“Yo, Is This Racist”
Image by (Unit Care)
Not everyone is affected by the issue of systematic racism, which has been prevalent in the United States, but the impact is widely felt across the nation. I have been to most cities in the United States in the last five years, and one thing I have noticed in these cities is the increase in the number of homeless people. The number continues increasing where I happened to pass through the same city more recently than I did four or five years ago. One of the distressing patterns I have realized connected to the issue of homelessness is how it is significantly painted black. Data also indicate that African American are the one highly affected by homelessness due to pileup of inequities that have been in existence (Wiltz). The African American people have become the symbol of homelessness where they spend their time on the streets during the day trying to find something to put in their empty stomachs. During the night, when they are left in the chilling cold because they are left, they sleep. Some homeless African Americans have to know sleeping tents most of their lives, yet we have a government and a country where foreigners believe it is where everyone is bound to realize their dreams. Hence one may ask, why is the dream of our brothers and sister, parents and children of African American race sleeping in the street!? Why has their dream chattered, and they have existed in this country for centuries?. Let me talk you through how systematic racism has produced homelessness among the African American people.
Everyone with some basic education knows the story of slavery, where the black person who transported from Africa against their own will to America to work for the white man. The end of slavery after the civil war ushered a new era of freedom to the African Americans but, on the other hand, opened a new error of racism that aimed at treating the African Americans as second-class citizens. The new era that arose was one that systematically denied the black people rights to vote and have an equal social-economic opportunity. The white man even went the extra step of legalizing systematic racism, evident in landmark rulings such as the Plessy case “separate but equal.” This is how far we have come as Americans and why systematic racism originated from the 18th century and today is manifesting itself in the suffering some African Americans are going through because they have been denied equal opportunities to achieve social, economic power. Hence today, report indicate that 50 percent of the homeless individual in America are African American (Allen). One may wonder whether consciousness still resides in American, a country that was built on the backs of slave labor of the African Americans, yet they are treated without dignity. As Marx state, “He is conscious of himself, conscious of his human reality and dignity; and it is in this he is essentially different from animals, which do not go beyond the level of the simple sentiment of self”(Hegel-Kojeve ). Hence, Americans are experiencing self-awareness knowing that they are living their dreams while others live in the streets homeless because the system set them to fail no matter what they do. Let me discuss some causes of homeless that are all attributed to the systematic racism that began after the end of slavery.
The problem of homelessness among African American start with rental housing discrimination and segregation. The federal government supported the systematic housing discrimination regarded as “redlining” several decades ago, and it was responsible for developing the wealth gap between the whites and black householders. This redlining program discouraged the people of color from economic investment on business loans and mortgages such that the effects are felt even today. This is because the redlining program denied the African Americans and other people of color leases more than the whites. During this time, the whites also were offered lower rents. They even had negotiable move-in costs, which were denied to the black people, and hence today, African Americans have fewer rental units and places where they can call home.
Data by (Creamer)
Poverty has been another contributor to homelessness among African Americans. African Americans have been in deep poverty for the past decades regardless of having gained freedom. This is indicate in the graph as they are the one leading in poverty level index followed by the Hispanic another minority group. They were never given a fair chance of starting a new life to compete socioeconomically with the white people. Systematic racism has denied them equal chances to education and employment that they white people. Poverty has pushed some of these people to the street, which has become their “ideal home” because they lack the capital to establish real homes.
Image by (King)
Incarceration has been another cause of the homelessness experienced by African Americans in the US. Data indicate there is significant racial disparity among whites and blacks. The number of African Americans in prisons has tripled since 1968. These numbers have not tripled by mistake but due to systematic racism within the criminal justice system that has made this racial group highly targeted through profiling and getting arrested for minor offenses. They are the target for offenses such as selling drugs in the streets, while the distributors who are white are left free in these. They are a group of people who have been pushed to small criminal offenses due to poverty. Still, the government policies have over-criminalized these offenses resulting in a high number of African American behinds bars. These people have their time wasted which they could have used to develop wealth, and when realized, they have nowhere to turn to but only the street. More so, systematic racism has resulted in blacks spending more prison time than the whites and hence not time to build wealth.
The lack of access to quality healthcare is another factor that has led these African Americans to be homeless. Data indicate that around 30 million Americans are still uninsured, and people of color contribute to significantly this number. Lack of insurance among African Americans with chronic conditions has placed them at the risk of being homeless because they will be forced to use their little earning to deal with these health issues for a prolonged time until they are fully drained of their resources.
As I conclude, my main advice is that the issue of homelessness has to be looked at from all angles that result in racial inequality. Some of these African Americans are not homeless because they have failed to work, but it’s because the system has set them to failure. They continue to receive few economic opportunities, a low-quality education, are sent to prison at a highly alarming rate, and lack access to health care. These factors have pushed the black man towards the poverty and homeless they are experiencing today. Regardless, the war of homelessness among African Americans will not be worn by being silent and hoping systematic racism fades away. As Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.” People and groups that care about equality and believe in humanity achieving social justice must continue voicing their discomfort about the high rate of homelessness, mainly affecting African Americans. They must continue discouraging systematic racism that continues to exist today, such as the continued incarceration rate among African Americans. I believe that if we are united as a nation, everyone can realize their dream in America.
Work Cited
Unity Care. “Systemic Racism Worsens Homelessness For People Of Color.” Unity Care, 2020, https://www.unitycare.org/systemic-racism-worsens-homelessness-for-people-of-color/.
King, Erica Y. “Black Men Get Longer Prison Sentences Than White Men For The Same Crime: Study”. ABC News, 2017, https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/black-men-sentenced-time-white-men-crime-study/story?id=51203491.
Creamer, John. “Inequalities Persist Despite Decline In Poverty For All Major Race And Hispanic Origin Groups”. Census.Gov, 2020, https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/poverty-rates-for-blacks-and-hispanics-reached-historic-lows-in-2019.html.
Allen, Karma. “More Than 50% Of Homeless Families Are Black, Government Report Finds”. ABC News, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/US/50-homeless-families-black-government-report-finds/story?id=68433643.
Wiltz, Teresa. “‘A Pileup Of Inequities’: Why People Of Color Are Hit Hardest By Homelessness”. Pewtrusts.Org, 2019, https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2019/03/29/a-pileup-of-inequities-why-people-of-color-are-hit-hardest-by-homelessness
JR, MARTIN L. U. T. H. E. R. K. I. N. G. Letter from Birmingham Jail. Place of publication not identified: PENGUIN Books, 2018. Print.
“Hegel-Kojeve.pdf”