China's Social Injustice Toward Minorities- Jack Maraziti

Communist China is a region with a history of unjust detention and labor camps.  Only five years ago, China abolished the "re-education through labor", which forced people without trial to labor for years.  Now, as of August of 2018, a similar system is arising in the region of Xinjiang, located in Northwest China. According to the Chinese government, these new camps are focused on detaining minority groups such as Muslims, Uighurs, and Kazakhs in order to prevent temptations of radical Islam, and to help them escape poverty, provide job training, learn the Chinese language, and to become "modern people" who are useful to society.  Unfortunately, this propaganda is only part of the truth and there is still much more injustice to be revealed.

The first event started in August 2018 in which an official target goal from the Chinese government was to send 100,000 citizens from Kashgar to the camps.  Kashgar is predominantly populated with the minority group of Uighurs, which eludes to the fact that these detention centers are targeting minority groups. This targeting of a population based off of their ethnic background and culture alone is an example of social injustice.  Furthermore, parents are being separated from their children and families. According to the New York Times article titled "In China's Crackdown on Muslims, Children Have Not Been Spared", one girl's mother was sent to one of the detention camps while her father had passed away.  Instead of being allowed to be cared for by relatives, the government put her into state-run boarding school with nearly half a million other similar children. Additionally, these groups of people are being forced to "repent" their own culture and heritage. One teacher within the camp claimed that it was an act of "brainwashing".  Another document released states that one Islamic man was placed in the camp for telling his followers to pray before eating and to not use inappropriate behavior or foul language. These excessive acts of erasing religion are a part of an attempt to reduce terrorism in the Xingiang region. Although Chinese government claims that these actions have been effective in eliminating terrorist actions, they are grossly defying human rights laws and are clearly targeting minority groups within the region.

In addition to these inhumane actions by Chinese authorities, detainees are also pressured into forced labor with low wages (if any) and are constantly under strict security measures.  Serikzhan Bilash, a founder of Atajurt Kazahk Human Rights, interviewed several inmates and their families. He found that the detainees referred to their bosses as “black factories”, which is because of the harsh working conditions and low wages.  One interviewee, Abil Amantai, claimed he was only making $95 a month. For many workers, it is true that they are only making around a third of what their wage was before the camp. Nural Razila who studied oil drilling before being forced into the camps was “sent” to a textile factory.  Despite having a more promising and rewarding job of being an oil driller, she was forced to take a factory job. Evidently, the propaganda claims of combating poverty, providing job training, and creating “modern” people are false. The workers are also closely monitored by officers throughout the camp and kept behind “double-locked” doors and barbed wire fencing.  Written in the released documents provided by CNN are the words “inmates must not be allowed to escape” (Westcott and Jiang). Workers also have scheduled eating times and have to be supervised 24/7. These strict security measures offer a glance into the harsh reality inside of these detention centers despite what the Chinese officials claim.

After signaling out minority groups, forcing them into labor, erasing their ethnic background and culture, and violating several human rights, it is clear that social injustice is still occurring today.  Many people within these minority groups are being generalized as terrorists when most of them are not. This is similar to the book, The Hate U Give, which I read for class. Khalid, an African American kid who was shot by a police officer, wasn’t given justice.  This was mainly because the public viewed and generalized Khalid as a drug dealer just because he was a poor African American kid, which was socially unjust. It is important for people to not make generalizations about minority groups and to remember that all people have the right to receive justice. If we don’t stand up against this social injustice as a world, many other minorities in other regions will continue to be exploited, just like in China.

Information From:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/world/asia/xinjiang-china-forced-labor-camps-uighurs.html#
• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/28/world/asia/china-xinjiang-children-boarding-schools.html
• https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/25/asia/xinjiang-china-documents-icij-intl-hnk/index.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinjiang_re-education_camps