Women are constantly experiencing many types of sexual harassment such as physical acts of sexual assault, requests for sexual favors, verbal harassment of a sexual nature, jokes of sexual acts, or sexual orientation in the workplace. Sexual harassment occurs in the workplace approximately 15,000 sexual harassment cases are brought to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) each year. Additionally, in 2016 the EEOC had released a study saying that 25 to 85 percent of women reported having experienced sexual harassment in the workplace. These numbers show how often women are repeatedly disrespected in professional settings and how they are sexualized in society. However, women not only face sexual harassment in the workplace, but they also face injustices of intersectionality such as equality, equal pay, and promotion blocks. Intersectionality is a term coined by Kimberle Crenshaw. It is a framework that describes how a person faces discrimination and oppression based on their gender, race, class, sexual orientation, and physical ability.

Kay Jewelers is a prime example of these harassment acts, but before I move on, I want to give you a summary of what happened in this injustice towards women. Sterling Jewelers Inc. is a parent company that runs Kay Jewelers, and Jared jewelry stores had suits from 69,000 current and former employees. One of the suits filed for wage and promotion discrimination. Some men received promotions over women that were more qualified for those positions. Also, some women received lesser wages than men that were in the same position. However, many of the suits involved women employees experiencing sexual harassment from male executives and employees. Women wrote explained in their reports that executives sometimes grabbed their bodies, propositioned them for sex, and kissed them without consent. Additionally, one lady was fired because she filed a complaint about an executive that tried to kiss and touch her.

These injustices show how women are sexualized and oppressed in the workplace. Men have been the patriarch for years and they continue to try to hold to their power over women. The fight for equality is a down and uphill battle at the same time because we make progress just to get set back. Women face these kinds of injustices every day and they are constantly being ignored. However, we are making strides to do better in our society, but we still have a long way to go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk_qxpRmZ9I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyGBX6Krv0Q

“10 Big Issues Women Face at Work and What Leaders Can Do to Help – Catalyst.” Catalyst, 20 Feb. 2019, www.catalyst.org/2017/01/19/10-big-issues-women-face-at-work-and-what-leaders-can-do-to-help/.

Chatterjee, Rhitu. “NPR Choice Page.” Npr.org, 21 Feb. 2018, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/21/587671849/a-new-survey-finds-eighty-percent-of-women-have-experienced-sexual-harassment.

Golshan, Tara. “Study Finds 75 Percent of Workplace Harassment Victims Experienced Retaliation When They Spoke Up.” Vox, Vox, 15 Oct. 2017, www.vox.com/identities/2017/10/15/16438750/weinstein-sexual-harassment-facts.

Hersher, Rebecca. “Parent Company of Kay Jewelers Accused of Wage Discrimination against Women.” NPR, 1 Mar. 2017, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/01/517684117/thousands-allege-wage-and-promotion-discrimination-by-sterling-jewelers.

The thing about systemic injustice is how the general population doesn’t realize the chokehold it has on it. Systemic injustice creeps into the mind and takes hold of thoughts and attitudes made about certain groups of people. It doesn’t even matter if that person or group of people did nothing wrong, there is already a preconceived notion of how those people will act. The acts of hate that eventually became an instilled mindset are what continue to fuel systemic injustice to this day. It is because there are so many systemic injustices occurring in the world, that more and more people are educating themselves/others on these topics. This specific systemic injustice diary discusses content about the discrimination and inequality against Indian Muslims.

It is not strange to hear about racism and hate crimes against Muslims. However, it is a little dumbfounding to hear about it when it is committed by your own country. Indian Muslims make up the largest minority group in India, which is heavily dominated by Hindus. With over two hundred and nine million people living in the country, Indian Muslims are the second-largest community. Despite how easy and how often it is randomly run into an Indian Muslim, they are the only ones not welcome in their own country. For years and years, Indian Muslims have faced great quantities of discrimination and racial injustice. If the hate were to be specified, Indian Muslims experience it the most in their education and employment. The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, is such an advocate of Hindu nationalism that it fueled Indian citizens to attack Muslims, their homes, schools, workplaces, and even sacred places of worship. 

For as long as history can be remembered, there has been hatred against Indian Muslims living in India. We were harassed, beaten, and often killed because of our religious choices.

Many generations later, the hate has fueled the discrimination into being denied the right of livelihood. The injustice has become so noticeable that other countries felt the need to discuss Modi and his government’s extreme discrimination against Indian Muslims. Ever since 2014, when Narendra Modi’s BJP, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was elected, Indian Muslims have been in constant danger. They practically have no one to turn to for support, nor are they allowed to call their birthplace their home.

