I’m a young woman and a young woman of color. Society doesn’t make it easy to be either one of those things.

I’m proud to be who I am (don’t get me wrong), but think about all the odds stacked up against young women, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color), and people in poverty. It’s taken us way too long to finally get a woman in a position of power. It’s taken us way too long to address homelessness. It’s taken us way too long to give women equal pay.

And the worst part is, two of the three issues I named really can’t be considered “fixed” yet. Homelessness, especially among veterans, is still one of the biggest issues in the nation. Seventeen out of every 10,000 people in the United States were homeless in 2019. Women’s homelesness is especially hard because of our menstrual cycle. This is often overlooked.

The women’s U.S. soccer team has been fighting extremely hard for years to get the same pay as their male counterparts. We do have Kamala Harris, who is the first Vice President to be a woman, be Black, and be South Asian. However, she wasn’t the one to bring herself to that position of power. A friend of mine pointed out that Joe Biden, a white male, brought her up to that position of power. It’s a step in the right direction for sure, but Kamala Harris should’ve been able to do that herself.

My point is simple: America is changing. And it’s about time the statistics change too.

How do we address the issue of overlooked homelessness and unequal representation of women? That’s a great question.

Honestly, it starts with the media. How often do we see women’s sports on TV (basketball, soccer, flag football, swimming, etc)? Not often, if at all. How often is a peaceful protest shown on the news? Never. How often does the media (social media, the news, articles, etc) show the injustices of our criminal justice system? Never ever ever. What’s shown instead of women’s sports? Pro-football, all of them males. What’s shown instead of a peaceful protest? Riots, started by the very same law enforcement who are supposed to bring justice and protect us. How come injustices are never pointed out? Because no one has the guts to address the elephant in the room.

As a young woman and a young woman of color, I have dreams and goals. I want to see more “Kamala Harris stories” depicted on the news. I want to see women’s college (or professional) softball played on ESPN. I want to see justice brought to the hundreds of black people who have been killed at the hands of law enforcement.

I leave you with this: When will the media start addressing simple issues like unequal representation or the thousands of homeless vets and women out on the streets?

These issues are sweeping our country, so when will they start paying attention and offering support?