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Week 12 context presentation

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Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies

Interpreter of Maladies is a collection of 9 stories. They were written by an American author with Indian descent named Jhumpa Lahiri. She is a very accomplished author, and this is widely considered some of her best work. As a person of Indian descent, Jhumpa herself faced issues having to do with identity and her place in the world around her. She was born in London, but was raised in Rhode Island. Similarly, her stories take place in India, and in America, specifically New England, where the author was raised. The story was written in 1999 and takes place in the present day, but the stories are centered around longing, and loneliness. The stories deal with Indian Americans who are stuck between their roots and their new lives in the “New World”. Immigrants from all over the world deal with these issues today, and in novels we’ve already read, as well as this one we see their individual struggles highlighted.

“Yo, is this….” podcast transcript

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Today we’ll be talking about current news and systemic injustices, and looking at them from different points of views and why they are issues. So for our first systemic injustice we have HBCU budget cuts. “HBCU” stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and you can find them pretty much around the country, especially on the east coast. They are pretty popular even to this day. At first they were the only means of education for African American students after high school, but now we are obviously allowed to go to PWIs as well, but HBCUs still remain popular to this day. More background on this situation; Normally HBCUs receive about $45 billion in funding from the government, and this goes towards books, classrooms, dorms, the normal things that colleges would spend their money on. However, with the new bill signed by our president they are only set to receive about $5 billion in funding. This is really devastating because these institutions are already starting behind as it compares to PWIs. Unfortunately because historically, and even still today, these schools do not have the same funding as other schools, so it becomes a vicious cycle in the sense that when they have a lack of funding they cannot attract new students, new athletes and even professors to come teach at their school. So then they cannot generate enough revenue and popularity to invite more, and they become deeper and deeper into this economic hole. I see this as a systemic injustice, because like I said these schools are not known to be top funded in the country, and definitely not the most wealthy, so it is doing a lot of kids a disservice because at the end of the these schools are ingrained in African American history, United States history, and also an opportunity for some kids to get a more affordable, higher education, so you’re doing those kids, and i believe the whole country a disservice because you’re taking away their history, and also a means of education for a whole group of students. At the end of the day education is the key to knowledge,and knowledge is the key to power and elevation in terms of self and in terms of a whole country. Whether young African Americns students, or students in general in the country have legacy at these schools, they are close to home, they’re the best fit, or they are the most affordable option; these schools play integral roles in a higher education for a large demographic of students. That is why I see this as a big problem, not only are they cutting the budget for these schools, but this can also in turn lead to students being discouraged for seeking a higher education as a whole, because they schools play such a big role in their application process, their recruitment process, whatever the case may be. Shifting our focus to the other side, we can explore options for why this budget cut may make sense in the end. The first reason that I feel like it might make sense is because of the issues we’re dealing with facing COVID 19. Obviously this is an all hands on deck situation, even though it might be calming down to a certain extent now, we need all the hands and basic funding we can get for research and for hospitals for taking care of people and to make sure nothing like this happens again. Another reason why this could make sense is because of the fact that these colleges are receiving a lot of money. It kind of helped jump start them and get back on their feet, so once they were able to get back on their feet they were able to market and brand themselves so they could gain more popularity to have students, athletes, coaches, and professors come and basically revamp and revitalize these schools and programs that they are coming to. Notable celebrities, like Deion Sanders who is the new head football coach at HBCU, Jackson State has helped put his school back on the map with TV deals, new uniforms, new gear, and this also led to brand new facilities, and practice fields, which leads to more revenue coming in, with fans coming to games, which then can be put back into newer classrooms and equipment which can also be put back into academics as well. Other famous alumni have done the same for their alma maters as well. There are also other pressing issues in the world, such as immigration, and that brings us into our next topic as well. Our next topic has to do with immigration, specifically in Mexico, and other parts of Central and even South America. Recently, around 2000 immigrants, mostly from Central America, marched out of a Mexican city where they were said to be essentially trapped. They were stopped by police, but the large crowd was able to push past and keep advancing. Most of these people have said to have filed for asylum or visas, but their papers keep getting delayed. A lot of them have not even heard back at all. Obviously immigration is a tricky subject to say the least, but I feel it is a shame that these people are being left in limbo and being addressed with riot gear when they speak up. Here in America, we are in a very blessed, powerful position. While I am not saying that we need to open up our borders, I do find it beneficial to help those who are fleeing messed up and dangerous situations. Turning the other cheek and leaving it up to the National Guard will not lead to anything positive, or anything productive. A possible solution I have come up with is to partner with other nearby countries and provide a safe place for them to stay, while they go through the immigration process in the United States, or another place for them to permanently reside. As humans I don’t feel that it is right to leave all of these people who are in most cases in dire situations in literally no man’s land with their lives hanging in the balance. I see this as a systemic injustice because at the end of the day these are citizens who are not being protected by their own, and most cases native countries. If they are not being protected in their own countries, I feel that we as human beings in the United States and neighboring countries and governments should be able to step in and help protect these people. I also see this as an injustice because in the United States we have processes that are set in place and like I said before most people have filed for asylum and visas, so if we’re going to have these processes set up then we need to hold up our end, which we aren’t doing, because in a lot of cases we are not reaching back out to these people to tell them what is taking so long, we’re just letting them do it the honest way and then never getting back to them, which I see as a problem and an injustice. There are however a few reasons why this might be the current situation that we are in. The first being, just like for the first injustice; COVID 19. At the end of the day, letting all these people come in who have no record or knowledge of where they have been, who they have been in contact with and even things like vaccination is a very dangerous game. Like I said earlier, we are just getting the pandemic under control, and this would set us back a whole lot if a lot of these people have contracted something on the way out of their countries, or on their way into the US. The second reason is the plan that I came up with, having us and neighboring countries having them shelter somewhere would take a lot of time and organization, and we would not get that done in time before we could get their visas, and help them file for asylum. We could let them in, or they could get somewhere else in the same amount of time it would take to have them shelter until we get back to them. My last reason why this may be the situation we’re in is at the same time, America and other neighboring countries have their domestic issues that they have to deal with. Sometimes taking care of another country and government’s problems cannot always be top of mind or top priority, even though I think it should be one of our priorities, it cannot be our top priority at the end of the day. 