In February of the year 2020, where hate had taken a hold of the entire world, a video had resurfaced of five men subject to police brutality because they had taken part in peaceful protests against ethnic tensions. Three days after the video had come out, the news was filled with how a minimum of 52 people had been brutally killed, 200 people injured, and many properties were completely destroyed by Hindu assemblages. Which people were most affected? Indian Muslims, to no shock, but there were Hindu casualties as well. Modi’s eccentric nationalism and how it is completely supported by the BJP was one of the major reasons the protests had started in the first place. It didn’t matter who was protesting against the ethnic/communal tensions, Modi and BJP have irrational hate against the idea of Indian Muslims. The BJP constantly makes speeches directly speaking against Indian Muslims, practically encouraging acts of violence against them. Whether it be women, students, travelers, children, no one is provided political protection from the ruling BJP. Indian Muslims are left to fend for themselves and it is very common to not see the police/government stop grievous attacks against Muslims.

This is a link of The New York Times finding out the truth of how Modi and the BJP view Muslims and two short interviews with officials: https://youtu.be/7yCUIZVMVZQ.

For many years, Indian Muslims have experienced much hate and discrimination against them from their own country. It is baffling to see their own government systematically encouraging their citizens to commit hate crimes against such a large community in India. The injustice has become so noticeable that other countries felt the need to discuss Modi’s and his government’s extreme discrimination against Indian Muslims. The only way for all of this to be righted is for the radical nationalists to step down from their positions of power. More integration of Muslim people in the government and powerful positions would be required to try to balance the power play. Indian Muslims would need much more than a promise of their unalienable rights to even start believing their country is truly their home.

After nearly 30 years R. Kelly was finally convicted of sex crimes against black girls and women. Throughout the years he was able to find legal loopholes, manipulate his victims, and hide behind his money to avoid a conviction. A  guilty sentence only came after the #MeToo movement, video evidence, a documentary, and countless allegations. R. Kelly’s conviction is a showcase for the systemic injustices that perpetuate violence towards black girls and women.

In “Girlhood Interrupted – The erasure of black girls’ childhood” adults were surveyed and found “black girls are viewed as less innocent and more adult-like than white girls of the same age, especially between 4-15 years old”. This report is essential in understanding of how black girls are treated within public systems. They refer to this phenomenon as adultificiation. Adultification leads authorities in public systems to not protect black girls and punish them more harshly. This includes the child welfare system where black girls are often portrayed as more independent and are given different treatment plans than white girls. The early stages of not protecting black girls puts them in more dangerous situations. This continues the systemic failures that put the most at risk groups in more danger.

R. Kelly’s defense during his trials played on this trope and furthered the notion by portraying his victims as untrustworthy or stalkers. Jurors in previous cases against R. Kelly  were quoted saying that they just “didn’t like” or “believe” the victims. There was blatant acts of racial and sexist biases that were ignored. The way the jurors were able to use their previous prejudices give a systemic path to influence the way in which the legal system treats victims.

The systemic injustices that black people face have roots from the time of slavery. From slavery, jim crow, and separate but equal. The continuation of discrimination has continued through different institutions.  In the “One” and the “Other” by Simone deBeauvior she explains how, The One has power over the Other by setting up the Other against itself. Historically, white people have always had power and have set black people as their Other. She furthers her theory by explaining sexual differences are used to further inequalities with gender inferiority. Womanhood within the black community is scrutinized and used to adultify young black girls. Although black people have been made to be the “other”, black women and girls are further oppressed. Their intersectional identity allows them to be put at more risk.
This case is by no means a representation of systemic change. For over a decade the black victims were ignored and considered liars. This is one of the first times that a case with mostly black women/girls victims has been in the public eye. The conviction is bringing the systemic injustice to the public awareness. This is some of the first steps in a hopeful change in institutionalized racism of specifically black women and girls.

It is commonly accepted that one of the major ways to fight systematic injustice is through education which raises awareness of many injustices and guides to the solution. Education is keystone in helping communities struck by inequality to overcome that inequality, however, the educational system is riddled with injustices. In a recent college application scandal, the actresses Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman were caught trying to bribe their children into prestigious colleges, blindsiding students that compete for the same position with merit, many of them often coming from communities’ victims to systematic injustice.

While using the fame and influence to get already privileged kids to schools that provide them with opportunities that they did not deserve the other extreme is affirmative action that tend to alienate the large groups in the middle who have their own intersectional struggles to be even recognized by the various efforts of affirmative action. Many poor black and Hispanic communities are on a constant lookout to get into education and have the greater opportunities having a decent education provides, however, the many practices that are set in place that make it easier for already established communities to stay established and to help only a marginalized group that need help leave the groups that often need the help the most. College practices of generational schooling where a kid’s chances of getting into the college are increased by their parents’ alum status or by just their parents going to that college hurts the people who have worked hard to earn the merit to be qualified for the college. The practices of buying a kid’s spot not only hurts the kid’s prospects but also hurts an even larger crowd.

Furthermore, the measly efforts of affirmative action often tend to miss out on communities that struggle to even get into the spotlight of needing affirmative action, and it also alienates many middle-class groups. The idea of affirmative action also can be related to Ahmed’s theory of injustice where the authority, which can be seen as the oppressors, makes the decision about the expression of other groups. Affirmative action like many other authoritative practices to instill equality is also vulnerable to influence of interests and shortcomings in recognizing who needs affirmative action in the first place. The issue thus is not is the idea of affirmative action, but its execution as affirmative action in the ways it is executed sometimes can actually end up hurting the population it is intended to help as analyzed in a blog on the National Affairs.

https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/3/20/18271462/college-admissions-race-stuyvesant-affirmative-action-inequality

https://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-sad-irony-of-affirmative-action

This video does a great job of clearing a lot of misunderstanding and explaining how Affirmative Action is actually used in schools today.

