“Heads”, the coin landed and the decision was set and debate had become integrated into my schedule. I can safely claim that this one coin toss was the best decision of my life as it helped me discover the world of debate. The world of debate allows us to simulate policy makers and pretend to pass policies, which helps students get familiar with the world's problems, like warming, war, and racism. Debate can deeply distort a student's reality by showing all the negative parts to the world, it's why students coming up with solutions to these problems helps students understand the world much better. Policy debate has expanded my views about racism in society and has also made me want to be different, and not debate traditionally.

I grew up believing that the world wasn't that discriminatory and wondered why Black Lives Matter was significant and why it wasn't All Lives Matter.  I had a pretty normal childhood, I went to school where there were many cultures and had many diverse races. I went through history class thinking that the world has gotten better, like things like the 13th Amendment were all good things, but I was very wrong. Debate helped me see the other side of the world, and showed me that racism was still present like for example the 13th Amendment is the reason for the mass incarceration for African Americans. It showed me how civil society is structured and how racism is embedded in society and that neither law or policy could fix racism. Debate also showed my role in society and how even I perpetuate racism. Things like the Myth of the Model Minority, or Afro - Asian solidarity are examples of my role in society. For example, The myth of the model Minority is a myth that perpetuates anti - blackness by saying that Asian Americans are smart and successful so why can't African Americans be as successful as the Asian Americans. Debate has helped me figure out my place in society and has helped educate me about the problems facing civil society today. It also has shown Asian Americans role in Black liberation efforts.

If you had to choose between solving for racism or war, which would you choose? That is what precisely debate is. Student debate these two issues very commonly and have to explain which one is the best option. The students that are on the war side of that spectrum are traditional debaters, and the students that say solving for racism is more important are called non traditional. I fit under the non traditional debate side, because I feel as racism is a more structural issue that needs to be prioritized over issues like war, and warming. Traditional forms of debate focus on a policy implementation of a plan, for example saying “The USFG should decrease carbon dioxide in the air” to solve for warming. Non traditional forms of debate don't tackle issues of warming or way but try and tackle issues of racism and identity. Non Traditional debate is often looked down in the community so debating it is harder than traditional debate because most traditional debater dislike non traditional forms of debate and usually try to exclude non traditional debaters from the debate space. You might call it a protest in policy debate by saying “Instead of focusing on trying to stop warming, or war we should try and end racism first.” Implementing these non traditional forms of debate into traditional forms of debate allowed us to protest current norms of debate. This side of debate has helped not only me but other people I have debated see that problems like racism are coherent and needs to be stopped.

Policy debate is a great way to understand the world in a way you never have before. Whether you want to do traditional forms of debate or non traditional forms of debate is up to you. Either forms of debate are very educational and are very beneficial to you. They can help you think on your feet in under pressure situations, or decrease your fear of public speaking. If you have a solution to a problem in society, debate is a good place for people to hear your ideas. As for me I can say that debating non traditional forms of debate has helped me see the world in a new type of reality.