Transcript:

Tiffany: Hi guys!Welcome back to our channel! This is Yo! Is This Racism episode 3. I’m Tiffany, and today we have a special guest, Rachel Lin!

Rachel: Hi everyone! I’m Rachel, Tiffany’s friend!

Tiffany: Because we are both Asian, so today I invited her to join our discussion of what is racism, and what actions are really racism or is there any space to discuss people are not being racism. So What do you think racism is?

Rachel: Umm… In my own perspectives, I think racism is when a person is being discriminating to another person by their appearance, appearance does not only stands for how you look like, but also how your colors, your cultural backgrounds, and everything about that. So being discriminating towards a person’s colors, or their cultural backgrounds, or their culture identity.

Tiffany: So being racism is that people try to discriminate others or try to insult others just becase their races, or their cultural backgrounds that’s different from themselves, right?

Rachel: Yeah…kind of. 

Tiffany: Do you know what is system injustice?

Rachel: No, I’m not really sure about that, you may talk more about that for me.

Tiffany: So system injustice is like… just like racism, or like… you know the he eduction in the U.S. is not very fair (equal) for everyone, if you are rich, you can live in a better place, and then the school in that area will be better. But those poor people they can only go to the school that cannot provide them a better education, so that they kind of lose their lifves form the beginning. And that’s in the system, just like racism, and it’s injustice. 

Rachel:okay. I understand more about it, thank you for telling me about the example.

Tiffany: Let’s discuss some action that you think is it a racism. So here’s an real-life example that my roommate, she was studying at the study room, which is in our dorm building. And the there’s already two white guys in that study room. When my roommate get into the room, they just started to talk about Chinese people, and look at my roommate. Do you think they are being racism of are they just don’t want. My roommate there?

Rachel: I think it is kind of racist in some extend, I think being uncomfortable about some situation means that the thing has happened. So it’s not about how they act or what they are really trying to say, or really trying to present their ideas. When someone feels uncomfortable about something, and that thing is about race, racism, gender, or sexuality and these stuff, I think once when the person who feels that kind of idea that being racism or the gender problems, the things happened. So it’s not about how people actually wanted to act, or what they want to say about. But once the victim, which is your roommate in this case, felt something bad about that thing, I thinking that case, racism has already been there, like it’s there. 

Tiffany: I remember you told me about your story when you on the bus? Can you tell us about it?

Rachel: So me and my roommate went to a place in our school, which is the north side of our school, its the more popular street, and all the restaurants are there. We went there to buy some food for dinner. We got on to a bus, and the government’s requirement is that you should be wearing mask in public transportation, but some of the white people doesn’t wear mask on the public transportation because they don’t want to wear masks. I don’t really respect their choice but I won’t say anything about it, because that’s their choice and I cannot really interpret their choice. But when I see someone who do that I will just go far away from him. So this guy on the bus was not wearing a mask, and he was sitting in his seat. When me and my roommate, which are both Asians, got on the bus, he saw us and he immediately wore his masks on, which made me and my roommate felt like he thinks because we’re Chinese, we’re Asian, might have Covid. Maybe we’re just overthinking, but that’s what we thought about it. And we didn’t really meant to look at him, but the second time we look back, we found out that he switch seat from our back to really forward back seat, which makes us feel more part where he thinks that Asians are the ones who have Covid. 

Tiffany: His action is kind of racist cuz he did his action…as you said…went back to the back of the bus… like he run away from you guys cuz you’re Asian. And nowadays, hate crimes and discrimination against Asians are increasing year by year. Why do you think that happened?

Rachel: I think for some part of it is because of the wrong education. I’m a music education major, and we’ve been talking a lot about these racism stuff in class too. And one of those my classmates and I are talking about we as educators, can’t really help a lot of these racism stuff in school, because that some of those education has been taught in home. So it’s like this family or in their home, parents are super racist about some type of race, their children will be influence by their mothers and father’s thoughts. And that’s a really hard thing to really change in school, cuz that’s household stuff, and if we met these students in high school, or in middle school, which is the further education, his or her’s ideas will become a perspective, and their idea of that this is not something should be changed, it’s more like a habit not an idea that is easily for us to tell them and to change that. But I think it’s also impossible to do that and hard to do that but we should always try to teach them the right thing to do in school, so that maybe they will have a chance to change their perspectives to a correct one so they won’t be that racist to people. So for my observation, I felt like a lot of hate crimes on race is more based on people that came form a lower economics class, which they are not able to gain much education from school. They go to school but they spend more time at home or they just do the government’s requirement school education, for like first grade to twelve grade, and they didn’t get further education. They don’t have a good education background, that might be a reason why hate crimes are increasing. So I think the main idea of doing this is that maybe government should be increasing their education system, being more equal to every place not just where rich people live or a better white society place. 

Tiffany: Yeah we all know that our parents are very important to form a good child. Cuz children get to know about the society basically through their families, and then go to school for education. So once their value has formed, it’s kinda very difficult for them to change. So as you said, school education is very important to them to solve this problem. Cuz I think system injustice like racism is kind of very hard to change, cause you don’ know who will be racist to others, maybe they are normal people in real life and in some situation they just came out of that thoughts. So it’s hard to know who will do that and try to educate them. 

Rachel: Yeah but I think it’s like a general stuff, so the society should generalize these topics of this racist…or like the system injustice in every school, so that everyone can be equal on these kind of topics to prevent them to have these systems injustice in general. 

Tiffany: Okay. And it’s time to our ending of the podcast! Thank you guys for listening and staying with us tonight. Bye! 

Rachel: Bye!

Introduction

We can see that more and more international students are coming to the U.S. to further their studies and that American universities are becoming multicultural gathering places. However, when different cultures mingle and collide, the results are not always satisfying. Racial discrimination is becoming more and more prevalent in universities, and international students encounter a variety of difficulties in this environment.

Difficulties International Students Face

Kaiyuan:”English is my second language and I am not proficient in speaking and listening. Once one of my classmates was handing out project assignments and when it came to me, he deliberately spoke very fast and at a low volume. After I explained to him several times that I couldn’t hear him and didn’t quite understand him, he expressed his disappointment with me in a mocking tone and stopped handing out assignments for me. Since then I have been very afraid of group projects.”

(Universities must stand with international students)

Ricardo: “I had four siblings that went to college before I did so I was offered a little help from them but they did not always know what to do. I believe that my guidance counselors from high school helped me out the most. They knew my story and where I came from. Both of my parents are only Spanish speaking so they really could not offer any help even if they wanted to. I had to rely on the help from my siblings and guidance counselors to make sure I was offered enough financial aid.”

Ricardo: “Coming from a household that only spoke Spanish made me have to work harder than I would have to if English was my first language. I was enrolled into ESL (English as Second Language) classes all the way up until seventh grade in middle school. These classes offered lots of help for struggling students. I used to struggle the first couple years of school, until I was able to fully understand the language. From my freshman year of highschool I challenged myself by enrolling into all honor and AP classes, I think that these classes improved my skills in many aspects. 

Hailey: To comment on Ricardo and Kaiyuan’s past experiences, I believe that those students who do not primarily speak English have a harder time in school. Because English is their second language there is a significant learning barrier. This barrier ultimately impacts their grades and their ways of communicating with both professors and other students. Ultimately the barrier in communication negatively affects international students’ abilities to feel included and less isolated. International and native students have such significant differences in culture also making it hard for the two groups of students to relate to one another. Because the cultures are so different between an international and native student, it seems as if native students are more often unwilling to befriend international students and take an insignificant amount of time to learn about their background and interests.

Racial Discrimination Directed Towards International Students

International students have been the targets of various microaggressions over the years. “Microaggressions are defined as “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of color because they belong to a racial minority group (Loo)”. These microaggressions include being continuously ridiculed for their accent, seen as less intelligent, as well as invisible in the classroom. Microaggressions like so, make international students feel as if they are “others” in society. The idea of otherness is an emotion in which many international students relate to due to their native peers continuously targeting and excluding them. 

(Changing attitudes about studying in the US)

The Impact of COVID-19 

Racial discrimination within universities has always been a prevalent issue, however COVID-19 seemed to negatively impact international students in this way. With COVID-19 cases increasingly rising for almost the past two years, international students have been continuously discriminated against. Remarks made towards international students are very stereotypical and often come from a place of racist nature. Many native students have the assumption that all international students are COVID-19 carriers despite their exposure to it. Because they have this assumption, native students have spent the entirety of the pandemic avoiding international students. Some native students also make racist remarks directed towards international students in regards to COVID-19 being the “China Virus”(Mittelmeier and Cockayne 2). These racist remarks and shunning of international students has made them feel unwelcome and isolated during their time spent at college. 