Diary of Systemic Injustices – HBCU budget cuts

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This systemic injustice is a fairly new and developing story. It has to do with Historically Black Colleges (HBCUs). These are colleges located throughout the United States, primarily the east coast. For decades and in some cases centuries, young African American students have attended HBCUs to continue their higher education. These schools are not just colleges, but they are also a part of African American, and American history. Unfortunately, these schools often times lack the resources and funds to attract more students and athletes to come there. With this being the case, they can’t generate enough money to break this vicious cycle. Recently it has been announced that in the president’s spending plan, HBCUs will be taking a major hit. They were expecting a fund upwards towards $45 billion, but now they are only expected to receive a share that will be less than $5 billion. $40 billion is a devastating for these institutions to take, because they are already starting from behind as it compares to Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). These schools began as the ONLY options of higher education for African Americans in the United States, now they play a slightly different role, being in some cases the most affordable option, the dream option, or the place that makes that student feel the safest. I see this as a systemic injustice because these are not known to be the top funded institutions, or the most wealthy, so it is doing hundreds of thousands of African American students a disservice by cutting the funding by $40 billion. To me, this case reminds me of Persepolis, and Marji’s story. Although there is no sudden change in power in our country right now, there is still a system in place that does not benefit every citizen in our country right now. In Persepolis, the government got to the youth by way of education in order to get everyone to buy into their ideals. By controlling what is taught, the government in Iran is able to “keep them in check” and avoid revolt against their regime. Similarly, in America, African Americans are often seen protesting for the way they are treated by the police, in the jail, and the school systems. Despite African Americans being in this constant battle with the people in charge, little seems to ever change. The real way to initiate change starts with the youth, and education. HBCUs tend to be a place of comfort for African Americans across the country. By cutting the funds to these schools they are taking young black students out of their comfort zone, and in some cases discouraging them from a higher and more affordable education. Below is a picture of a brand “Support Black Colleges” which calls attention to issues such as these by way of clothing. Also pictured is our Vice President Kamala Harris with representatives from numerous HBCUs across the country.

