community that was accepting any kind of diversity.

Emma recovered throughout an entire year while at the new school. The teachers and classmates provided a lot of support, kindness, and understanding; so, the former outcast warmed up and decided to stay and join in. The high school years at this private educational establishment felt great. Emma flourished as a gifted student. Later that year, this sick child regained their appetite. Food started tasting the way it had tasted a couple of years ago: delicious. Their ability to distinguish and enjoy aromas returned, and their childish energy seemed to have been restored. Emma was back.

They found themselves being able to move freely without muscle stiffness and pain. Emma’s little brothers celebrated the happy return of their elder sibling; Emma was free from the deep psychological and physical illness they had endured. Mom, Dad, and both Grandmas adored and supported their salvaged child. Yet, as long as Emma was different, it was too early for a happy ending to their story.

Back to the Fear

Emma grew up, successfully graduated from the private school, earned their Bachelor of Science degree, and became a teacher. Meanwhile, the world was slowly changing from tolerance to acceptance. More and more states within the United States, as well as some countries overseas, lost their hostility towards the diverging hypostases of diversity. Multiculturality became the widely accepted norm, protected by the law and multiple regulations. Gender diversity received a greater acceptance in more and more countries and states.

Emma felt honored to be assigned a teaching position at a public elementary school. This young educator loved their students. The school kids adored their new teacher. The first-graders accepted when their classroom educator asked to be addressed as Teacher, not Miss, Ms. or Mrs. Emma decided to not hide their identity and explained this to students. Simultaneously, they explained their choice of the pronouns they and them when referring to self. Some students attempted to ask their teacher, “So are you a boy or a girl?” Emma patiently clarified, “I am just Me!”

Emma’s students understood. They welcomed their new classroom teacher. The teaching and learning processes under Emma’s leadership went well. The young children participated in the lesson activities willingly, which resulted in their academic growth. Emma felt happy with the achievement of their learners. Due to their rapport with the children, their parents, colleagues at school, and the local community members, the professional relationships between Emma and their academic surroundings gained more strength, trust, and sincerity day after day, just as one would hope they would.

Yet, the bomb of unacceptance exploded when least expected. Emma’s school Principal informed them that a family of one child in their class decided to withdraw their daughter from the class. The student was transferred to a classroom next door where the lead teacher was a person of a traditional gender. This felt like a blow to Emma. It was hurtful and painful in more than one way. Though as an adult, Emma could understand the feelings of the people who could not accept the new and unknown.

Through the dull, deep, hidden pain and hair-raising fear, Emma decided to accept the position of the family who were not ready to tackle this teacher’s gender. It hurt, but it was not anything absolutely new nor unexpected. Here and there, through national broadcasts and via word of mouth, the news of rejection, firing, and mistreatment of the diverse citizens in American society was discovered. The things went worse when Emma’s student’s parents decided to escalate their case to the district Superintendent’s attention. Transferring their child out of the class of a different teacher did not satisfy these parents’ needs. They protested Emma’s presence in the educational system and insisted this different teacher should not be allowed to teach any students, anywhere, as these types of different people might serve as a bad role model to the youth, even though the students loved and respected Emma as their classroom teacher and showed academic growth. Fear that was dormant in Emma’s soul erupted again and engulfed them, while crossing out all Emma’s achievements earned over the years of their painstaking academic and professional work.

Nearing the Epoch of Enlightenment

Yet, Emma’s school Principal stood strong to protect the rights of this teacher whose ongoing academic achievement, professionalism, and dedication to the continuous growth of their students were not only observably evident but well documented. The principal not only supported Emma, but accompanied them to their meeting with the district Superintendent. During that meeting with the Superintendent, the leader of Emma’s school highlighted their professional efforts and their devotion to teaching and caring for the schoolchildren. Having gone through so much bullying and mistreatment, Emma put their strongest efforts into not only teaching, but also ensuring a welcoming and safe environment for all their class members, regardless of any identity of race, ethnicity, nationality, culture, language, religion, gender, socioeconomic standing, or immigration status.

It was as an unexpected and great relief for Emma to encounter understanding and support from the superintendent. Initially, Emma internally prepared themselves to face reprimands, accusations, and the loss of their teaching job. Emma was aware that all of the above had happened before to people who were different. The American national news disclosed many of these facts. American society widely protested against any forms of injustice and advocated for equality for all citizens as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. Yet, oftentimes, the position to defend one’s own rights was left to the individual while the bystanders demonstrated apathy if not indifference.