(They can stand over there)

A Native’s Perception on International Students 

Hailey: As a native student, I do not personally relate to much of the same difficulties that my international peers do. However, I do understand as international students and the effects of the pandemic, these obstacles have only been amplified. Racial discrimination towards international students is at an all time high because of the COVID-19 pandemic. During my time as a student at The Ohio State University, I have heard several discriminatory remarks made in regards to international students. 

How Can Racial Discrimination be Addressed?

While racist and discriminatory remarks will never completely be eradicated, college students can work to improve their recognition of their own implicit biases. These implicit biases and assumptions that many native students have of international students often stem from their parents, guardians, and friends’ views of people of color, ultimately influencing native students to think similarly. The key to decreasing racial discrimination within a college campus starts with native students formulating their own idea of international students rather than taking on someone else’s preconceived and stereotypical idea of an international student. Therefore, native students must be self aware of the environment in which they grew up and the impact the closest people in their lives had on their perception of people of color. The people who raised us and surrounded us during our childhood are ultimately some of the most influential in our lives. Thus in order to decrease any racial discrimination directed towards international students, native students must take the time to engage, interact, and learn from their international peers. By doing so native students will be able to formulate their own opinions of these students and reject any preconceived stereotypes of these students. 

The reason of race issue

The injustice between races is partly a result of school policies that prevent international students from being treated the same as local students, and partly a result of racial discrimination between faculty and students.

Although schools have many policies that are the same for international and local students, the same policies can have very different outcomes for international and local students because of the different resources available to them. As discussed above with regard to applying for admission, the school’s policies for local and international students are almost identical. But international students with limited language skills and parents who have no experience applying to U.S. colleges can experience very great hardship. The programs created by the school, especially those requiring writing, are very unfriendly to international students. International students often face difficulties in writing, cannot read the questions on tests, and think the teacher speaks too fast in class. These factors all contribute to their limited performance in some subjects. The fairness and equity that the university values does not work as it should. International students are likely to become subaltern in this case. What they need such as financial aid or help with language and applications is not taken seriously. Schools continue to treat diverse schools with the normal educational approach and school policies for local students. The impact of international students speaking out is very limited.

The problem of racial discrimination in college can be traced back to the time when American universities began to increase their diversity. Race-based classifications emerged when multiculturalism made its way into American universities(Loo 5). Students were often distinguished by their physical appearance and given race-specific labels and rankings. Labels and rankings are often determined by people based on information in the media and on social networking sites. The research also shows that international students typically have their own views on other races. According to Ritter’s study conducted at UCLA,13 East Asian international students appear to have developed a certain sense of global racial hierarchies: whites, followed by East Asians, Latinos, and finally African Americans14 and Southeast Asians at the bottom. The bottom ranking of the last two groups tends to be attributed to their darker skin color(Loo 14). Each race, to a  greater or lesser extent, considers other races to be the other. One race perceives the race that ranks higher than them as hostile and the race that ranks lower than them as inferior. This multi-layered overlapping duality leads to discord between the different races within the university.

(International Students and Experiences with Race in the United States)

What do we do when me meet them again? What solutions do you prefer?

Ricardo:”Many universities now offer financial help for international students, which is not difficult to find on the university’s official website. Federal aid and international organization aid are also available, and these resources can address the issue of expensive tuition for international students(Source of finance aid 4). But the system is not perfect, aids are limited  and international students are much less likely to receive scholarships in school than local students. I wish the university had a better solution to the problem of expensive tuition for international students, such as special grants.”

Kaiyuan:”I think there are many ways to deal with racial discrimination as far as international students themselves are concerned. For example, building a supportive network, getting together with people who have the same issues as yourself and supporting each other(Recommendations 2). We also need to actively develop a cultural identity and try to promote a friendly exchange between cultures(Recommendations 4). Cultural identity is very important to us, it gives us confidence and hope to progress with different cultures. It is difficult to solve learning problems, which takes more of our time, and I think it is very unjust. I hope that the school can introduce some policies similar to international students can get special help in language similar to clubs and special open classes.”

Hailey:”As a local student, I think it is more important for us to be inclusive and agreeable to international students. Recognize their culture, be tolerant and help them when they have language difficulties. We should also intervene and discourage discrimination when it occurs. We also need multicultural courses to understand the seriousness of racial issues.”

Sources

Jenna Mittelmeier and Heather Cockayne, “Combating discrimination against international students”, 10 Oct 2020, University World News, retrieved from: https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20201009142439903

Bryce Loo, “International Students and Experiences with Race in the United States”, Mar 26 2019, WENR, retrieved from:https://wenr.wes.org/2019/03/international-students-and-experiences-with-race-in-the-united-states

“Source of finance aid”, International Students, retrieved from: https://www.internationalstudent.com/study_usa/financing/sources/

“Recommendations for coping with race-related issues”, California State University Monterey Bay, retrieved from: “https://csumb.edu/pgcc/coping-racism-discrimination/”

Donna Orem, “Changing attitudes about studying in the US”, National Association of Independent Schools, Sep 17 2018, retrieved from: https://www.nais.org/learn/independent-ideas/september-2018/international-students-you-are-welcome-here/

Tartan board, “Universities must stand with international students”, Feb 12 2017, retrieved from: https://thetartan.org/2017/2/13/forum/columbia

Zoe Case, “ ‘They Can Stay Over There’: Our Discrimination against International Students”, Medium, Aug 1 2020, retrieved from:https://medium.com/the-humanities-in-transition/they-can-stay-over-there-our-discrimination-against-international-students-337b03a3e6a6

Transcript:

Victoria: Alright, everyone, this is our group project for “Yo..is this” my name is Victoria. 

Alex: I’m Shijing

Michael: and I’m Michael. 

Victoria: Our main topic today is about the new texas abortion laws. This case was first brought up in September and it has been widely talked about throughout the country on news platforms, and social media. The Supreme Court is refusing to block the law as of last week. That is why is it very prevalent today. 

Alex: To explain the extent of the case, the texas anti-abortion law is a state law that prevents abortion after six weeks of uh, quoting from the law case, “ the patient’s last menstrual period and this six week period they will not raise awareness to any pregnant individual.”

Michael: um, the Supreme Court has rejected the law but it’s still widely being debated to this day. It’s still in, what is it called appealing court. 

Victoria: This case is being talked about in the public so much because it goes against the Supreme Court case ruling in Roe vs Wade. So Roe vs Wade was a supreme court case in 1973 which ruled that the constisitution of the united states protects a women’s liberties to choose to have a an abortion without an excessive government restrictions. So the texas law is banning and putting restrictions on um abortions so that’s where it is going against it. Overall the law and everything surrounding it is a very sexist ruling, and it trying to control something that women fought so hard for in the 1970s when women’s rights act was starting and they finally won and Roe vs Wade took action and now everyone’s kind of going against it and trying to take away women’s basic rights. 

Alex: I think this action is kind of uh making the stop making the individual rights of women being subject to the rest of the society. It’s kind of like the master and slave concept because after we discussed in class, it was written by hegel and one hold dependent consciousness to the other which is in this case the slave is the individual rights of the women and the master is the court. They assign, the state court or the state officials they assign the rights of the women against abortion they gave this right to individuals which make the pregnant women’s individual rights offended. It should be a serious matter so it’s raised a lot of discussion. The support for the people who supports it mainly come from the conservative party and they are supporting this law because it’s mainly of their beliefs and of their likes that the woman holds their rights but not about the rights of the children which is not appealing to many people who support it because they were not women. 

Victoria: Many people who support this law are labeled as pro-life and then many people who are against are kind of labeled as pro-choice becasue if you are pro-choice you are fighting for a women’s right to choose what she wants to do with her own body and pregancy. People can have abortions for many different reasons and that should be their own decision not a bunch of laws telling them what they can and can’t do. The people who are writing these laws and passing them are predominantly white men so it shows the inequality as well, trying to take over women’s rights. 

Michael: This can also be equated to the um title 10 which is healthcare funding for low income families. It can be like a sign of inequality because not only is it older white conservative men telling women what to do, which can also be thought of as othering. You know you have one who is in control and then the other has to be submissive. 