citations:

https://www.arklatexhomepage.com/news/education/president-bidens-hbcu-funding-proposal-falls-from-45-billion-to-2-billion/

 

Context presentation- First half of Lisa Ko’s novel The Leavers

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In The Leavers Lisa Ko, the author discusses cultural identity and belonging. For Deming, he struggles with having a multicultural identity. She shows this by suggesting that being a part of a group is not straightforward or black in white. For Deming, this is true, he struggles to keep his Chinese identity in many different situations within the novel. Daniel went through an abrupt situation where he is adopted by a white family when his mother took off. Peter and Kay rename Deming thinking it would make life easier for him but instead were isolating him from Chinese culture. Ko recognizes that a person’s cultural identity changes often show themselves in language, and that is what happens when Peter and Kay change Deming’s name to Daniel. One week in a new environment had already had effects on Deming. Ko shows how one language outstepped another in this situation English outstepped Fuzhouse. Over more time, Deming’s memories of Fuzhouse started to disappear. When Deming would speak Fuzhouse occasionally, peter would scold him and tell him he needed to be speaking in English. Peter and Kay obsess about getting Deming to adapt to his new environment. And even though Deming does adjust to his new white suburban American lifestyle he does not forget his Chinese identity. Absorption into different cultures does not mean giving up one’s original sense of self. You see this concept later with Daniel when ends up going to Chinatown after he walks off stage due to everyone paying their attention to Roland and him getting ignored. He has a feel of familiarity when walking through Chinatown. When walking through he also got another feeling. To Deming being surrounded by other Chinese people had become felt strange to him. This is because in high school he was used to being the only Asian person. He has this sense of belonging within two different cultural because even though when walking through Chinatown may have felt strange it also felt familiar to him. Deming being multicultural does not bring him unhappiness but brings him an advantage over others because he can be whoever he wants Deming or Daniel.

 

Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. First edition. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2017. Print.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/multiculturalism

 

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase- Texas Abortion Laws

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The systematic injustice I would like to talk more about is the Texas abortions laws, there are seven million women of childbearing age in Texas, and the law will make it more difficult for all of them to obtain abortions in the state, as legislators intended. This law bans abortions once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity, which is about 6 weeks. Many questions on this law have been asked. Such as who in the population will be most affected by this law? Some population groups that are most affected by this law than some others are “teenagers, who often don’t realize they are pregnant until later in a pregnancy; low-income people, who need to find about $550 to cover the cost of the procedure; people of color; and immigrants without legal status.” These groups are not only being oppressed because of their gender but due to their age, race, and finical status. This law empowers individuals to enforce an abortion ban giving power to Anyone who successfully sues an abortion provider. This creates more victims in this systematic injustice

      Another question asked is are the fathers of the children responsible as well? The answer to this is no they are not. Within this law, women are only responsible for this child but the men are not. This shows the injustice towards women within this system because they are having a choice about their bodies taken away. These women are being put in uncomfortable situations that they have no choice but the men in these situations do. After 6 weeks, women are forced to have the child but the father of the child is not responsible to stay around for the pregnancy. Why are men not responsible for something they helped create? Children are not us the women’s genetics it’s 50/50 so why are women 100 percent responsible for the child and men have a choice to be zero percent responsible. This system is taking all the power away from these women. Society has painted a picture that the women take care of the children well the men work. This is a single story that has been created from history and since the men are the ones in this story, they continue to have more power than women. 

       Another question asked about the Texas abortion law was, Does the law make exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, or to protect the life of the mother? The answer is no it does not make any exceptions for rape or incest, but it does make exceptions for health reasons. These exceptions are narrow, they allow termination if the pregnancy could be dangerous to the mother’s life. It’s sad that this is what it must come down to for a woman to have the right to an abortion.

