The diary of systemic injustice that I am going to share in this blog post displays the concept of the master-slave dialectic that was covered at the beginning of the course. I would like to believe and say that I am someone who stands up for the rights of all citizens and would give a helping hand to those in need. In Columbus, there are a decent amount of homeless people throughout the city. I am realizing that as I am coming up and about to pass a homeless person on the sidewalk, I immediately put up a guard and try to act like I don’t notice them. This is systemic injustice because I claim to be someone who is willing to help those in need but instead, I do not when I see a homeless person on the side of the street. I believe the reason I do this is that I am assuming, they are going to ask me for money, and I believe that if I give them money that they will use that donation towards drugs. Unfortunately, the way society is, I believe many people view homeless people as potential drug abusers. The homeless people represent the slave in this concept because they do not hold power within society; they have little to nothing. There are often negative biases toward homeless individuals.
The other day when I was walking home from the gym, I passed a homeless guy sitting outside of a CVS. As stated earlier, I put up a guard and didn’t want to engage with him. As I was walking by, he says something to me, and I just say “sorry” and keep walking. As I get a few steps past him my mind is replaying what he said. “Can I have your water?” is what he asked me. I stopped and turned around and asked him “did you want my water bottle?” and he nodded from the ground where he was sitting. I gave it to him because that’s something I can do and that I know he needs. I have the power and the choice to help those in need. Unfortunately, those who have power (masters) do not usually provide the help that these people usually need. I am happy that I turned around and gave that to him. However, I really need to break the stereotype that I hold in my beliefs that all homeless people are looking for money to use on drugs. That’s not fair to them.
The video attached to this blog explains some of the main reasons why the homeless rate is so high today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7SdWyH4afE&feature=emb_logo1
Picture displaying the living conditions of many homeless people.1
References:
Homelessness – NCCJ. https://www.nccj.org/homelessness. Accessed 22 Oct. 2020.
Thank you for sharing this post! Reading it made me realize how ingrained this stereotype is in much of society, and that I have too acted within it. It’s important for us to break out of the assumptions and believing a “single story”. If we are able to help, we should without judgement. I also like how you correlated it to class. Sometimes, I still find the Master/Slave concept to be a little confusing to understand, but this really gave me a real-world example and tied it to systemic injustice.
Great post. I appreciate you having the courage to share your personal story with us. The number of homeless people in America is alarmingly high compared to other countries. I find it mind boggling that we live in one of the wealthiest nations in the world, yet we have thousands of people living on the streets in desperate need of food, water, and shelter. This made me think of Peilan from The Leavers. Reading about her struggle to find a steady paying job and decent living conditions highlights the challenges of poverty and the injustice of social economics. I am very fortunate to be in a comfortable living situation and will try to be more cognizant of my stereotypes toward people in need.
Thanks for your sharing! Your post is very informative. The information of the homeless group provides a more solid backup to the injustice system. It is obviously a social issue that we should take into concern seriously in today’s society. Especially in this pandemic time, more and more people faced unemployment which takes a great negative impact to both the economy and social health. Those homeless people are facing a more severe circumstance.
Hi, I enjoyed reading your post. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and how you felt when you saw someone who was homeless. I have always thought that giving money to someone who is homeless that they would use it for the wrong reasons so I have always never gave money. There have been times where I have bought them food, gave them a gift card but never money because you never know. There are a lot of people who say that homeless people don’t deserve anything because they could easily get a job but I find that wrong because you don’t know their story and what they have been through.
It is crazy to see all of the homeless people out there. I never know whether or not I should give them money because your right, you never know what they might be using it for. And sometimes it is drugs. I liked how you explained the water bottle situation where yes, that is something you can give them and we know that is a good cause. I really enjoyed reading your post. It is always eye opening to what other people have to say. I can relate my thoughts to yours as I thought mine were very similar.
I thought your post was very interesting. Sometimes I had to think for awhile to find a good example of of systemic injustice but I never even thought of how we treat the homeless. I agree with you, I unconsciously put my guard up when I pass by a homeless person. It’s sad to see how easily people can help them but they don’t.