Victoria: I think another interesting thing about this topic is that many people who are pro-life and they’re completely for these bills always attack planned parenthood. People will stand outside all day and hold signs and yell at people, anyone who goes in. I think there’s also a misconception around planned parenthood because they do lots of other things beneficial things for women who can’t afford it and can’t access healthcare but many people are under the assumption of planned parenthood being this place that just gives abortions to people when they are a much corporation to help women. 

Alex: yeah because I’m not being a local people here, standing from my cultural point of view, I think there should be a basic line that prohibits people from individually attacking or maybe enforcing others to follow their ideology other the rights because if others don’t have their, if one cannot, add a restriction to himself he shall not add his restriction to any other. Especially to a woman because as females hold their identities as individuals who shall be responsible for themselves then others should not require them to give up their rights. They shall have the rights to abort because others don’t have the rights to add the restriction to them. 

Victoria: I think it was also interesting because since this texas law hasn’t been overturned and hasn’t been stopped yet it’s also persuading other states to follow their lead. Such as the new ohio bill they are trying to pass. It’s not a law yet but they’re just trying to get it passed now. It stops abortions in ohio completley and then also if anyone talks about it or if anyone mentions people that are helping them get abortions, if any of that is heard being discussed you can get sued. They’re putting more not only pressure on women to not be able to choose what they want with their bodied but to also scare them from talking about it or asking for help. 

Alex: I’ve got a question real quick because this concept, why do you guys think this anti-abortion law is being followed by not just texas but stereotypically speaking the southern part is more of a conservative part, why do you think that many other states are following? Is it because of the religious community? 

Victoria: Yeah I think it’s part of the religious beliefs that’s why people follow it but I think other states are following it because its typically the red states that follow it and its because ohio is similar in that aspect. But you are correct by saying many um states in the south you would kind of expect to follow that type of logic and reasoning.

Michael: I think those like in the south though, they tend to be a little more family oriented than in the more libral states like New york and things like that. Which I think is why people have such a strong feeling about it. Because if you look at the south and you look at places like michigan and new york then tend to have smaller families. They’re not as close-knit as people from Mississippi and Georgia and things like that. It may be because of religion, it may be because of that family dynamic. 

Victoria: Yeah I definitely agree. 

Michael: You know but I also think that it’s becoming an issue now is because the supreme court has not ruled it’s unconstitutional, right. So now there’s like a window for everybody who wanted previously to pass a bill like this, to kind of, poke their head through and try to get it through. Right, because the supreme court says it’s not necessarily unconstitutional, why should red states not try to follow suit? 

Victoria: Yes I agree. Overall I found this to be a very interesting topic and I think its a good way to incorporate it through the material we’ve learned in the class so far. I think inequality has been a bigger theme in definitely the master slave dialect and you could see it in other ways throughout the readings as well. I think it was a good topic for our podcast. Any other words before we log off? 

Alex: This is definitely an interesting topic and there’s so much more we could say about it or discuss about it but we’ll be shortened now about the time and the class content. I’ll definitely spend more time to search for some information about it and find more subjects related to it. 

Victoria: Alright well it was great talking. 

Works cited: 

“About Title X Service Grants: HHS Office of Population Affairs.” OPA Office of Population Affairs, https://opa.hhs.gov/grant-programs/title-x-service-grants/about-title-x-service-grants. 

Astudillo, Carla, and Erin Douglas. “We Annotated Texas’ near-Total Abortion BAN. Here’s What the Law Says about Enforcement.” The Texas Tribune, The Texas Tribune, 10 Sept. 2021, www.texastribune.org/2021/09/10/texas-abortion-law-ban-enforcement/.

Ellis, Nicquel Terry. “’Teetering on a Public Health Crisis.’ New Title X Policy Forces Ohio Planned Parenthood Clinics to Close.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 20 Sept. 2019, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/20/new-title-x-policy-funding-forces-ohio-planned-parenthood-clinics-close/2345553001/.

| Introduction |

In today’s column of “Yo, Is This Racist?” we are joined by Mo F, Chase C, and Lauren G to discuss racial inequality and how to address this issue in a profession that is well-known, relevant, and utilized every day. Today’s news stations often talk about the inequality that minorities face when it comes to law enforcement, education, and careers, but they shy away from one of the biggest problems: HEALTHCARE.

Mo, Chase, and Lauren will be giving our readers insight into what racial inequality in healthcare means for those seeking care and how this system can address this issue to provide the best outcomes for everyone involved.

Mo, first question. So, tell us a little about racial injustice. How can someone outside of the healthcare field picture the role race plays in receiving care?

Mo: It is important to understand what the terms racial injustice and disparity mean. Basically, when certain groups of people deal with more challenges than the greater population strictly based on their ethnicity and/or race, they are facing racial injustice. In America, typically those who are white never suffer from these issues. Racial injustices are still relevant and influence many different aspects of the United States society to this day. One major area where racial injustices remain is the American healthcare system. As quoted by Peggy Maguire, “to transform healthcare we must acknowledge the trauma of systemic racism and work together to solve it” and this highlights how racism is rooted in several issues seen in healthcare. A way that makes this easy to understand is to envision these challenges as obstacle courses. There are two different courses. A course for the majority (white people) and a course for different minorities. The course for the minorities is much harder to get through than for the Whites for reasons they all have zero control over, their race.

That analogy between healthcare related challenges and different courses really paints a picture for how race serves as a factor in healthcare. Would you mind elaborating on what beliefs and ideas may contribute to unequal care?

Mo: Sure. Minorities face healthcare related challenges at disproportionate rates compared to Whites, so it’s important to get a better understanding of the challenges they face. Oftentimes certain views and biases may cause doctors to be more negligent towards certain patients. For example, in a study carried out in 2016, it was found that an alarming amount of white medical students believed that Black people have a higher pain tolerance. From the participants, 73% held at least one false belief about the biological differences between races. Many people believe that black people have thicker skin, less sensitive nerves, and stronger immune systems which is all a very harmful way of thinking (Rees, 2020).

Wow, that’s pretty shocking.

Mo: Exactly. It’s important to be aware of these ideologies because they may lead to individuals not receiving necessary treatment. Reports have stated that minorities are less likely to receive appropriate pain medication compared to white people. A shocking example is pregnant women who are giving birth to a child. The concept that Blacks have a higher pain tolerance leads to many women of color not receiving the attention and pain medication needed during labor and delivery. Low-income individuals often reside in trauma deserts which are not within close proximity of trauma care centers. On top of limited access to trauma centers, studies show that there are often racial biases that may prevent people of color from receiving emergency care. We can see these biases through the eyes of children and their parents. According to Frontiers in Pediatrics, most emergency departments refrain from providing care to Black and Latino children compared to Whites. Unfortunately, when physicians choose to reduce the number of blood tests, CT scans, or X-rays ordered, they are showing signs of racial injustices (Rees, 2020).

These are definitely eye-opening examples of how care can be altered by racial factors. Chase, as a healthcare professional and hearing what Mo has discussed, is anything you would like to add?

Chase: Mo, I think you bring up excellent points and really express the difference in care being provided to both Whites and individuals of a different race. I want to take a second to appreciate how you described this gap as an “obstacle course” because it further reveals how this issue is extremely complex and unfair, and why it needs to be addressed ASAP. It is important for people living in the United States to understand how this truly impacts individuals suffering from this form of discrimination. Based on what I believe when it comes to providing care for patients, we have a duty to provide the best care for our patients no matter who they may be. Patients come to us in the most vulnerable times of their lives, so dismissing any concerns that they have or concerns that may harm the patient based on racial biases is devastating and sickening. I think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it best when he said:

Chase, you’re right, MLK put it best. It is upsetting and incredibly frustrating that in a field built on healing people, this field is also quick to show the true colors of racial injustice.

Chase: Absolutely. Building off the points Mo discussed earlier, the factors that contribute to the persistent inequalities show just how desperately the healthcare system in the United States needs to change. Issues such as gaps in health insurance coverage and uneven access to services are the main factors that begin the “initial process” for this type of discrimination, eventually leading to poorer health outcomes (Taylor, 2019). Mo and I have a few statistics we would like to share.

Mo:

• African Americans have the highest mortality rate for all cancers combined compared with any other racial and ethnic groups

• Hispanic women are 40 percent more likely to have cervical cancer and 20 percent more likely to die from cervical cancer than non-Hispanic white women
• In 2014, only 60% of Black and Latinx people aged 65 or over got a vaccination, compared to 70% of white and Asian people of the same age.

