There are 535 members in the US congress. They represent the citizens' voice in the government. Right now, 76% of the members of congress are men. Just 24% are women. In other countries, there are laws that say that the government must be half women and half men, but there are no laws in the United States that support this idea.

In the United States, half of the children are people of color. But, most of the characters in children’s books are white. Many book publishers (companies that sell books) do not want to sell books with people of color because they don’t think they will earn money. Many teachers in the United States are white and don’t give books to students that reflect the experience of children of color.

Daniel, a Latino man, was at a baseball game with his wife and two children. In the middle of the game, he needed to go to the bathroom. As he was waiting in line, a man in front of him asked quietly, “Hey man, do you know where I can get some drugs?”

David is a good student gets good grades in high school. When he is a senior he decides not to apply to college. He thinks, "I'll never be successful in college, Black men like me don't graduate from college." He decides to work as a cashier at a store instead.

President Trump wants to build a wall along the southern border of the United States and Mexico. He and many government leaders do not want any more immigrants from Mexico or Central America. He decided to give more money in the federal budget to the immigration police (ICE) to patrol the border, and make more deportations of immigrants.

John has a crush on another boy in his class. He feels bad that he likes a boy, he doesn't want to be gay. He asks a girl in his class on a date. He thinks if he pretends he isn't gay that he can change.

Paul owns a BMW dealership. His company sells expensive cars to mostly older men. Beth sells more cars than any of the other workers there. She asked Paul if she could become a manager. Paul said that while she was a very good saleswoman, the clients need to see someone strong in the manager position, so he was going to give the position to Matt even though he sold many fewer cars than Beth.

Supermarkets and big food stores don’t want to open stores in poor neighborhoods because they don’t think they will earn a lot of money. In these neighborhoods, the city usually gives more permits stores that sell liquor and cigarettes. So, many poor neighborhood don’t have fresh fruits and vegetables, but they can easily buy alcohol and cigarettes.

Jean is a black college student at Harvard. She is taking an English class, and they are reading a book about Harriet Tubman (a slave who escaped). Jean is the only non-white student in the class. During class, Jean’s professor, a white man, always asks for her opinion of the story, since she can “relate to her experience”. Jean has never been a slave and feels uncomfortable in this class.

There are very few positive representations of people of color in movies, as reporters for TV news networks or in advertisements to sell products. Hollywood means the movie industry in the United States. Hollywood is mainly white, heterosexual and male. In 2016, only 3% of movie directors were female. Only 7 percent of movies had characters that reflected the races in the United States. Only 2% of all movies showed gay and lesbian people.

Sara's family is poor. She doesn't want her friends to know that she doesn't have money so she works at a job for 40 hours a week. She spends all of the money on nice clothes so her friends don't know that her family doesn't have money. She thinks people will say she is dirty and lazy.

Companies build factories and trash facilities in poor neighborhoods. People of color and poor people usually live in neighborhoods with more pollution. The pollution makes people sick and have health problems. Laws protect rich white neighborhoods more so they have less air pollution.

Elizabeth and her girlfriend, Willa, wanted to go out to dinner on Friday night. They saw an expensive Italian restaurant that had many empty tables so they went inside. The husband and wife in front of them asked for a table for 2 and the waitress immediately took them to a table. Then Elizabeth asked for a table for two. The waitress looked at Elizabeth and her girlfriend and told them they didn’t have any tables left. As they were leaving, a man and woman behind them asked for a table for two, and the waitress took them immediately to an empty table.

Alejandra was very good at baseball. She was the best player on her team in 9th and 10th grade. But, in 11th grade she stopped playing. She thought that she would never find a boyfriend because she was too athletic. She decided to try a more "girly" activity instead.

Hideki is a new student from Japan. He is very outgoing and loves meeting his classmates in New York. One day after school he was playing basketball with some of his friends and one of them asked him, “Hey can you teach us Kung Fu after we finish playing?”. Hideki felt embarrassed telling them he had no idea how to do Kung Fu.

Kate is a very rich woman who lives with her husband in Belmont, Massachusetts, a wealthy neighborhood outside of Boston. One day she was walking and she saw an older white man dressed in clothes that looked dirty and old. When she saw him, she crossed to the other side of the street and walked more quickly. When she got home, she called the police and told them she saw a homeless man near her house who probably wanted to steal. Later, the police told her the man lived on the next street with his daughter.

Mario, a man from Mexico, was waiting in line for lunch at a cafeteria. The cafeteria worker asked every person in front of him, “What would you like to eat today?”. There were many different food options and Mario couldn’t decide what he wanted today. When he got to the front of the line, the cafeteria worker gave him a plate full of tacos. He said, “But you didn’t ask me what I wanted!” The worker said, “Look at you. Obviously you wanted tacos.” Mario hates tacos.

Choose the LEVEL AND the TYPE of Oppression!

After the first week Trump became president, he signed a law that did not allow immigrants from 7 countries (Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) to be in the United States. All of these countries have a big Arabic speaking and Muslim population. The law also said it was illegal for people with visas from these countries to travel to and enter the United States.

Choose the LEVEL AND the TYPE of Oppression!

10% of people in the United States are gay or lesbian. But, there are very few children’s books that show families that have gay parents or have gay characters. Many libraries and schools ban these books, or don’t buy them. They are afraid that parents will be unhappy, so many schools and libraries don’t encourage students to read these books.

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Joe needed a suit for the prom. His family was poor, but his grandmother gave him money for his birthday. He took the money to an expensive store downtown after playing basketball. He was wearing old sweatpants and a ripped t-shirt. When he went inside, the salesman said, “We don’t have public bathrooms.” Joe said he wanted a suit. The salesman said, “I don’t think we can help you here. There is a cheaper store down the street.”

Choose the LEVEL AND the TYPE of Oppression!

A manager position at Maria's work is available. Yangming, Maria's boss, tells Maria she should apply for the position because she is very good at work. Maria doesn't want to apply for the position, she doesn't think she will be a good manager because she is a women.

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There are 50 states in the United States. In 29 states, a boss can fire people from their job because they are gay or transgender. There aren’t a lot of non-discrimination laws that protect the rights of gay and lesbian people in the workplace.

Choose the LEVEL AND the TYPE of Oppression!