 

https://www.npr.org/2021/09/01/1033202132/texas-abortion-ban-what-happens-next

 

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-answers-to-questions-about-the-texas-abortion-law-7491595/

“Yo, Is This…” – Chloe DeLyser

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Systematic Injustice Abortion Laws

 

 

 

Introduction

Our society doesn’t give women a lot of permission to talk about what they want to, or about what they need or to ask for help. Women are stereotyped as needy or seen as less than the average man so when presenting a problem nobody takes it seriously. This is the cause of many sexist actions that happen in society. Men have also been seen as the average human and women continue to be the “other”. That view of one and another is why women’s problems tend to get overlooked. As a woman in this society that is a scary thought that just because I am a woman, I am never going to be seen as the average human due to my gender. It is always easy for the government to take away rights from women than it is for them to take rights from men.

When seeing an article on the Texas abortion laws for the first time this year I was in complete shock that not only laws like this were still around but how much worse they were getting. I grew up in New York, which is a pro-abortion state, so this is not an issue I grew up around. Now going to college in Ohio who just released new abortion laws themselves which in my opinion may be worse than Texas. I am now in a new environment where abortion laws are restrictive. I was offended by the news media’s aggressive efforts to portray the pro-abortion movement as normal. This is because these protests have been going on for so many years that people do not even have a second look when seeing them. These protests have recently become prominent again with the new Texas abortions laws that empowered other states like Ohio to jump-start off them.

Texas Abortion Laws

The law created by Texas bans abortions states once medical professionals can detect cardiac activity or in another term about 6 weeks into the pregnancy. Most women do not even realize they are pregnant until 6 weeks so how is this fair to them. If a woman does find out before the 6 weeks and chooses to go through with the abortion, they are required by the law to have at least two visits. The first one is an ultrasound second visit to ensure you are still within the new legal limit for abortion care in Texas. If the second ultrasound shows you are past this new legal limit, we can still help you access abortion care out of state. This just makes it more challenging for those who still have a choice. There are also many other protocols such as parent permission if you are under change. They are doing anything they can to make it difficult for women to have this right.

The only exception to the abortion law is that a woman is allowed to have an abortion if the pregnancy puts the mother in a life-threatening situation. Even in this situation the Not even rape or incest are considered exceptions according to the law. I do not understand how that is even humanly possible for someone to allow a woman to not have this choice, especially when in one of these horrific situations. “In 2019, Texas reported 14,656 instances of rape, though that number is almost certainly an undercount” (Pollard). All those who voted on the Texas abortion law knew this information before voting on it. I think this is unconstitutional and shows how broken the government system is especially towards women. It’s not the government’s role to decide which abortions are good abortions and bad abortions.” This is because there is no such thing as a good abortion or a bad abortion. There is only needed abortions and all patients no matter their circumstances are worth having access to the best health care they may need.

No Male Responsibility

These women are forced to keep the pregnancy but where are the men during this pregnancy. You would think that babies are only created by women since they are the only ones who are forced to be a part of the pregnancy. Well, the men who are 50 percent responsible for the child have a choice to not be a part of the pregnancy. Why do men have this decision well the women in the situation do not. I’ll tell you why it’s because our society has created this idea that it’s the women’s fault, they got pregnant in the first place. Women are stereotyped as “sluts” and men are not. It never seems to be the man’s fault it is almost as if women get pregnant by themselves. I feel as some people forget that a child is 50 percent their father’s DNA and 50 percent their Mother’s DNA. I think Texas needs a law holding fathers to account, if they make abortions illegal, they should make it illegal for men to desert women after getting them pregnant. If women can’t back out of pregnancies, men shouldn’t be able to either.

Abortion Law Allows Citizens to Sue

 

This law allows citizens to sue abortion providers or anyone else they suspect of helping a woman obtain an abortion. This law shifts the method of how laws are normally enforced. This act removes the government and law enforcement from enforcing the act and hands the enforcement over to private citizens. It’s believed to be the first type of law enforced by private citizens. If the lawsuit is successful, “the plaintiff is eligible to receive $10,000 in damages plus the cost of legal fees”. It’s believed this bounty law will increase the number of lawsuits filed in Texas. This is only going to cause more conflict in our country than there already is which is scary to me.