Chase:

• In 2017: 10.6% of African Americans and 16.1% of Hispanics were uninsured compared to 5.9% of Non-Hispanic Whites.

• As of 2020: 13.8% of African Americans reported having fair or poor health compared to 8.3% of Non-Hispanic Whites (Carratala & Maxwell, 2020).

Those statistics show how real racial inequality is in this field, and how shockingly high the rates are. Now Lauren, you’ve listened to the conversation of your colleagues, in what ways can these concerns of racial injustice be addressed?

Lauren: Since racism in the healthcare system is a large, deeply rooted problem, there is not just one perfect solution to solve this injustice. There are many aspects to be considered when developing a solution including accessibility, education and awareness, policy, and personnel.

• Changes made in accessibility looks like increasing the number of emergency departments (ED), trauma centers and primary care providers in areas where the population of minority groups are higher than that of the majority groups. Currently predominantly Black zip codes are 67% more likely to have a shortage in primary care physicians (Rees, 2020). Developing properly staffed trauma centers and increasing the number of primary care physicians in predominantly minority areas could help with accessibility.
• Improvements made to education and awareness include creating curriculum for addressing and educating about implicit biases. Bringing awareness to implicit biases, false beliefs, and the roots of racism in healthcare will allow staff to assess their own biases and allow for changes to be made. Education can be provided to help people make those changes in their conduct. Research states that allowing people to share about the discrimination that they have faced can be a beneficial portion of the healing process. Another important step is having people who have faced discrimination in the healthcare system share their experiences with others and hospital staff to bring awareness to the problem and show others how they have been discriminated against.
• Changes made to policy include examining and reevaluating current policies and procedures. This involves changing policies that are based on race and creating policies that promote equality. Another aspect includes creating accountability frameworks and methods to report discrimination and racism as it occurs. There are currently ways to report discrimination and racism, but it is often underused because of fear of punishment or disbelief that the problem will actually be addressed. These framework methods need to be fixed so that problems are solved, and people can report problems without fear of retaliation.
• Changes made to personnel include increasing diversity among all levels of hospital staff, creating scholarships for minority groups interested in careers in the healthcare field and investing in community programs. Increasing diversity in all levels can help a broader range of voices and opinions be heard, while also holding people and practices accountable for racial injustices.

As you said, racial injustices and racial disparities in healthcare are a major problem. The solutions you mentioned seem to be the most crucial in making the changes the healthcare field desperately needs. Lauren, you, Mo, and Chase brought focus to racial inequality in a way that will certainly open the eyes of others. Do you have any concluding thoughts?

Lauren: While there is still a lot of work to be done in combating racism in the healthcare system, a few hospitals are taking initiative to end racism in their hospitals. Boston Children’s Hospital has created a community program to help prevent conditions that lead to asthma attacks in low-income Black and Latinx children. This community program is helping kids not miss school, while also helping the families by not having to pay money for additional ED visits and hospital stays. UCLA, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and Massachusetts General Hospital are also taking steps towards reducing racism in their hospitals. UCLA has developed an Instagram-like platform to allow students, staff, and clinicians to report in real-time incidents that occur and allow for dialogue to be sparked about the injustices that have occurred. The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is also creating a real-time reporting platform to report discriminations and racial injustices that occur. Massachusetts General Hospital has developed a zero tolerance conduct policy for patients which grants the ability to dismiss any patient that engages in discriminatory behavior towards the staff of the hospital.

These initiatives appear to be a step in the right direction. Mo, Chase, and Lauren thank you for joining “Yo, Is This Racist?” on this column and bringing awareness to the racial injustice that exists in healthcare.

Works Cited:

Carratala, S. & Maxwell, Connor. (2020, May 07). Health disparities by race and ethnicity. CAP. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.americanprogress.org/article/health-disparities-race-ethnicity/

Emanuel, E. J., & Lavizzo-Mourey, R. (2020, September 24). 5 ways the health-care system can stop amplifying racism. The Atlantic. Retrieved November 20, 202, from https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/how-health-care-can-stop-amplifying-racism/616454/

Hostetter, M. & Klein, S. Confronting racism in health care. The Commonwealth Fund. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/2021/oct/confronting-racism-health-care

Rees, M. (2020, September 16). Racism in healthcare: What you need to know. Medical News Today. Retrieved November 16, 2021, from www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/racism-in-healthcare

Taylor, J. (2019, December 19). Racism, inequality, and health care for African Americans. The Century Foundation. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://tcf.org/content/report/racism-inequality-health-care-african-americans/

Maggie Lang, Abbi Dicenso, Akhil Damarla

Abbi: 

Hey everyone my name is Abbi and welcome to our podcast, Injustices To Be Heard. Our goal here is really to share different stories on current systemic injustices that are happening in America that we kind of all collectively feel like need to be heard by a bigger audience, and for todays episode we have actually decided that we are going to split it up into 3 different segments. Each of us are going to take on one of the segments and they’re going to individually pertain to 3 different injustices that each of us want to share with you guys. 

So, for today I’ve actually decided that I really want to focus on injustices against minority groups. This is something that we all know is most definitely one of the boldest and biggest blemishes on America’s rather strong reputation and systemic racism is unfortunately what stands out to be the most prominent of many issues that are currently happening in america. So many African American individuals are being discriminated against and racially profiled and it’s definitely something that we need to collectively talk about and recently in Newport a landlord by the name of David Merrymen has really hit the spotlight over racially profiling most of his clients and the situation got so bad and out of control that a client decided to sue him for 8 million dollars. This particular lawsuit really caught the eye of many media houses and social activists just for the embodiment that this entire situation has on America’s systemic racism issue. After hearing about this I just feel like everyone has the right to live in a secure and happy environment without the risk of harassment or discrimination from their homeowner. 

I think is important to also talk about housing discrimination when we’re on the topic of homeowners and something that I actually found out is that currently the property difference between black and white families is still jsut as big as it was a century ago and when we say that sentence out loud and put it into perspective its actually crazy. Almost 74% of white families currently in america possess their residencies while only 44% of black families do, which is something that we found out from a recent zillow group study. This massively undermines the hurdles that people of color and immigrants are forced to clear to have good residencies in America. Personally, I really feel like America needs to gradually aim to desegregate home and eradicate such racially motivated housing discrimination cases. I hope that this first segment was interesting for you guys, I’m actually going to hand it over to Maggie whos our next host and she’s gonna be talking about some interesting stuff on minority representation in our government systems and that’s going to be super interesting and cool to hear so stay tuned, and i’m actually going to pass the mic over to her now!

Maggie: 

Thanks, Abbi! Just to introduce myself, my name is Maggie and Abbi gave a great introduction to systemic injustices against minority groups as a whole, and also really honed in on the housing differences between black and white americans. Buying a house can look completely different between these two groups. However I want to take some time to focus on the lack of representation of minorities in congress and then what impact that can have on various communities. 

Historic trends have had non-hispanic white Americans representing an incredibly diverse nation but without the proper representation of other races and ethnicities that also live in the United States. I wanted to start by throwing out some statistics, so 77% of the voting members in congress are white, but white Americans make up only 60% of the whole  population of the United States. Over the years these ratios have definitely improved, for example black individuals make up around 13% of the US population and that matches their percentage of representation in congress, close enough. Hispanic and asian Americans, however, they really don’t have the same ratio of congress representation to percent of the population. So, overall, this statistic shows that there is definitely still some work to be done to help these other communities and other minorities have a larger voice in their government systems to then impact the policies that are made.

Currently, our government is proud to have the most diverse congress yet in our nation’s history. And this is great progress from where we started, but I think the celebration should be saved until everyone has adequate representation in the government. It’s important to take a deeper look into those statistics as well. Most of this diversity is coming from our democratic representatives, so this is implying that the large scale representation is becoming more present, but we have to ask ourselves if the minority

groups in republican states are also feeling as heard?

This can definitely be tied into our discussions about Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak”. I think they most definitely can speak, they have been speaking, and should be able to speak even way louder than they already do. But, our government makes it incredibly difficult when people tend to vote for who is “familiar”. Unfortunately, the ones that are familiar are the older white individuals because they have had power in congress for decades. This then creates a cycle that is incredibly difficult to break, where familiar white individuals are being reelected to make decisions for everyone, and can shape what kinds of policies are enacted and can make really long lasting impacts. Many controversial topics in America, such as gun violence or abortion, for example, can negatively impact these minority groups more so than white individuals. Just to touch on this lightly, access to abortion is decreasing drastically and minority women make up the majority of women receiving abortionsas a whole. If access to safe abortions continues to decline like this, the women primarily affected will be the minority women. And I would like to assume that If there were greater representation of these minorities in congress, or in the government as a whole, combined with having more women in congress, the abortion decision could be determined by the women who would be receiving them, in support of all the women across the country. So, I hope you enjoyed that part of the segment, I’m going to pass the mic over to Akhil, who is our next host, and he will continue to talk about systemic injustices that were brought to light during Hurricane Ida. So, I’m going to pass the mic over to him now.

