Introduction
Hello and welcome to the yo, is this racism? Podcast where we discuss events that have taken place, break them down and determine whether if it was an act of racism or not. My name is Corbin Nichols partnered with Maddi Borne, today we will be talking about certain instances such as displacement and destabilization, unequal pay, discrimination towards all kinds of minorities, and finally the inequality of assistance from authorities such as police and the FBI.
Corbin systemic injustice 1: First (injustice) of today A systemic injustice that I recently researched was how African Americans for Centuries have experienced displacement which has destabilized Black communities and undermined their access to opportunity. One specific example would be the labor force issue that occurs. Some issues I researched were that African Americans were reported to do harsher, more dangerous jobs and deal with lower pay. Also during the civil rights movement, employers would hire African Americans in the labor force just so they would not have to deal with unions because white people never dreamed about uniting with African Americans which is so sad. Oftentimes the white people would get paid more ultimately giving them more praise so they felt above African Americans. This systemic injustice in the past may be present today is harsh and not okay that employers were getting away with treating people unequally. Another example of workers not being treated equally involves our government. African Americans in the 1900s would join the military in hopes to have full civil rights and being recognized as citizens, however, this was not the case at the time because African Americans would be assigned to unimportant assignments with poorer quality equipment and training than others. All of these systemic injustices fueled the civil rights movement, giving African Americans better opportunities to succeed in America, however, some systemic issues continue to occur.
Maddi’s comment: It is really upsetting to see all the hard work that the African American community did during the Civil Rights Movement being disrespected decades later. This disrespect comes from Americans who feel threatened by other races finally getting treated with equal rights in society. It is crazy to still see African Americans getting less pay and lesser respect and opportunities in such a modern age. I think that as a society we really need to realize we all deserve the same rights and respect to be able to work as a cohesive community, whether that be equal pay, affordable healthcare, or just basic human kindness and decency.
Maddi injustice 1: The injustice I researched is similar but relates more to the unequal pay between men and women. In recent years this issue has been more widely noticed because women have gained the confidence to speak up about how unfair their pay is compared to their male coworkers. It has been proven that women make 82 cents for every dollar a man makes, which in my opinion in unacceptable especially if the man and woman share the same job title. Not only do women as a whole make less than men but, studies show that African American females make 20% less than white females. This is insane to think about how unequal the pay gap is between men and women as a whole then putting the extra 20% less cost for African American women. Like you said the African American community has gone through so much displacement and injustices that it is even more unfair to women that they are faced with such a high pay gap. For centuries women have been seen as lesser than men and it continues with today’s massive pay gap. This pay gap also contributes to stereotypes in society. For example, it has been a huge stereotype that women are supposed to stay at home with the kids while the man is the breadwinner for the family. I think that the pay gap may be caused by these stereotypes to try to keep women at home. Hopefully, this issue can be resolved soon so we can raise our daughters to want to be independent in the workforce and not be ashamed by unequal pay, which leads to unequal opportunities, especially if you aren’t white.
Corbin’s Comment: Oh yes, this is a very touchy subject. I researched something very similar to this and found similarities about what you are discussing. I would have to say this is a very bad injustice that continues being fought against to gain equal pay, this injustice directly impacts minorities such as African Americans, in particular, making this without doubt racism in the workplace because African Americans are denied equal pay due to their race. Running the numbers .82 on the dollar minus the 20% is merely .66 cents compared to the average white male which is over ⅓ of their pay. It is also eye-opening to hear the idea that the stereotype tied into society pushes women to stay at home which could be a factor as to why women are denied equal pay.