Mental/Physical effects on Women

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnU3JwZiv8c

One big is Economic hardship because about half of people who are obtaining an abortion already live below the poverty level. When someone is already struggling financially and are denied care it put them in an even tougher economic situation. These people likely experience debt, bankruptcy, and even infections compared to those able to get care. Being denied an abortion can also lead to an increase in anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem especially in the months after being denied care. It can also increase life-threatening physical health so when women who carry unwanted pregnancies to term are more likely to have pregnancy risks such as postpartum depression, gestational diabetes, and even hypertension.

Highest affected groups

Some groups that are most affected by this law more than some others are teenagers, who often don’t realize they are pregnant until later in pregnancy, people with low-income status, people of color, and immigrants without legal status. These groups are not only being oppressed due to their gender but due to their age, race, and finical status. To fully grasp the damage the law will do to Black and brown people of childbearing age and their offspring, it is important to understand that the state’s health care system has been failing them for years. “Black infants in Texas were twice as likely as white infants to die before their first birthday”. Throughout our history, policies and laws have worsened racial inequities and the impacts of systemic racism in our health care system and beyond.

 

How the Media Can Help the Issue

Most of the time the media shows this issue as nothing that major just another day in America. They usually just talk about the political side of everything that is taking place. They never get sources who are being harmed by the issue. We need to see more of a women’s point of view and their personal stories to show the feeling and emotion behind the problem. With this, we can see what they are having to go through how they are dealing with everything. People can connect with these women allowing for the message to be internalized. The women who are experiencing this oppression are the media’s best sources to truly understand what is happening in our country. With this, the message can spread and have a bigger impact.

Ways People Have Created Change

The anti-abortion movement has gained the most momentum over the years. Many churches sponsor related ministries, and a recent calendar of events published by an anti-abortion website includes rallies, retreats for men who suffer from the grief, anger, and guilt of terminating a pregnancy, annual walks, and runs and hikes. Billboards denouncing abortion, with graphic images, have dotted the highways. There are also donation sights where you can donate to help these movements so that you can help even if you cannot make it in person. I believe that the enabling legal environment is just the first step toward enabling people to exercise reproductive autonomy and to access safe abortion care.

The United States vs Other Countries Abortion Laws

Recently the United States has made it harder in parts of the country to get an abortion, unlike many other countries that have been doing the opposite. Mexico just recently had a supreme court ruling to decriminalize the practice. Meanwhile, New Zealand, Thailand, and Ireland have all taken steps to ease abortion restrictions in recent years. I think very few Americans realize just how radical and out-of-step America’s abortion laws are in comparison to the rest of the world. In Europe, many countries offer broad exceptions after the first three months for socioeconomic reasons like unemployment, medical issues like fetal impairment, or social issues like the age of the mother. I do not know about anyone else, but doesn’t this just shock you how many other countries are willing to give women these rights they deserve and in the United States women have been fighting this for as long as I have been alive.

 

 

 

 

https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2021/09/07/why-gender-war-wont-work-fighting-new-texas-abortion-law/5692537001/

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/579944-ohio-lawmakers-introduce-abortion-bill-that-goes-further-than-texas-law

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/blog/2021/texass-new-abortion-law-will-harm-people-color-further-entrench-racist-policies

 

 

 

 

 

“Yo, Is This Racist” by Kuoyu Yang

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“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”

Yo Is This Racist?

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Yo… Is This Racist?

Kathryn Turner and Drew Thomas

What is Racism?

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, racism is defined as “the systemic oppression of a racial group to the social, economic, and political advantage of another (Merriam-Webster).” 

It should be said that a dictionary definition provides a simplistic, incomplete understanding. You cannot simply define an experience and understand it. 

“The United States is a contradiction. Its founding principles embrace the ideals of freedom and equality, but it is a nation built on the systematic exclusion and suppression of communities of color.”