Akhil:

Thanks Maggie! Thinking about Louisiana I think about the rich culture and some of the best food in the country. Or maybe you’re aware of the New Orlean Saints or the Pelicans. Regardless of what you associate Louisiana with it’s one of the best cities to visit. But there’s been something even greater that Louisiana has been in the news for in the last few months. Although Louisiana endures some of the worst weather during hurricane season this year they took another hit with Hurricane Ida. It is sad to see many lives lost and communities completely uprooted. But coinciding with the theme today, in what should be an equal battle for all isn’t the case. Due to years of systemic racism, infrastructure built around the state is uneven in quality and abundance. For example, black communities don’t have the same resources available compared to those of the wealthy, white neighborhoods. This is due to the direct failure of political and corporate leaders not building adequate infrastructure for black communities and people of a minority.

I believe that hurricane Ida was a blessing in disguise in a sense. Due to this incident, it brought out an ongoing problem in our country; years of inconsistent development by our government to minority communities. This is a clear issue risen from systemic racism/injustice. Seeing as the problem is embedded in our government system it can only be changed at a high level. This was also clearly seen in Hurricane Katrina as most white families were able to recover at an alarmingly fast rate and the black community was blatantly neglected. I believe that now the black community has a stronger voice than it had 16 years ago. Even this may not be enough to see an immediate change. The problem is deeply rooted in our government as politicians try to convince us that racism is the result of individual behavior, rather than policies, but in reality, several of these policies are designed to maintain white supremacy and privilege.

Additionally, climate disasters themselves aren’t just the product of misfortune. It is a derivation of poverty and corporate powers abusing the influence they have in politics causing politicians to cut off resources from communities from groups that need them. Corporations that have the means to ensure housing and substantial recovery for survivors of disaster but choose to do nothing are attacking Black communities, no matter what their slick advertisements featuring Black people may say. To understand the impact of climate change and refusing to implement legislative regulations to halt its impact is another form of attack on Black communities. 

Last year, corporations of all kinds publicly claimed to care about racial justice. But the fact is, moments like these let us know which corporations are actually willing to put their money where their values are. Energy providers like Entergy and hospitality companies like Hyatt have an opportunity to uphold their commitments to justice and directly help those displaced in Louisiana. If they claim to care about Black lives, they, too, must support Black livelihood and wellbeing. 

To this day we haven’t seen enough change in how the black community gets treated. And this isn’t just at a community level but rather at the government level. They allow builders to create low-quality homes for black people in order to return higher profits. This form of systemic racism becomes amplified when these communities are in need of help. To combat this, we need to acknowledge how systemic racism has affected the nation and not be blind to small gestures that show it. Our country has seen the effect of how natural disasters and COVID has affected communities that don’t have proper infrastructure due to exploitation. It shouldn’t take another hurricane or global pandemic to bring out the problems our government is trying to turn a blind eye to.

Thanks for tuning into Injustices to be Heard! And until next week be proactive in your community and let your voice be heard!

Sources:

Schaeffer, K. (2021, January 28). Racial, ethnic diversity increases yet again with the 117th congress. Pew Research Center. Retrieved November 20, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/01/28/racial-ethnic-diversity-increases-yet-again-with-the-117th-congress/. 

                                                                         Let’s Burst Our Racist Bubbles

   Looking at an issue that many of us have probably been surrounded with every day, to the point where we may have become numb, I’m afraid I may have to drive that numbness down a bit more and make you ask, “is this necessary?” Well, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but it is something that cannot be ignored. We may be tired of the same old rhetoric in recent months of “let’s all mask up, get vaccinated, and curb the spread of the virus.” A switch-off button is pressed inside me whenever I hear anything remotely related to the pandemic. I have been following the prescribed protocols and have been vaccinated. I have and am still doing my part. So, if the news shifts to the pandemic surrounding the debates of whether to be vaccinated or not, or whether we should still wear masks, I roll my eyes and change the channel. I am simply tired of all this hype and fuss. I understand that we all need to do our part, and I feel that I am doing so. Why then should I continue being told to do my part? The same broken old record is being played repeatedly, scratching louder every time, becoming more cringe worthy, especially if I have to listen to the ridiculously hilarious preaching of an anti-vax conspiracy theorist. So don’t quote me as being anti-vax or in denial of the virus; I am not. I’m just so numb to the ridiculousness surrounding it.

   The pandemic is but one of the societal issues that we have been constantly bombarded with to the point where we just shrug our shoulders and move on after any mention of these issues. We don’t want to be told that they are important because we know they are. I sometimes think that if you tell me about the gravity of an issue, which I know and believe to be necessary, I will simply deny its importance out of spite. It’s nice and cozy to be in that slumber of life carrying on as usual, doesn’t it?  We just want normality and think that everything in our lives is neat and tidy and that nothing is broken. My attitude is that if I’m doing what I can and should be doing, everything is alright. Let’s not over complicate things. For instance, I clean my house every day as I believe that I am a clean and tidy person and that personal cleanliness in one’s personal environment, such as one’s home, is an easy thing to maintain. But what if I were to hire someone to clean my house one day, and at the end of the day, that person would ask when was the last time I cleaned my house. 

I would definitely be shocked and offended. Does that person insinuate that I am an untidy person who likes to live in a dirty environment? After all, I do my part daily to ensure that my house lives up to acceptable standards of cleanliness. Everything always seems clean to me, so I do not need to be told to clean more often. However, what if that person who cleaned your house revealed to you that there was a section in your living room, under the sofa from which a great amount of dirt, along with a few dead cockroaches. I would be shocked. I would immediately begin asking myself why I let that section of the house slip from the corner of my eye as I was cleaning the house. Everything about my cleaning practices would be thrown into question. Personally, I would start to think of myself as negligent. However, I had rightly been doing the right things by cleaning every day. Perhaps it was a good thing that this would have been brought to my attention to ensure all areas are properly cleaned in the future. Those cockroaches could have laid eggs underneath the sofa, spreading a possible infestation throughout my house from a source to whose uncleanliness  I would still be oblivious. From that other person’s point of view, I am an untidy person, and that person is right. There

should have been no excuse, but I liked to continue with my daily habits in my fabulous bubble of life as usual.But let’s look at my ramblings from another important perspective. I recently had an experience that was utterly eye-opening, revealing an aspect of daily life that had slipped from my daily focus in my neat and tidy bubble. That is the whole issue of systemic racism. I get it. Many of us may have become so numb to this issue and its repeated occurrence in daily discourse here in the US. I believed I did my part in being a good member of society, believing in the fundamental equality of people of all races. I know that my views and attitudes toward anyone are not biased and prejudicial. I support the movements and causes advocating for social justice and racial equality. I believe it is a good thing to take a stand for racial justice by, for instance, taking the knee at a sporting match to show support for the Black Lives Matter Movement. That is a good thing. I do my part, so I think I can continue with my daily activities with the life as usual approach.

In that sense, I have become numb to the issue of racial justice and have let the festering issue slip from the corner of my eye as I simply do my part in advancing the cause. I believe I do my part in cleaning the social environment, so leave me alone and don’t tell me to do more. That is an attitude which many of us have, to do one’s little bit and simply carry on. But is that enough? Like the infestation underneath the sofa that could have spread to an otherwise tidy house, so can the underlying issue degrade the whole house of society if it is not cleaned. It does not help to simply carry on in one’s bubble if one is still untidy in a section in one’s social environment.

My little bubble burst most inconveniently on a recent Friday night when it was just supposed to be life as usual. A Friday night is definitely not the time to be pondering society’s deep structural issues unless, of course, one’s Friday night entails some marijuana consumption, which makes one delve into the deep mysteries of life. Let me first then state that I am not a marijuana user, by the way. I was expecting a good time at the club with my girlfriend and some drinks when the enormous issue of systemic racism within our society opened up to me. Innocently queuing up at the club’s entrance with my girlfriend, we noticed the bouncer approach a group of four African American guys who, like us, were expecting a good and relaxed time in the club that evening.

