A/N : This was written because the prejudice in Redwall just annoys me. I mean, one main character just killed a rat, assuming he was evil, without even knowing who he was!
Disclaimer: Brian Jacques owns Redwall.
All woodlanders are good. They always win. They are educated. They are brave. They fight for justice and freedom. They are good.
All vermin are evil. They will lose. They are uneducated savages. They are cowards who hide behind their leader's strength. They fight only to destroy others' happiness. They are evil.
Everyone thinks that, don't they? Everyone thinks that. Although they don't say it, its written all over their facial expressions, their actions, their very way of living. That's what they all believe.
A stereotype.
There is truth in it, I admit, but is it really just to judge people like that? Judging their personality, their fate, their very life, just based on species? Is it fair?
No, it is not.
All us vermin are not evil. We are not all waiting to tear your throat out. Some of us fear violence, just like some of you woodlanders. We are people, too, and we are each different, a separate being. We have emotions, just like you. Perhaps it is your fault that some of us are evil, because you always treated us like vile trash.
We are people, just like you, yet you judge us.
Why?
Why must you judge us?
Yes, plenty of us commited evil sins that are undoable, but does that really mean that we are evil, unable to do a single act of kindness? You judge us before we are even conceived. You judge us before you even see us, meet us, get to know us.
Why must you judge us?
Do you know how many barriers you have constructed against us? Physical ones, like the famous red sandstone walls of Redwall Abbey and the strong mountain sides that guard Salamandastron, they are all built to keep us out. But stronger still are the ones in your minds, blocking out our voices when we seek your friendship. You block out our real personalities, choosing to replace them with images of cruel, uneducated savages.
Why must you judge us?
I see the hate in your eyes every time someone mentions us. I feel your words trying to wound me, your eyes trying to burn me, your hatefulness trying to kill me. I feel it all, how you whisper about us behind our backs, how you spread the hate, the judgment. I know you think we are all evil, and that you wish that we didn't exist. Doesn't that make you no better than what you thought we were?
Why must you judge us?
Do you know how much pain it has caused us all, over the centuries of our existence? Do you know how it feels to be treated like an explosive? Do you know how many nights I had cried myself to sleep, wishing that I had been born as a mouse or a squirrel, an animal that would not be judged?
Why must you judge us?
I want to be your friend. I want to make you laugh, make you happy. I want to sing of the freedoms of being unjudged with you, to have our voices rise and fall with the wind. I want to be free of the chains that restrain me from speaking my mind. But we are all chained, each link a prejudice against us, and we cannot have the same freedoms as you, just because of our species.
Why must you judge us?
We are not all evil, like you said. The world is not black and white, but colorful, with rainbows of different personalities and characters. The world was not made to be divided, to be split by prejudice. It was made for us all to coexist, to live side by side. But still you judge us, and the rift between us and you rapidly grows.
Why must you judge us?
Why?
A/N: There is going to be a story after this. But this prejudice might still be in our world today.