(Cusick Director et al., 2021)

 

The Lack of Representation in Congress: 

Congress is the most diverse than it’s ever been according to a study from the Brookings Institute (Schoen & Dzhanova, 2020). However, numbers are showing that the amount of diversity is still lacking significantly. Nearly 8 in 10 lawmakers for the United States are white, leaving 1 in 5 to be a person of color (Schoen & Dzhanova, 2020). In the last 150 years, only 152 African Americans have served in the House while 9 African Americans have served in the Senate, one person served in both the House and the Senate (Schoen & Dzhanova, 2020).

The most upsetting part of these statistics is that Congress is supposed to reflect all Americans, however, “The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that in 2019, 60.4% of Americans identified as white only, excluding those who identified as Hispanic or Latino. But about 79% of Congress is white, according to the Brookings data (Schoen & Dzhanova, 2020).” Our elected officials are put in office to represent all Americans and until there is more diversity in office, they cannot represent America.  

Injustice at the Voting Booth

According to an American Progress article, a startling 9.5 million Americans didn’t have the full right to vote in 2016, most of those people were people of color (Cusick Director et al., 2021). In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled to alter certain laws that protected voter’s rights. Right away, certain states added requirements for voters, some specifically targeting people of color. One requirement that North Carolina tried to pass was said to “target African Americans with almost surgical precision” by the federal court that oversaw the overruling (Cusick Director et al., 2021). The state of North Carolina tried to make it a requirement for the ability to vote to have a form of ID that a large number of Black Americans don’t statistically have. In North Dakota, they added a requirement for citizens to provide an ID with a valid residential street address on it before they could vote. One in five Native American voters were affected by this (Cusick Director et al., 2021). 

The graph below shows how much more likely people of color are to report that they experienced racial discrimination while trying to participate in politics  (Cusick Director et al., 2021). 

 

A very big barrier in the right to vote is disenfranchisement. This is when your right to vote gets revoked due to various factors. According to a study done in 2016, they found that around 6.1 million Americans were disenfranchised due to having a felony conviction (Panetta, 2020). This affected Black Americans disproportionately due to racial injustice in the American judicial system. This disenfranchisement affected 1 in 13 Black Americans compared to 1 in 56 non-Black Americans (Panetta, 2020). The best way to protect the sanctity of the American voter system is allowing every American to vote. Americans with felonies are affected by the decisions that elected officials make, so they should have a say in who makes the laws. 

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     Injustice In Education System 

According to a study posted in the UNCF journal titled K-12 Disparity Facts and Statistics African American students are less likely to have access to college ready courses (Muskik et al., 2020). In 2011-12 only 57 percent of African American students had access to a full range of math and science courses that are necessary for students to be prepared for college, compared to 81 percent of Asian American students and 71 percent of white students who had access to math and science courses that prepare students for college. (Muskik et al., 2020). There is a significant gap between college readiness between African American students and other races. Even when African American students have access to AP courses they are not as appreciated as other races. Black and Latino students represent 38 percent of students in schools that offer AP courses , but only 29 percent of students of African American or Latino descent are Enrolled in these courses. African American and Latino students have much less access to these courses that can provide great education and prepare students better for college. (Muskik et al., 2020). African American students are less likely to be ready for college. 61 percent of ACT tested black students in the 2015 high school graduating class met none of the four ACT college readiness benchmarks, nearly two times the 31 percent rate of all students. (Muskik et al., 2020). This chart can give a better illustration. It shows how many African American students are in basic classes that further your education versus how many white students are in basic education classes that further your education. (Muskik et al., 2020).

     

An article posted in the Partnership for College completion journal titled Priced Out: Black students is a study of the difficulty that black students have getting into college in the state of Illinois. There has been a major decline in enrollment for African American students in the state of Illinois (PCC Executive Director et al., 2021). Over the last decade 11,100 fewer black students have attended Illinois public and private non-profit colleges and universities in 2017 than 2007 despite similar numbers of African American high school graduates in 2017, and 2007. This study projects that there will be 2,200 fewer African American students graduating in 2023 than in 2018. (PCC Executive Director et al., 2021).   