One of the guys was wearing baggy sweatpants, and the white bouncer told him that he could not enter the club dressed in baggy sweatpants. The whole group decided to leave and was quite visibly shocked and upset. Initially, I had not taken much stock of it, thinking, “oh well, if that’s the dress code, then that’s the dress code.” This view most drastically changed after some time in the club when I noticed how five white guys were dressed in sweatpants. There was a natural feeling of outrage that began to pervade me as I asked myself, “why are those guys wearing baggy sweat pants in this club while that man outside was denied entry for wearing one?” Suddenly my numbness broke, and the bubble of my life-as-usual-approach, I-do-my-part approach burst. Like that person who discovered the rot underneath the sofa and reprimanded me for it, I also reprimanded myself for my life as usual approach in the issue of racial justice. That was like one of those epiphany or “aha” moments when suddenly one’s whole outlook is changed. I immediately felt ashamed for not having stood up to the white bouncer denying entry to the black person for wearing those sweatpants as I was still in my bubble, numb to the continued societal discourse on racial justice and systemic racism. It had then felt totally outrageous that a blatant form of discrimination could have been demonstrated. We are supposed to be a free and equal America. That sort of action can only be allowed in society if the law is still influenced by its previously prejudicial underpinnings that excluded the advancement of African Americans in economic and societal life. These structural underpinnings allow for the perpetuation of attitudes and biases that say, “black men dressed as rappers in baggy sweatpants are dangerous and so let’s protect ourselves from them.”

Perhaps then, if I may be so bold as to burst all your bubbles regarding this issue. Burst those bubbles of that ingrained and systemic prejudice, whether it be in one\s work and leisure. It is simply not enough to say “I do my part,” or “I’m tired and numb to the continued debate surrounding the needs for addressing systemic racism.” Systemic racism persists when we do not acknowledge that underneath the sofa of our nation’s legal, political and economic systems, there lies the rot and infestation of racial prejudice, which will spread into the falsely tidy world we have created for ourselves. Our police officers will continue to be influenced by the biases that are enabled by the societal structure because they believe they are simply doing their part within their own narrow bubble. Inconvenient as it may be, let’s burst that bubble. No more of that “I’ve heard it so many times already attitude.” Let us then burst our racist bubbles.

                                                                               Sources Used

Diary of Injustice #2

John Oliver in “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” (NSFW Warning, language)

Housing discrimination has been in discussions more recently than ever before. This is a topic I had come across before the start of this semester and something I wanted to dive further into. There are so many questions when discussing housing discrimination; do the laws actually work, and does this target a certain group, is this racist? What sparked my interest in this topic was a YouTube video posted by British-American comedian John Oliver. One of the latest episodes on his late-night show on HBO called Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, delved into housing discrimination. Having watched many of his episodes, this one stuck out to me the most. Obviously more sources and research are needed for a lengthy post like this than just a late-night show provides. A warning for anyone who does seek out the episode/video, it isn’t school friendly with the jokes or language used.

First, we can look at the laws that have been passed over the years. There have been numerous laws passed whether it be local, state or nationally to combat housing discrimination. All of these laws look to prohibit the interference of someone’s rights to housing based on race, color, religion, sex and so on. This is obviously a good thing that we have these laws in place but something that many people don’t know about is racial covenants. These covenants, often racially restrictive, are common in deeds of homes but can be found in state or local constitutions. One example that was given in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver was pointed out by a Houston news station, where it stated that “no building erected thereon shall be used, owned or occupied by any person other than of the Caucasian Race” (5:25). This was shown to residents and their reaction would be anyone’s, of horror and shock. These restrictions are a serious reminder of what America has been and how far we have to go to change the views and deep-rooted evils that this country has. The next question would be, do the laws that have been passed after the covenants help fight against racial discrimination in housing. Obviously since I am talking about this in 2021, not as much as it should. In a court of law, it is hard to prove that someone has a bias which is what we are trying to fight against.

              Redlining in Brooklyn

Someone might say “Well we passed the Fair Housing Act, so the problem should be solved”, which I wish that would be true but it isn’t. There are many secret forms of housing discrimination that has affected the Black community in American, one of them being redlining. Redlining is when banks and local governments graded zones of a city on their financial risk which mainly focused on minority groups, especially the African-American communities and neighborhoods. This has had a severe “trickle-down” effect on those communities today. One example of that is the difference in public schools and how they are directly affected by the property taxes of homes. Everyone can agree that an education changes the lives of families and their communities, so having this disadvantage can alter lives and neighborhoods. If a home is valued highly then their property taxes are surely going to be high, thus providing more money to the public school. This financial resource is massive to public schools and can help or hurt a young person who is trying to gain an education.

There are many other examples of housing discrimination, whether it be the blockbusting tactic of scaring white homeowners to sell their homes cheaper out of fear that minorities are moving in to their community. We can look at another example that is prevalent today is housing appraisals. Shown in the video, a young black woman was given a low appraisal on her house so she asked her friend who has a white boyfriend to act like the homeowner. The appraisal was much higher the second time when the white male was shown as the homeowner. Obviously, this is definitely a racial bias but like I said above, it’s hard to prove someone is bias in court. These are all key examples of a system put forth by government organizations and banks to discriminate and segregate areas. The systematic injustice from these programs have caused and still causing damage to minority communities, especially the black communities in America. The housing discrimination that they have faced is nothing short of sad and disheartening. There needs to be more voices and more push back against this discrimination and blatant racism. So yes, to my final question of Yo, is this racist? It most definitely is and has been targeting the black community for ages, something has to change. This change is a must to better the lives of the many people targeted, who have been left by the side and told to fight out of it when the system is stacked against them.

                               Reparations

Finally, what do we do then, how do we help and fix this problem. Well, I am far from an expert and will always listen to new ideas but I have a few from John Oliver that are a good start. One of said ideas is to fix the root causes that have gotten us into the mess to begin with. By passing laws that fix the redlining of communities which has caused that trickle-down problem I stated above. Obviously, the damage is already done from the redlining scheme that was established but we need to make sure it never happens again. Another idea is to pass and enforce stricter laws that deter discrimination from these organizations. These laws should be so strict and the punishments should be so harsh to deter the type of bias people have and shown to act upon. If these new laws are not followed, the penalties should be so severe that it would deter everyone from bringing bias or discrimination into the housing industry. Last but not least, we need to look at reparations as a country and look into it with a fair judgement. This is not a “cure-all”, none of these ideas are meant to totally fix the problem because there has been centuries of pain and suffering caused that cannot be wiped away. In the end though, it is only fair for the minority community to be given what they are owed. White communities were practically given generational wealth that has been passed down while the minority community was left behind. There are many examples of black families being forced to move by death threats while their local governments turn the other cheek. These houses and land would go on to be hugely valuable and giving them their property back or the amount it would be worth now is a start. All in all, this is so blatantly racist and it happens everyday in our country. This country should be past these things bud sadly we are much closer to the tensions and hate in the 60s than anything else and that, as a 23-year-old is sad to see.

Thank you for taking the time to read my entry, I have been struggling to put down the ideas I had and haven’t been healthy enough to sit down and type everything out. So, thank you and hopefully I wasn’t all over the place too much.

Works Cited

“S8 E18: July 25, 2021: Housing Discrimination.” Performance by John Oliver, Housing Discrimination: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), Home Box Office Inc., 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-0J49_9lwc&ab_channel=LastWeekTonight.

Blidner, Rachelle. “America’s First Suburb Still Trying to Shed Whites-Only Legacy.” Newsday, Newsday, 17 Nov. 2019, projects.newsday.com/long-island/levittown-demographics-real-estate/.

Oliphint, Joel. “Cover: The Roots of Columbus’ Ongoing Color Divide.” Columbus Alive, Columbus Alive, 28 June 2018, www.columbusalive.com/news/20180627/cover-roots-of-columbus-ongoing-color-divide.

Reece, Jason. “REDLINED: The History of Race and Real Estate in Cleveland & Its Relationship to Health Equity Today.” Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, The Ohio State University, Feb. 2015, kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/cleveland-place-matters.pdf.

Wu, Titus. “Discriminatory Property Restrictions, Long Illegal, Can Now Be Removed from Ohio Deeds.” The Columbus Dispatch, The Columbus Dispatch, 18 July 2021, www.dispatch.com/story/lifestyle/real-estate/2021/07/18/discriminatory-deed-restrictions-can-now-removed-ohio-racist-redlining-real-estate-property/7951111002/.

