I recently read an article about racial injustice that has happened in the past in America. This article, written by the public affairs at Berkeley news, discusses how police will investigate anything an African American, especially a male, is doing if they deem it suspicious(Public). It is known that “systemic racism is the very foundation of America”(Public). America was debatably grown on racism which has caused it to be a deeply rooted problem in America’s history. The article then talked about how the “death of George Floyd has once again sparked public outrage toward systemic racism”(Public). His death raised a lot of new awareness; mainly of those who did not pay attention before. The article also stated that America “has yet to fully reconcile with its racist past”(Public).
(Ruobing Su, Business Insider)
This article goes into detail about how America has not fully redeemed themselves from their past or changed their ways. There is still a strong standpoint of racism in America’s justice system from their very racist past. I personally do not know exactly how to fully fix this problem since it varies greatly throughout the country as well as people of different ages. However, I do think something needs to be done, especially for how long this systemic racism has lasted. This article is a great example of explaining just how long the systemic injustice of racism has stayed in America’s government and population. Thankfully more and more people are becoming aware of this and are calling others out, but a great deal of work still needs to be done.
The racial injustice within America’s government and policing could be seen as an example of “othering” or even making a subaltern since African Americans’ voices are shut down. The government does not allow them to speak their opinions or let their opinions take action. Last year this all changed with the Black Lives Matter movement. This movement opened the eyes of many Americans to realize just how bad systemic racism is in America. Many people realized that African Americans’ voices were not being heard and realized how police pay more attention to black males when policing. This causes African Americans to become the “other” since their voice is not heard and are punished more harshly if they speak up.
(Devin Allen, TIME)
Works Cited
Gal, Shayanne, and Andy Kiersz. “26 Simple Charts to Show Friends and Family Who Aren’t Convinced Racism Is Still a Problem in America.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 8 July 2020, www.businessinsider.com/us-systemic-racism-in-charts-graphs-data-2020-6#black-prisoners-are-overrepresented-in-the-us-prison-population-compared-to-their-share-of-the-total-us-population-20.
Public Affairs. September 22, 2020 September 25, and Public Affairs. “Racial Justice in America: A Deeper Look.” Berkeley News, 25 Sept. 2020, news.berkeley.edu/2020/09/22/racial-justice-in-america-a-deeper-look/.
Worland, Justin. “America’s Long Overdue Awakening on Systemic Racism.” Time, Time, 11 June 2020, time.com/5851855/systemic-racism-america/.
I really enjoyed reading your Diary of Systematic Injustice showcase. I fully agree with the statement of how America still hasn’t changed their ways of the past in regards of racism and discrimination of people that come from underrepresented backgrounds. I feel like discrimination needs more media attention and also attention from government officials that can perhaps help change the old ways of America. The Black Lives Matter movement did help open the eyes of many Americans, but we need continued support in order to fix this problem. Overall, great showcase!