The Country of Burma Does Not Have a Conscience When It Comes to the Rights of Rohingya Muslims
We are able to analyze ZN Hurston’s “The Conscience of the Court” and relate it to the repression the Rohingya Muslims have been exposed to for a little under a year now. Hurston’s short story should be set as a guideline for all officials whom have the power to stop the discrimination of minorities.
RIVERSIDE — For years now, human rights have been a problem all around the world. Repression is very much alive and rank is something that is always looked at when it comes to helping a certain group of individuals. A perfect example of racism is a short story named “The Conscience of the Court” written by ZN Hurston. Now this story outlines the very problems we have in our world today that include the stereotyping out-groups go through everyday. It is set in a court room hearing where the main character Laura Lee Kimble struggles to have faith in her hearing because of the color of her skin. She has been convinced that the judge and jury have made up their minds as soon as she walks in due to her race and the charges she faces. Similar to other minorities around the world, Laura Lee Kimble faced self-doubt because of the negativity that surrounds the color of her skin. Many minorities in different countries such as the Rohingya Muslims face harsh conditions and discrimination because of their beliefs or race to this day. It is 2018 and we, as humanity, can not get over the fact that WE ARE ALL THE SAME.
As of late August of last year, Rakhine State within the country of Burma has been under huge amounts of stress with Burmese military operations being put in motion inside their area. We have seen huge amounts of brutality and savagery from the Burmese government on the Rohingya Muslims. The military operations were “aimed at driving Rohingya from their homes and destroying their villages” reports Human Rights Watch (HRW,1). The government of Burma led by Aung San Suu Kyi was looking to cleanse their country of the Rohingya Muslims. Them being a minority, were suppressed of help from the World Bank which was supposed to grant them $200 million for the Rohingya crisis. We can easily see a trend that has been repeated many times before in world history. Here we see a minority group experiencing rapes, assaults, house fires, and just plain out harassment with no one to protect them because once again it is their own government turning their backs on human rights.
Most of the time, many people are not aware of the unfairness and mistreatment of minorities. The reason being that these groups do not have the resources or the voice to reach the majority of the public. Their voices and rights are limited because of their low rankings. The Human Rights Watch also informs us that “more than 90 people have been prosecuted under the provision, including over 20 journalists” (HRW, 1). Journalists are key parts in the repression of minorities because they are able to document the stories and events that are taking place. Without anyone reporting the injustices that are happening, it is difficult for people to be aware of the genocide that is occurring in the world. Taking away a minorities voice is key for a government to continue with their agendas. Similarly in Laura Lee’s case, if it would not have been for the fair judge giving her a chance to tell her side of the story, she would have been condemned to possibly life in a jail cell. It is hard enough for minorities to escape stereotyping but even harder when the government is aiding the discrimination.
Within the Rohingya crisis, the Burmese government has set many discriminatory laws against these Muslims in order to strip them of their resources. For example they have put “restrictions on marriage, family planning, employment, education, religious choice, and freedom of movement” reports the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR, 1). All of these requirements just to keep antagonizing the group of Rohingya’s in order to convert them into what the government wants them to be. BBC news suggests that this is “world’s fastest growing refugee crisis” because of the amount of people fleeing from their own countries to avoid persecution of the government (BBC,1). In “The Conscience of the Court” Laura Lee is able to break away from the wrongful treatment of the law by being able to tell her side of the brutal fight she was in with a man. Civilians with roots in minorities are not able to explain to the government that they are not people of wrongdoings. Many of these people who are fleeing from major harassment have not done anything wrong but believe in their own religion and have different cultures than those that surround them.
Not only does discrimination of minorities hurt those that are impacted, but it also prevents the racism problem in our world from minimizing. Governments should be fair and equal to all civilians that they house in their country regardless of their religion or cultures. More courts and government should be like those shown in Laura Lee’s story; They should be fair and looking to seek justice not just implicate those who are different.