Transcript:

Evan: Hello everyone welcome to this edition of the Yo, is this Racist podcast, my name is Evan Goldenstein and today we will be discussing racism, and using the death of George Floyd as well as the vandalsim of the George Floyd statue in Manhattan to delve deeper into racism and more specifically the discrimination of African Americans and the way they are treated in society.

Davis: Hello my name is Davis Rogovich and another topic that we will be discussing on today’s podcast is police brutality and how this affects African Americans.

Evan: Davis if you wouldn’t mind showing our audience a picture of the vandalized statue so they can get an idea of what we’re talking about.

Davis: Yes I can do that, as you guys could see here this is the statue of George Floyd that was created to commemorate and honor him and as you see this is the individual right here that is vandalizing the statue for some reason that I don’t think I’ll ever understand why what are your thoughts on this Evan.

Evan: Yeah that’s overall just disappointing to see and for anyone who needs the background information on this what happened was In May 2020, a white police officer held his knee on an African American man named George Floyd, brutally killing him in the process. This death led to nationwide riots supporting the Back Lives Matter movement. These riots spread to over two thousand cities in over 60 countries. Some of these riots were peaceful but some resulted in violence and looting. This event led to police officers using violence against these people in the protests. 

Davis: This was just a really disappointing incident that took place and it’ll go down in American history as not a very good thing that America will be proud of ever and yeah I mean I’m sure everybody listening is aware of what happened but I mean what it led to the violence that clearly Americans were fed up with unarmed African-Americans being killed and yeah just something that will go down in history that is not a good look on America and clearly needs to be changed. 

Evan: Yeah, In my opinion, the vandalism of the statue was clearly a racist act. The statue was vandalized by a white man as you guys saw in the picture. This makes me think that this man didnt respect the black lives movement or what George Floyd symbolized for African Americans. This is a clear systemic injustice as these types of actions are deeply ingrained in society and there are still many people who don’t believe in the true equality of all and will try to bring others down. The vandalism of this statue is very upsetting and shows that there is still work to be done to eradicate systemic injustices like these. Something I also wanted to mention was about how this whole incident with George Floyd makes me think back to Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail where in this letter he was discussing the inherent nature of segregation he sees in society. 

Davis: Yeah and if I remember correctly he also talks about his resentment towards the white clergy for not having the courage to stand up and say that like this is wrong that you know African Americans not being treated fairly and not being seen as whole, whole people and that they’re seen as less is wrong and that the white population should have been standing up for them seeing like following their morals.

Evan: Yeah I definitely agree, this negative treatment of African American people has clearly been present in our nation for a long time and is something that we need to work towards eradicating. The full equality of all in my opinion should be a priority of our nation. We need to do our best to try to erase  systemic injustices like these and try to clear racist attitudes towards African American people. The vandalism of the statue as well as the death of George Floyd and the overall treatment  African Americans receive by police officers is utterly unacceptable and shows that there are still people who don’t view African Americans the same as everyone else and are treating them with racist intent. And I think Davis you can talk more about police brutality of African Americans. 

Davis: Yeah before I get into that I just wanted to say about the statue being vandalized that that is just a symbol that is very disgusting to me I mean like I said prior that that statues there to honor George Floyd and honor his family and what they had to go through that they experienced such a brutal loss because you know of the racist culture in American and the fact that they can’t even have their statue honored, it’s just disgusting to me so yeah it’s it’s a lot that needs to be done in America to fix this issue. 

Evan: To talk about this further George Floyd, the reason I think he was killed by the white police officer is because of the implicit bias of many officers in our nation which means that many of these officers already have it in their head without realizing it that African-Americans maybe are more like criminals or are more prone to commit crimes which is some of the reasons why there are committing these acts of violence against them.

Davis: Yeah implicit bias, I mean that is the issue here is that you know all these African Americans are just being seen as almost quote unquote more dangerous than other individuals and that’s the problem with these officers is that they have it set in their head that these individuals are dangerous just because of the color of their skin which is just such a terrible misconception and that’s kind of I want to get into a change that needs to be made America is that clearly these police officers need more training and I’m going to get into it later but there’s some other individuals George Floyd is certainly not the first unarmed African-American to be killed at the hands of police but I mean I’ll just go into it right now but I’m not sure if anybody’s familiar with Eric Garner I mean I’m sure people are but here’s another African American individual that was killed at the hands of police and I mean I’m just going to read something here it says Garner repeated the words I can’t breathe 11 times while lying face down on the sidewalk after Garner lost consciousness he remained laying on the sidewalk for 7 minutes while the officers waited for an ambulance to arrive, Garner was pronounced dead at an area hospital approximately one hour later, I mean I know I didn’t give much background on this but anyways Garner was placed in a Chokehold by a police officer after he was convicted of selling cigarettes illegally I mean just the fact that that leads to his death is just despicable and I can’t even think like it’s very disturbing and clearly I mean the fact that somebody choked him out to death when he screams I can’t breathe 11 times and eventually ends up dying and I mean like I said for selling cigarettes illegally it’s just very disturbing.

Evan: Yeah it’s definitely saddening to hear and something I would like your thoughts on is what do you think we can do to have these officers act the right way do you think there needs to be harsher punishments for them, do you think they need more training or is this something that is just going to very difficult for us to rid from our nation.

Davis: Yeah I mean you just mentioned two things that definitely 100% need to be put into place I mean the first thing you’ve mentioned was harsher punishments I mean I didn’t even mention but the police officer that ended up killing Garner was not charged, not charged decided to not indict the police officer they didn’t indict him and I just don’t understand how that’s even possible I can’t even wrap my head around it so yeah these police officers are getting away with this which is putting a bad image and other police officers think that this is I don’t want to say the word acceptable but almost acceptable I mean that the fact that he could put somebody in a Chokehold and have Garner scream 11 times I can’t breathe and have no punishment it’s disgusting but yeah so definitely the one thing you mentioned was harsher punishments I mean he should definitely be criminally charged and then another thing that you mentioned was training I mean one thing I hear is defund the police I don’t necessarily agree with that I almost think they need more money to train these police that clearly are not going through the proper training it’s very interesting and a very two sided argument I don’t really want to get too much into that but yeah I mean definitely need more training on these police officers.

Evan: Yeah I definitely agree with all of those points that you just made and after talking about all this something that just it made me think back to was Simone De Beuviors othering theory and after talking about this, this act against the George Floyd statue represents this theory as it shows how African Americans are being completely “othered” by society. The white man who vandalized the statue is an example of someone doing this as he didn’t accept what the statue stood for and felt the need to vandalize it out of pure discrimination and hate towards African American people. And to wrap up this podcast Davis I wanted to just ask you one question, what is your final definition of what racism means.

Davis: Yeah that is a great question actually I mean it kind of relates to the statement you just said about othering, othering is treating people differently and treating them as an other not somebody like yourself which is basically related to racism so basically where I’m getting at is that my definition of racism would be that you treat someone differently because of their skin tone because they’re not like you or because you don’t like their race, so that would be my basic definition of racism I mean I know there’s a lot more that goes into this but that would be my basic simple definition.

Evan: Yeah that’s definitely something to think about and that makes me wonder the question, let’s say George Floyd was white, would he still have been killed, I don’t know, that’s kind of where the racism is involved in this and to give my definition of racism I have that it is simply a person showing a negative bias or hatred towards another person or group of people because they are not the same as them whether that be skin color or race and treating them as others in society without full equality. The person who vandalized the George Floyd statue was clearly committing an act of racism as he was showing his hatred towards African Americans and displayed that he doesn’t respect them as equals or support the movement that George Floyd stood for.

Davis: Yeah I totally agree and I really think you had a lot of good stuff to say Evan, it was nice doing this podcast with you and I hope our audience enjoyed listening.

Evan: You as well and that’s the end of our podcast, thanks for listening. 

Works Cited:

“Eric Garner Dies in NYPD Chokehold.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 15 July 2020, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/eric-garner-dies-nypd-chokehold.

