Youth SpotLIGHT: Joey Johnson

Check out a short testimony from today’s #YouthSpotLIGHT, Joey Johnson (pictured far right), one of HOPE worldwide’s Global Service Interns.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Racism is defined by Oxford as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized” (emphasis added). Prejudice is defined by Oxford as “a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience” (emphasis added). While prejudice and racism are simply opinions, they have had a devastating impact on our world and each of our lives. Currently there has been a spotlight placed on racial injustices, racially biased systems, and hopefully on the racism or prejudice that we have going on in our own minds. As a person of color, several people have reached out to me and asked me what they can do to make a change, to stand with me and other minorities, and to correct their own prejudice and racism. To be honest, I have struggled to figure out what to say in those situations because the truth is I have prejudice and racism in my own heart that I have to overcome too.

To me, considering those definitions, racism seems to have some roots in the opportunity to be a part of the majority. Prejudice has roots in a lack of actual experience. One thing that we can all do to challenge these preconceived opinions and feeling of superiority in ourselves is to go and get some experience. To put ourselves in places where we are a part of the minority. In 1869 the American author Mark Twain wrote, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” If you would like to put to death your prejudices and racism, one method is to travel.

This quote really spoke to me because I have seen this to be true in my own life and in the life of others. I have had the opportunity to spend time in places other than where I am from, and other than where I am comfortable, and those experiences have absolutely opened my eyes to the value of other human beings. Some of the greatest opportunities I have had to travel have been on HOPEww’s Volunteer Corps. Sacrificing time and money to love and serve people across the world, with a group of people from cultures different from your own makes it very difficult to hold the opinion that anyone is worth less than anyone else. Not only that, but it also will help you to create connections with people who do not look like you, or speak like you, or live like you. I implore you to consider volunteering, and to serve in a place unfamiliar to you where your own preconceived opinions might be challenged!

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Interested in becoming a Global Service Intern? Applications now live at hopeww.org/gsi !