Yo, is this Systemic Injustice?
The United States has deep roots in racism and systemic injustices, but what defines a case of systemic injustice? These are practices or actions that are deeply ingrained and embedded in the country’s core foundations and systems beginning centuries ago and persisting today. Our panel will break down present day issues and determine if they are deemed systemic injustices and call for large scale systemic solutions.
Grace Manhoff: Today I am joined by Chloe and Abed and we are going to break down the lasting effects of a practice known as redlining and determine whether this is considered a systemic injustice. For a brief background on this topic, redlining occurs when business loans and mortgages are denied for lower income people and minority groups. This determines which areas in a city are considered secure for real estate investment and which are not.
Chloe Knoll: That’s right Grace, and during the early 20th century this was more of a formal practice of segregation because there were actual formal restrictions on who could buy certain homes and there were also informal methods being used such as harassment when people of color moved into white neighborhoods.
Abed Adi: So even though this practice was more formal about one hundred years ago, there are so many lasting effects that are persisting due to these blatant acts of segregation. A real world example of this practice is Columbus, Ohio. In the 1930s, an actual map was created which detailed which areas around the city were considered secure for investments and which weren’t and this dictated the racial makeup of neighborhoods in Franklin county.
GM: Yeah and even though this map was created nearly 100 years ago, these initial borders still tend to define racial makeups of neighborhoods and we can see a great deal of segregation existing around Columbus, even though it is not necessarily “formal” today. This is especially concerning because of the negative health, safety, and education outcomes resulting from this practice known as redlining.
CK: Redlining, and segregation in general, has undeniable effects on policing. If you’ve been following the Black Lives Matter movement, you might already know that the police system originated from slave patrols, groups that terrorized slaves and returned runaways to their owners. Obviously, those were racist organizations, and the evolution from slave patrols to policing as we know it has continued to uphold racist constructs in whatever way was acceptable at the time. Daanika Gordon, a professor of sociology, has been studying differences in policing between white and Black neighborhoods. She found that in white neighborhoods, police are for the most part helpful problem solvers, working with the population to meet their needs. Black neighborhoods differ in two ways. There, police focus on stopping violence, often in aggressive ways such as investigatory stops. However, they are slower to provide emergency services because of the increased 911 calls in those areas (Smyton).
AA: That checks out. Investigatory stops have been controversial for a while – I think it’s an important point to make that conducting these stops reinforces the association of blackness and crime with the police. They need reasonable suspicion to legally conduct the stop, but this is bound to affect innocent residents whose only suspicious trait is their skin color. But how does this all relate to redlining?
GM: Well, redlining inherently places a higher value on white neighborhoods; white people, who are overall wealthier than Black people, make and contribute more to a city’s economy, so they are seen as a worthwhile investment. This leaves less money for Black neighborhoods, which are already disadvantaged because of the process through which they were established (i.e. segregation and redlining). Because of this, Black neighborhoods end up needing more resources that they don’t receive because they aren’t considered economically worthwhile. Then, the police presence has to dedicate most of its time to controlling crime instead of eliminating underlying causes.
CK: Exactly. This creates a strained relationship—if not outright distrust—between the police and the communities they’re supposed to protect. And that often prevents Black people from calling the police in situations where they actually need help. Even as the victim in a situation, they have to worry about whether they might end up arrested or dead by the end of the interaction.
AA: It’s an unfortunate but evidence-based reality. A study from Boston University gave each state a “racism index,” a measure of segregation along with other elements that display or contribute to systemic racism. One author said, “The more racially segregated the neighborhoods in a state, the more striking the ratio of black to white police shootings of unarmed victims.” While high policing is part of the issue, it also stems from implicit bias (Demby).
CK: Yep – we were talking before about how segregation leads to the association of crime with Black people, since their communities are more likely to be violent or dangerous (again, due to redlining). This study says that the more segregated a place is, the more biased the local officers will be. It’s easy to see how that leads to more fatal police encounters for Black people; if an officer deems someone dangerous, they are more likely to use deadly force in that interaction. Ergo, more structural racism means more biased cops means more Black people dead by police.
AA: In addition to the dangers Black people face from the police, there are also massive health concerns in relation to redlining and segregation of the demographic. As it is found that Black people are forced into areas that are regrettably less financially supported, the quality of most of the ongoings within the region also go down. There is medical research suggesting that Black people are more susceptible to disease due to air pollution and poor air quality, but the more important suggestion is that Black neighborhoods are consistently placed in areas that are more susceptible to having poor air quality. Transportation, including trains, buses, and truck stations, as well as factories and the implementation of ecologically harmful buildings near and around Black neighborhoods does Black people no favors. The air quality worsens, Black people suffer greatly, and the neighborhood begins to decline as a result. As all this happens, advancements in health and healthcare are made in other regions. We even see this type of behavior happen on a larger international scale as well.
GM: Due to the higher concentration of poverty in many of these areas, we are also seeing poor education outcomes. Now this can be associated with another system that is filled with injustices in this country and that is funding for public schools. Public schools get a large amount of their funding from property taxes.
AA: So that would mean that schools in wealthier areas receive more money than schools in lower income areas, right?
CK: Exactly Abed. Which means that these neighborhoods which were created by redlining which tend to be populated by people of color and marginalized groups are often forced to send their children to underfunded schools.
GM: Furthermore, we see that kids who attend underfunded schools are at a severe disadvantage and are less prepared for success after grade school, which can reinforce cycles of poverty. The effects of neighborhood segregation, or redlining, has led to school districts that have primarily BIPOC students receiving $23 billion less funding annually than school districts that are primarily white students.
CK: So it is pretty clear that this historical practice based on discriminatory ideals has led to devastating effects on individual families and has extenuated cycles of poverty around the United States. I think we may have come to a conclusion then, is this issue considered systemic injustice?
AA: Absolutely Chloe, we are definitely seeing systemic injustice here. It is clear that Black neighborhoods are dealt a significant unfair advantage when it comes to basic qualities of life. Redlining is essentially a form of segregation, and it’s inarguable that it’s a situation that has evolved from these times, essentially becoming woven into and deeply systemic in society. Black people are born into Black neighborhoods which receive extensively worse, unfair, and unjust treatment.
GM: So now that we have decided that this is most certainly an example of systemic injustice, what systemic changes can possibly be made to alleviate the effects of this issue?
CK: Well, in terms of policing, I think the clearest answer is to stop focusing on crime prosecution in Black communities, and turn that focus towards crime prevention. These areas need real investment; in schools, community centers, and housing, to name a few. Improved resources for finding employment, better drug or addiction treatment, and mental health services would also be extremely helpful. If this means reallocating police funds, then so be it. White areas tend to have reasonable access to all of these things, and as a result they have less crime and better relationships with police. Once Black communities have comparable resources, they will be safer and won’t require such a heavy police presence.
References
Demby, Gene. “How Segregation Shapes Fatal Police Violence.” NPR, NPR, 2 Mar. 2018, https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2018/03/02/589483471/how-segregation-shapes-fatal-police-shootings.
“The Origins of Modern Day Policing.” NAACP, 9 May 2021, https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/origins-modern-day-policing.
“Redlining.” Engaging Columbus, https://sites.owu.edu/engagingcolumbus/redlining/.
“Segregated by Design.” Segregated By Design, https://www.segregatedbydesign.com/.
Smyton, Robin. “How Racial Segregation and Policing Intersect in America.” Tufts Now, 17 June 2020, https://now.tufts.edu/articles/how-racial-segregation-and-policing-intersect-america