Introduction to Gender Discrimination Among STEM Careers

It has been shown that women within the science, technology, engineering and math fields have been treated unfairly regarding gender discrimination, wage gaps in comparison to that of male salaries, and reported sexual harassment by that of females. In a study that was conducted by Pew Research Center, it was found that 50% of women (that participated in the study) reported being discriminated for their gender within the workplace (Funk & Parker, 2020) In fact, women also reportedly admitted to experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace far more than men did within the study results of 2017. Education in regards to STEM as started earlier for men and women, the first introduction can happen when the students are in high school. Often there is still a gap, more boys are likely to be involved than girls, but there has been a decrease over the years. The education continues on when arriving at universities, but this is where the gap widens, only around 20% of women will earn their bachelor’s degree, and the percentage continues to decrease when going on to higher levels of education including their masters and when they plan to actually enter the work field (Hill, Corbett and St. Rose, 2010). There has been improvement for this at the university level, the STEM program has been encouraged to add in broader courses to help gain the recruitment of the female students and adding in more female facilities (Hill, Corbett and St. Rose, 2010). The purpose of the facilities is to provide these women a more safe working/learning environment in hopes that it will drive them to continue on within their STEM education and not make them feel uncomfortable due to the environment being so men dominated (Hill, Corbett and St. Rose, 2010). The gap continues to be there due to the implicit bias which is making judgement and assumptions based on the stereotypes that you have heard/learned and it is something that is not done on purpose, simply the first thought that comes to mind. For this field, that is very much present, often when you hear the terms “science, math, technology, or engineering” you believe that it is a man who is in that field/earning that degree, why (Hill, Corbett and St. Rose, 2010)? There has been such a strong stereotype placed on STEM over the years, that it is very difficult to break, which could be one of the reasons that there is still such a gap between men and women within the program. There was a study held a Harvard University that was a set of questions to test implicit bias over this concept, most of the results came back to the stereotypes of women not being component for a “masculine” job and that they are only seen to be fit for the position if they have had clear success (Hill, Corbett and St. Rose, 2010). Gender discrimination among the women within the STEM field seems to be a work in progress, based on the many and many of years that discrimination against women in a more “masculine field” has always been an issue. One can not say if the discrimination will begin to vanish for the women, but continuing education of others within and not in the field about equal rights is key to help put a stop to it. In order to continue the fight for their well-deserved equal rights for the women they must continue their education within this field and prove that gender should not have any role in deciding what you can be educated in and what your career is to be.  

Why care about this topic? 

Though these subjects have been brought to light within the last few recent years, the problems of these incidents still occur today. It is very important to identify such a growing problem within many career fields accompanied by STEM studies. I thought a great way to get first-hand experience was to interview a good friend of mine, by the name of Courtney, who is currently in her last year of civil engineering. She completed two co-ops last year; one in Columbus and the other in Cincinnati. I have composed three questions for her to answer during our interview.

Injustices within Engineering: Interview Questions

Question #1: What effects of injustices (say gender injustices) have you observed within the field of engineering thus far into your career? With these effects, how has your perception of the field changed in your opinion? 

Transcribed Response: I have faced multiple injustices within my career, whether it be in school or in the workplace. Within school, it was disheartening to feel the difference between men and women, whereas it was shocking for a young female to take the role of an engineer. Not only has it affected my social life but it has also affected the opportunities given from my University. We sat at nearly a one to eight ratio of women to men and only male professors. I was talked poorly to and was treated as less of an individual because I was a woman. In most cases, this has pushed me to work harder and be the best engineer possible. I have made myself grow in ways that will help me to be successful without my gender being involved, like my social skills, software skills and voicing my importance in this study, for myself and for those that cannot speak up for themselves. Although it can be discouraging at times, I believe it is very important to break this stigma of engineers and continue to support women who are successful as the minority.

Question #2: Within your experiences (internships, co-ops, etc.), has the gender wage gap ever been mentioned? If so, please explain how this topic was brought up and the ways in which it made you feel. 

Transcribed Response: Gender wage gap has never been an issue within my company – all men and women at the same level were receiving the same pay and benefits. Although I do know it is prevalent in some places. I believe it is very unfair and you should be getting paid for the time, effort and your ability to do your job, not paid based on your gender. In my company I have experienced people telling me I will be more successful than other men in the company or I will be able to move up faster just because I am a woman. This is very disheartening because I don’t think your gender affects the way you work and I would never want to be promoted into a position out of pity or for the company’s benefit (minority grants, extra money, or minority bragging rights for the company).

Question #3: Do you feel as if there is a mistreatment of genders within your field of study?

Transcribed Response: I do think there is mistreatment in the engineering field, I believe men tend to sexualize us. Nearly 50% of women that are engineers have experienced sexual harassment in either their higher education or in the workplace. Unfortunately I became one of the 50% when I was only twenty years old, working my internship. It can be something that is very hard to speak up about, but if you don’t speak up it will continue to happen to you or other females. Thankfully my company helped me through this traumatic experience, the man was fired after a long investigation with HR but I was not the only victim from this man, five females before me have now came forward with sexual harassment allegations against him that were all deemed to be true. I was offered therapy and paid leave, but in the end that experience will affect me for the rest of my career. We need to make gender dominant careers more inclusive to the minorities. Diversity is what completes everything because in the end if everyone was the exact same, nothing would get accomplished.

Courtney Brown

The University of Toledo

Civil Engineering/Construction Management

Here’s What You May Not Know about the Ads You’ve been Watching Everyday! 

It’s time we say out with the old and in with the new to our favorite Super Bowl commercials, billboard advertisements, and social media promotions! Though we’ve all seen our fair share of these ads, what we may notice is the objectification that permeates deep within these pass along flyers. In simple terminology, objectification can be described as the act of personifying animate things into mere objects. Now at this point you must be thinking, “what’s so bad about objectification?” Like most things, objectification can manifest into harmful forms. This brings us to today’s focus: sexual objectification in the media. Specifically, many sources and outlets have taken it upon themselves to manipulate female depiction in order to attract audiences. As we continue, we’ll explore how different advertisements have acted on sexual objectification.

Sex Appeal – The New Way to Sell Underwear?

Here is just one of the many recent examples of sexual objectification in the media. Though Calvin Klein’s goal is to sell beer to prospective customers, they portray women in revealing clothes and a submissive position in order to garner attention. At first glance, this image may seem as anything but harmful. However, closer analysis tells us that the characteristics this woman exhibits builds on the existing stereotypes held against females from the early ages. These images further instill these gender stigmas, especially with younger audiences.

Calvin Klein, an world-renowned retail brand, depicts a man and women 

positioned in a sexual fashion with the purpose of advertising clothes to viewers. 

What’s the Deal with Sexual Objectification Anyways?

Like I mentioned before, sexual objectification is nothing new. In fact, women, in particular, have faced acts of dehumanization and degradation for centuries. Tracing back to the beginnings, we can see instances of this injustice in the gender roles assigned to women. Reflecting back on America’s colonial times, National Geographic details that the traditional family consisted of a husband who controlled the household’s day to day functions and a wife that focused on tending the children, among other miscellaneous chores like cleaning or cooking (National Geographic Society, 2020). Systems such as the government haven’t made it any easier on females to receive equal treatment when compared to their male counterparts. To exemplify, women didn’t earn the right to vote until the 19th Amendment in the early 1900s, which further alienated them from aligning with the

majority. Moreover, their ability to own property wasn’t recognized till the mid 1800s with the passage of The Married Women’s Property Act. Even then, they still were required to depend on their husbands. Unfortunately, we see the effects that these systems have had on how women are viewed in today’s society through these promotions.

What Now? 

Sometimes people just suck. When it comes to systemic injustices like the sexual objectification in the media, blame can only be placed on society. Letting problems like this run rampant only strengthens the stigmas surrounding women. It’s time we put a stop to this by acknowledging how destructive media platforms can be, whether it’s Calvin Klein’s hypersexualized image or anything else. Though Hannah Montana says, “Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has those days,” we cannot continue to dismiss our mistakes like they’re of no weight. Instead, let’s make a promise to each other that we’ll speak up about whatever systemic injustice we come across. After all, such a small civic duty can progress into a bigger, better, and brighter future.

Works Cited: 

Funk, Cary, and Kim Parker. “Women and Men in STEM Often at Odds Over Workplace Equity.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project, Pew Research Center, 21 Aug. 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2018/01/09/women-and-men-in-stem-often-at-odds-over-workplace-equity/.  

Hill, C., Corbett, C., & St. Rose, A. (2010). Why so few research – AAUW. Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Retrieved November 17, 2021, from https://www.aauw.org/app/uploads/2020/03/why-so-few-research.pdf. 

National Geographic Society. (2020, February 19). Women and children in Colonial America. National Geographic Society. Retrieved November 17, 2021, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/women-and-children-colonial-america/.

Group Members: 

Anushka Nath (nath.55)

Sahara Voss (voss.123) 

Maddison Smith (smith.14506)