It’s 2015: Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, etc. Still Exist

January 1st: The day that my Facebook newsfeed is filled with unhealthy, unobtainable promises; the gym is the most crowded it will be all year; and women claim the new year will be “Jane Doe’s year” as she leaves the past behind her. Unfortunately, there appears to be a trend in what people and society adopt as their New Year’s resolutions.

Too frequently, I have seen individuals attempt to ignore the events of 2014 in order to see the light at the end of the tunnel, otherwise known as 2015. This phenomenon typically outlines why many ill-advised, poorly educated individuals believe our society has evolved into one with post-sexist, post-racist, post-homophobic, etc. ideals.

The media and social media on December 31st and January 1st tend to be consumed by all the happy-go-lucky events and stories that occurred in 2014 or on the gossip surrounding the authenticity of Kylie Jenner’s lips and further slut-shaming and homophobic and racial slurs thrown at the reality television stars.

Important, ongoing, and incredibly newsworthy stories that continue to impact our society as we move into 2015, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, gravitate towards the back burner and begin to dissipate as soon as the clock strikes midnight. The blatant disregard for impactful movements, such as modern feminism, the LGBT rights movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and numerous others is why individuals do not understand that we continue to live in a society that thrives on racism, sexism, homophobia, classism, ableism, and other forms of oppression.

The neglect shown towards the different movements is also why individuals cannot see the intersections that align so many of these movements with one another — why, for example, people are confused when a connection is made between the police brutality that women faced in the United States and continue to face in other countries, the police harassment that the LGBT community faced during the Stonewall Riots, and the excessive violence that has been used by the police against black people since the beginning.

There are the individuals who see the victories in same-sex marriage across the United States, yet do not see the news that the suicide and murder rate of LGBT individuals is still incredibly high; the individuals who convince themselves that they are not racist, yet cannot recognize that stereotyping still exists and leads to violence towards black and brown people, not to mention the continued if not increased presence of the Ku Klux Klan; and the individuals who think that Roe v. Wade was the defining point of women’s reproductive rights, yet do not understand that women’s reproductive rights in several states continue to be put at risk in the hands of lawmakers every single day.

This year, when you sit down to make your New Year’s resolution, do not leave 2014 behind. Instead, reflect on it, educate yourself, and act on it in order to help guide the choices you make in 2015. It is something that society needs to learn how to do. Doing it of your own accord is only the beginning.

Header image credit: ~Roxanne~/Flickr