In an article posted in the Inside Higher ED journal titled Racial Inequality in College Enrollment Patterns, it shows us how minorities are miss represented in college enrollment. White students are disproportionately represented at many public colleges and make up 64 percent of freshman enrollment despite only being 54 percent of the college population. Meanwhile, only 7 percent of black freshman while making up 15 percent of the college age population, and only 12 percent of latino freshman while making up 21 percent of the college age population. In the article a quote from Anthony Carnevale the Director of CEW, Carnevale says “Like many factors in college admissions, the argument favoring marginal differences in test scores is just another name for affirmative action for already-privileged whites” (Smith et al., 2018).

This bar graph better represents the race gap in college enrollment for selected schools across the United States.

                                                                                                                                                  

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     Lack of Color Representation in School Leadership 

In recent years we have seen minorities struggle in K-12 schools and lack of readiness for college for students of color. One of the main parts of this problem is the lack of ethnicity among the school faculty, and school board. In a 2016 Academic research journal titled The State of Racial Diversity in the Educator Workforce it dives into why students of color struggle in school more than white students. Research shows that diversity in schools, including diversity among the faculty, provide benefits for all the students in the school (U.S. Department of Education et al., 2016). It is expected that in 2024 that students of color will take up 56 percent of the student population, while the majority of the faculty and second education workforce will still be overwhelmingly white. The most recent U.S. Department of Education Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) shows that 82 percent of public school teachers identified as white. In more than 15 years the data has barely changed; data from a similar survey conducted by the department found that 84 percent of public school teachers identified as white (U.S. Department of Education et al., 2016). So from the year 2000 to the year 2016 the percentage of white teachers in public schools only dropped by 2 percent.                                       ______________________________________________

“Non-black teachers have significantly lower expectations for black students than black teachers do when evaluating the same students.

(Seth Gershenson Ph. D et al., 2021)

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In a 2017 study posted to The Hechinger Report Journal conducted by the Institute of Labor Economics researchers found that low-income black elementary students who had black teachers in the third, fourth, and fifth grades were 39 percent less likely to drop out of school (Institute of Labor Economics et al., 2017). Researchers also found that matching low-income students of all genders with at least one black teacher between the third and fifth grades increased their aspirations to attend a 4 year college by 19 percent (Institute of Labor Economics et al., 2017). 

This graph will give a much better illustration on how black teachers have a positive impact on black students.

For black students to succeed it is essential for there to be black leadership in schools. It gives the students representation that they need especially when school board meetings happen. This will allow black students to have voices in these meetings through their teachers.

Works Cited: 

Cusick Director, J., Cusick, J., Director, Director, S. H. A., Hananel, S., Director, A., Seeberger Director, C., Seeberger, C., Oduyeru Manager, L., Oduyeru, L., Manager, Gordon Director, P., Gordon, P., Shepherd Director, M., Shepherd, M., Director, J. P. D., Parshall, J., Director, D., Weller, C. E., … Spitzer, E. (2021, November 9). Systematic inequality and American democracy. Center for American Progress. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/systematic-inequality-american-democracy/.

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Racism. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary.    Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.merriam-  webster.com/dictionary/racism

 Panetta, G. (2020, September 18). How black americans still face disproportionate barriers to the ballot box in 2020. Business Insider. Retrieved November 18, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/why-black-americans-still-face-obstacles-to-voting-at-every-step-2020-6.

Shayanne Gal, A. K. (2020, July 8). 26 simple charts to show friends and family who aren’t convinced racism is still a problem in America. Business Insider. Retrieved November 14, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6#black-americans-are-underrepresented-in-high-paying-jobs-3.

Schoen, J. W., & Dzhanova, Y. (2020, June 2). These two charts show the lack of diversity in the House and Senate. CNBC. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/02/these-two-graphics-show-the-lack-of-diversity-in-the-house-and-senate.html. 

Completion, P. for C. (n.d.). Affordability lens. Affordability Black Students. Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://partnershipfcc.org/affordability-blackstudents.

K-12 disparity facts and Statistics. UNCF. (2020, March 20). Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://uncf.org/pages/k-12-disparity-facts-and-stats.

Racial inequality in college enrollment patterns. Inside Higher Ed. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2021, from https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2018/11/14/racial-inequality-college-enrollment-patterns.