Within the essay “Preface and The new Civil Rights” by Kenji Yoshino, the reader delves into the harsh realities of true and false selves. Yoshino starts his essay with a concise, yet potent statement of “Everyone covers”. In essence, that we all desire to be socially accepted and to avoid social isolation by whatever means possible. Additionally, how we tend to cover up our real emotions and beliefs, or “true self” as Yoshino calls it, in order to assimilate to social norms. Yoshino asserts that following the modern day social norms of essentially hiding your true identity is not progressive, nor is it healthy for an individual, and we should rather embrace a lifestyle that displays one’s true self. Additionally, the irony of civil rights movements focusing on differences, rather than looking towards all the commonalities we share.
Yoshino brings forth captivating evidence from the civil rights movement, “At the end of their lives, both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X argued for this transition from civil rights to human rights.” (Yoshino, 457). This is an excellent point, the civil right movement was not fighting for civil rights, but rather human rights. Along with this, we should embrace commonalities, rather than emphasize discontinuities. When relating back to the concept of true and false selves, we should rather focus on what commonalities we share with others, rather than focus on what drives us apart. Zach de la Rocha once said, “Yes I know my enemies. They’re the teachers who taught me to fight me, compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite, all of which are American dreams”, in a sense it comes down to that it is the individual who fights their beliefs and gives into conformity, assimilation, and submission to the norm, just so that we feel accepted. Additionally, we should face this hypocrisy of our true and false selves by removing the disparity between the two. Finally, we should find self-acceptance paramount to conforming to the beliefs of others.
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