I chose to analyze the movie The Help which is based off of the novel written by Kathryn Stockett during 2009. The movie was released in theaters in August of 2011 and has won many awards. The story setting is in Mississippi during the 1960s where people of color were still be oppressed. Specifically the story is referring to the maids who take care of white families during this time period. Skeeter is a college girl who is pursuing a career in journalism and is coming home from college to interview the families who take care of the white families. These maids are people of color and describe the type of treatment they receive from the families they take care of. The housekeeper for her best friend’s family is the first women to talk to Skeeter and answer the questions she has. However, the more Aibileen talks, the more other women begin to talk to Skeeter and answer questions as well. People were very unhappy that Skeeter continued to interview these women because essentially they were exposing these families for being racist and rude towards them. Since Skeeter is a white women, people thought she was in the wrong for releasing all of this information about the white families and how they treat their housekeepers. I think the importance and connection between this story and this class is that we are continuing to learn how people are still being oppressed in today’s society. The negative treatment that was occurring in the 60s is mirrored today by certain individuals towards people of color. Even though we have progressed as a society, it does not mean we have completely gotten rid of it. There are still people who feel superior over others because of physical traits. Skeeter made an important choice and decided to air out the injustice actions and words people were being faced with. As a society today, we need to continue to air out the bad decisions and hold people accountable in order to create long-lasting change.
Author: clements.172
Diary of Systematic Injustice Showcase
This week I have been paying a lot more attention to the wage gap that has been going on in the United States. Women are still getting paid less than men in the workforce especially black women. This has been a known issue for years that still has not been solved. In an article I have found on this topic, a diagram shows how many more days women need to work to make the same amount that a man makes in one year. According to Business Insider, Asian women need to work 42 more days than men, white women need to work 100 more days than men, black women need to work 226 more days than men, and Hispanic women need to work 307 more days to get the same amount of pay that a man makes in just one year. That is almost an entire extra year that Hispanic women need to work which makes this not only a gender inequality but a race issue as well. If this did not have anything to do with race than that would mean all women would have to work the same amount of days to equal men. However, it is not the case and because of this it is now a gender and racial issue. Therefore there are two different issues that need to be solved based on this problem. Doing the same job should not get you paid any less than a male or a female of a different race. Another reason why there is a wage gap is because there is segregation when it comes to different occupations. Not all women are allowed to hold the same position as males and this is even shown in the business field with males being CEOs of many more companies than women. Personally, I see this in my career field as I am trying to pursue a career in the sports industry. My classes are dominated by males and often look at me like I am not a threat to anyone. I can obtain the same amount of knowledge, if not more in order to be a successful women in this field but people do not take me seriously just because I am a women. It is complete injustice and sad to see still in the United States today.
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2020/03/24/482141/quick-facts-gender-wage-gap/
Shayanne Gal, A. (2020, July 08). 26 simple charts to show friends and family who aren’t convinced racism is still a problem in America. Retrieved February 13, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6
Ko, The Leavers, pages 151-end, Context Presentation
In Lisa Ko’s novel, The Leavers, we are introduced to a young boy named Deming Guo and his mother. Throughout the first half of the story we understand that his mother had suddenly left and eventually has the chance to see her again and ask her the questions he needs to figure out why she left in the first place. Deming was adopted and often faced issues trying to fit in. When he reconnected with his mother, he learned that she had been deported and was unable to find a way to contact him directly. I felt that this part of the novel brings to light to deep issues of our immigration system and how it can be harmful to not only the parents, but to the children especially.
I felt that deportation can have a large negative effect on young children and found an article that discusses the real challenges many people face. The idea alone that people have to live in fear of being deported can be mentally straining on a person. That can cause so much anxiety and no person should have to live their life in fear every day. Not only can living in fear give a person mental health issues, but children have physically seen their parents be arrested and taken away from them. This was not the case for Deming in the novel, but he woke up to his mother being gone with no explanation why. The disappearance of a loved one and a care taker can be mentally exhausting as well.
In an article that I read it states, “In addition to disruptions in their lives and separations from parents, citizen-children and their undocumented siblings frequently live in poverty, suffer-discrimination, watch and experience their parents’ own emotional distress, and have poor physical and mental health (American Psychological Association, 2012).” This was heavily shown through Deming and his emotional and physical state. Deming lived in poverty and had a very hard time fitting in. This lead to him changing his name to Daniel to sound like the other names in the United States.
I think this story opened people’s eyes to the many issues that happen when it comes to immigration and how it can negatively effect people’s lives. As a young child, it is unfair to have to go through the struggles and stress in order to live a more free and happier life. Hopefully this story will make people think twice about how they treat others and how they look at the fairness of this system.
American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Immigration (2012). Crossroads: The psychology of immigration in the new century. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/topics/ immigration/immigration-report.pdf (PDF, 1.35MB).
Ko, Lisa. The Leavers: A Novel. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2018.