As a pre-med student with an older sister in pharmacy school the healthcare system is a constant topic of discussion in my household. Today I want to talk about how the American pharmaceutical industry mistreats insulin. Insulin is significantly more expensive in the United States than in any other country. This is completely unfair. Those who are dependent on insulin have to get insulin in order to survive. Most people cannot help their condition and others need the insulin to support their body until they can get diabetes under control enough to not be insulin dependent. However, insulin is super expensive. There are few companies dispensing insulin in the United states, so they basically have a monopoly on the industry. The pharmaceutical industry is then able to charge much more for their product and even people living in poverty have to have around $400 for their insulin every week or so. For the companies producing the insulin it is only costing them about 30 cents per $400 vial (Rajkumar). Many people cannot afford this. Insulin is fairly cheap to make, but they are being sold over 88 times higher than the price to make. The need for insulin to live and lack of laws regulating the prices of medications in the United States means that companies are taking advantage of their customers. However, the customers are just trying to stay alive. I have heard stories of people literally skipping doses in order to ration out insulin. The system has failed us here. Insulin can be an essential life need in the same way as food or water is, but is being sold at prices that require hundreds of dollars every week (Rajkumar). This is an injustice because it is something that allows people to live but is a luxury to those living on tight budgets. The control is in the hands of companies that are not regulated. The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries need to focus on the accessibility on insulin instead of the money they can make by marking it up to the extent that it is done. The fix to this would be to offer this at a better price that would help those that cannot afford insulin even when their life depends on it.

Rajkumar, Vincent. “The High Cost of Insulin in the United States: An Urgent Call to Action.” Mayo Clinic Proceedings , 1 Jan. 2020, https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(19)31008-0/fulltext#relatedArticles.

Important Links:

Podcast: https://play.acast.com/s/7c237614-aac0-48dc-bcb9-55ac500847b2/58e23808-7882-49d0-a72a-843cc153dcc5

This podcast breaks down the increase in insulin prices over the last few years.

This picture shows a vial and syringe of insulin. These can cost over $400 dollars and last less than a week for a diabetic patient.

https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/family-resources-education/health-wellness-and-safety-resources/resources-for-parents-and-kids/managing-your-diabetes/chapter-five-taking-insulin

This picture shows different parts of the body that are negatively affected by insulin deficiencies.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169409X18302606#f0010

This shows how insulin opens glucose channels that allow for sugar to be regulated in the body.

https://www.endocrineweb.com/conditions/type-1-diabetes/type-1-diabetes-insulin

The cultural identity of Black Americans has been under attack for centuries. Historically Black hairstyles serve to protect natural hair as well as signify cultural membership and express personal style. Many of these hairstyles, however have been restricted in workplace and school settings, cited as being unprofessional, uncleam, and inappropriate. This wrongful view of Black hair stems from centuries of forced submission, as attempts are made to erase the culture of Black Americans. What should be seen as the celebration and preservation of commonly disrupted cultural practices has been the topic of much controversy. The following link details a story about a preschool aged boy who was told violated the dress code for wearing his hair in braids. In communities of color disproportionately faced with economic and societal hardships, hairstyles should not be the hindrance to academic and career success.

After West Side School Forces 4-Year-Old To Remove His Braids, Parents Ask: Why Are We Policing Black Children’s Hair?

Stories like these are not few and far between. In another similar case, a Georgia school displayed posters of Black hairstyles, one labeled inappropriate haircuts and the other labelled appropriate haircuts. Kids should not face confusion in expressing their identities, or be forced to diminish their representation of their heritage.

Limitations on black hair spans back to the Atlantic slave trade, when slave masters would shave slaves’ heads to remove them from their culture, as hairstyles were often used to signify tribe identity and personal status. When African American slaves were granted some freedom, they were still expected to assimilate into white culture and be obedient to the white superiors, persisting into current decades.

https://www.essence.com/videos/the-overexplainer-we-are-only-just-now-stopping-black-hair-discrimination/

The video in the link above is a deep dive into the long history of black hair discrimination as well as the beginnings of laws that will work to protect the rights of Black people in schools and workplaces. With laws like these Black people will have the choice to wear their hair in its natural state, rather than be forced into believing that the only acceptable hairstyles are the ones that require excessive heat and harsh chemicals.

The 2019 short film Hair Love, celebrates Black hair. Dove, a brand that has done significant work to celebrate all bodies was a major contributor to the film’s creation. This shows that mainstream brands are working to promote Black self love and abolish hair discrimination. With mainstream support and anti-discriminatory laws, workplaces and schools will become more inclusive, slowly reversing centuries of injustice.