Luckily, Emma found themselves protected and, most importantly, supported and understood by their supervisors. This young educator stayed in their teaching position. Yet, this story of this different person, whose childhood innocence was smashed by bullies a long time ago, will not end with celebratory fireworks. It needs to be openly stated here that this teacher’s class size diminished by six students the year following the above episode.

Conclusion

The qualitative narrative case study presented in this chapter found evidence of abuse, bullying, mistreatment, unequal treatment, and a lack of justice for and protection of the focus research participant. The multimodal discourse analysis allowed me to conclude that the focus subject in this research was honest, frank, and sincere while narrating their life story during all stages of development. Evidently and importantly, Emma did not develop a combative stance. During the entire interview, Emma narrated their story without evaluating the behaviors of their peers. All the conclusions reached from the results of the data analysis were drawn by the researcher herself and not the participant, who never attempted to judge or accuse others while being interviewed.

In connection to the findings in this research, based on the previously conducted work by American and international researchers, the case of Emma was not exceptional (e.g., Currah & Minter, 2000; Gould-Yakovleva, 2018; Jimerson & Huai, 2012; Lloyd, 2005; McCormack, 2013; Poteat et al., 2013). The finding of this current study support the Vygotskyan (1978; 1987) postulates on the strong and, in the above case, negative effects on a member of a society produced by their surroundings. Heated national and international debates have been sparked by the assertion of human rights for LGBTQIA people. This chapter was concerned with the social and emotional abuse of only one person of a nontraditional gender. Born female, Emma lived through torturous experiences as a child, a teenager, and, later on, a young teacher. The story shared by Emma took place in the twenty-first century chronotope (Bakhtin, 1981a). Yet, it may be compared to the identical torments of a life story of the main character Jess in Leslie Feinberg’s (1993) novel Stone Butch Blues. Though not a scholarly publication, Feinberg’s book is recommended by the author of this chapter to be read by researchers, educators, and administrators in all academic settings. People of nontraditional genders, like Emma or Feinberg’s composite character Jess, may face unbearable or even deadly emotional and physical abuse and mistreatment from the side of the traditional gender people, including in academic settings.

As implied in the title of this chapter, the author identifies herself as a person belonging to the traditional female gender who views herself as an outsider to LGBTQIA communities, a researcher and an educator to whom students would sometimes come to share, cry, and ask for an advice. With all my collected life experiences, I asset the major purpose for publishing this chapter: to raise awareness of the acuteness of the problems as experienced by people of diverse genders. This publication aims to ask general audiences for greater understanding, acceptance, and compassion for those who are different.

I view positive attitudes as more important than morsels of tolerance, often synonymous with distancing and avoidance. The purpose of this publication is to attract the attention of American and the global societies to the problems of the people who were born different or developed different identities. In this chapter, I attempted to convey the idea that being born different is not anyone’s choice but, instead, a reality. Nevertheless, it is a choice for every individual to treat everyone with respect or to choose to insult, humiliate, emotionally abuse, and physically torment those who are different. No one deserves to be abused, bullied, mistreated, tormented, or deprived of their basic human rights.

It is also important to recognize that in the era of the hegemonic masculinity (e.g., Connell & Messerschmidt, 2005; Steinfeldt et al., 2012), the spiritual, mental, and emotional survival of females and the gender diverse is often perceived as a strenuous task. In the white-male dominant societies (Roberts, 2017), professional accomplishments by nonmainstream persons, especially the ones of the diverse backgrounds, are widely underestimated. With the conventional division of professions by gender, female applicants have less chances of success (e.g., McGinn & Oh, 2017; Roberts, 2017). This unwritten rule applies to the female born, female looking, and nontraditionally gendered persons with a significantly stronger bias against them (e.g., Currah & Minter, 2000; Poteat et al., 2013). Just as demonstrated by Feinberg (1993), people with nontraditional genders experience difficulties with employment today (Holstun, 2017). And, when employed, they have a greater chance of being laid off if their true identities are revealed and rejected, regardless of their professional contribution, seniority, perseverance, zeal, and other outstanding qualities and skills.

The above and more problems related to negative perceptions and unequal treatment of female-born and gender diverse people move me to stand up and speak. The major claim of this chapter is that all people, including those of different genders, need to be treated equally and with respect according to their merits and disposition, while human rights must be guaranteed to all without exception not only in the United States, but globally. Silencing the problems experienced by diverse populations will not lead to the improvement of their living conditions, health, and educational and professional success. Further, silence will never lead our society to a greater collective achievement. Promoting compassion and understanding, as well as the principles of American equality, would inevitably lead to the further development of a healthy and collaborative society, which has long served and will continue serve as an example for many to follow.