Corbin Injustice 2: For the last systemic injustice entry, I will discuss the hate involved in several races and not just African Americans like previous entries. This systemic injustice talks about the hatred and racism that comes from stereotypes starting from media news and going outward into society. There are two specific examples of this and one deals with the similar main topics of this that I have learned in class being Asian hate. Along with that there is also hate towards Arabs and Muslims. An example of Asian hate is the stereotypes of Asians being the cause of Covid-19 due to their race because Covid started in China, I would see throughout social media people bashing Asians due to the fact of their race which has nothing to do with the start of Covid, these innocent people had to deal with harsh hatred and racism due to reason Covid started in a foreign country. I also remember a movement that came out of an awful act of hatred towards Asians where there was a shooting where several targeted Asians suffered along with their families. The movement that came out of this was Stop Asian Hate. The other example of racist hate that came out after the horrible attacks on the twin towers on 9/11 is hatred towards Arabs and Muslims because of similar culture and clothing. However, these groups of people were dramatically different and had way different morals than Al Qaeda, a terrorist group. Arabs and Muslims got all kinds of hate because of their culture and fashion coming from similar locations, however, they had nothing to do with these attacks, and an interview I saw on social media a while back, Army soldiers showed these attacks and they were unaware of the attacks. The sad truth is that these people are innocent and uncorrelated to being terrorists, still deal with hatred to this day.
Maddi’s Comment: It is really sad that we place the blame upon a whole race of people when a tragic event happens when in reality placing this blame is very harmful to these people well being. This issue has been going on for decades in America when we racially profile people based on stereotypes we as a society hold. I also think it is interesting that when a white person is the one to commit a horrible crime/ terrorist attack in America we don’t place the blame on every white American citizen as we do with other races. As a society, we need to realize that people of other cultures are not represented by a single person or a group of people who terrorize us. What really saddens me the most is the recent Asian hate crimes due to COVID because these people are not the ones who planted the mass pandemic that reached across the world and they too were affected by the trauma and loss we all were/are.
Maddi Injustice 2: Lastly, another injustice I found was actually due to the missing persons case of Gabby Petito. I think we have all heard about Gabby’s story and are saddened by the outcome of her death and her supposed killer’s death, Brian Laundire. This case did bring some well-needed coverage though to people of color’s inactive missing persons cases. There are thousands of missing persons cases yearly in the US and the ones that really get the media coverage and attention are those of white males and females. Media coverage is important because like we saw from Gabby Petito’s case it helps trace where these people were last found and really gets the word out there so everyone is looking for them worldwide. People of color do not get the same treatment though. Jelani day is a young man who had been missing for months and when his mother saw the attention Gabby’s case was getting she went to the media and the FBI and was begging them to give her son’s case the same respect and urgency. I saw her interview on ABC where you could feel her emotions and anger that her African American son’s case wasn’t being treated as an urgent need. This is an injustice within our police force, media, and society. There is no reason why we shouldn’t spread the word about missing men and women of color. We learned from Gabby’s case that if we can all come together and look for someone we can find these people or unfortunately their remains. I think that as a society we are taught all these dangerous stereotypes we have been talking about and assume these people don’t deserve to be found, which is never the case. Jelani was able to be found as well thanks to his mother pleading with the media and FBI to reopen and re-investigate his case so he could be treated with the same respect as Gabby, which can also be done for the other hundreds of missing persons cases.
Corbin’s Comment: It is devastating to see that situations that are life-threatening do not get the same recognition. Nobody should have to ask for exposure to help locate a missing person from the government, it should be given initially. Thankfully he was found, however, that is not always the case. I would go on to say that there are most likely still missing people that are minorities who are not given the same recognition as others. I believe everyone deserves the recognition and help from everything to be found because if it was your own kid who went missing it would be a different story. This is exactly what went down with Jelani’s mother contacting authorities to get the help that she should have had in the first place.
Conclusion
In all, we can see that people of color are faced with many racial injustices in the world today. America is supposed to be a place of acceptance and prosperity but instead, people come here in search of a better life and are faced with all these injustices. These injustices are really caused by stereotypes whether they be racial or sexism they still prove to be dangerous and harmful. As a society, we need to recognize that there is still inequality around us on a daily basis if we want to fix it. After this class, I feel like I have learned so much and I’m ready to say and teach those around me about the issues at hand. That is all that we have for you guys today, thank you for tuning in on Yo, is this racism? I am Maddi… And I am Corbin, we look forward to having you listen again!