The United States is the country for freedom and equality, however if you look deeper, that is not exactly the case. Racism is still continuing in today’s society without most people noticing. This is because it has been adapted into our society and seen as normal, therefore is being overlooked and swept under the rug. A prime example of systemic injustice going on in today’s society, especially lately, is within the nation’s political system. Every U.S. citizen should have the right to vote. However, in the past elections we see that a large portion of the African American community lacked voting rights. This causes issues in the election process because many of those can’t vote on people who they share values and ideas with.

These people are being denied voting rights because of new rules being implemented into the voting process. For example, in 2018 a law required citizens to provide an ID and a valid residential street address in order to vote. This law was indirectly aimed towards Native Americans, because they lived on reservations with no residential street address. In 2017, it was seen that people of other races are 4 times as likely than whites to experience racial discrimination throughout the voting process. Finally, in 2012, the national voter turnout for African Americans was higher than whites for the first time ever. This caused the U.S. Supreme Court to eliminate voting right protections and threaten to undo decades worth of equality voting progress. The nation’s political system has improved over the years with racial discrimination. For we have had an African American president elected. However, that doesn’t mean racial discrimination is not still going on behind the scenes. Examples of old discrimination tactics are still being used in politics to this day whether people notice or not since it has become a norm in society.

This systemic injustice example can be easily related to the concept of the “One” and the “Other” that we learned in this course. In this case, the government/political voting system would be considered the “One”, whereas the African American community would be considered the “Other”. The African Americans have little to no say in whether they are eligible for voting rights or not since the policies are changed by the government. It is all determined by our nation’s voting system. This can also be related to the “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that we read previously in this course. This reading is about the whole Civil Rights Movement and fighting for African Americans equal rights, which can easily be tied into this systemic injustice example seen in our nation to this day.

Resources:

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2019/08/07/473003/systematic-inequality-american-democracy/

This winter in Columbus, we received a lot of snowfall over multiple days. With temperatures consistently below freezing, the snow didn’t melt and accumulated. Weather events, especially snow, can interfere with travel and make conditions extremely hazardous. Snow removal is an essential service to allow people to travel to work, school, and more. The city prioritizes major roads and has published a map system (warriorwatch.columbus.gov/ww) showing which roads are priority 1, 2, or 3, with the lowest priority being residential roads. This website also shows road service in real time during a snowstorm. This data shows that there are more roads with a level 2 priority in areas like Old North Columbus and Clintonville than more impoverished areas like Linden. The real time data also shows more roads being serviced first in wealthier areas. Many level 2 roads in Linden have not been serviced while level 3 roads in other areas are. Residential areas near Gahanna also have many more level 2 residential roads than areas closer to downtown. This causes these areas to be serviced much earlier than others. The priority of servicing wealthier areas during the snow removal process makes weather events a large hazard for impoverished areas. Car accidents and injuries are more common due to the lack of road treatment, especially when people can’t afford to miss a day of work. This is an example of systemic injustice because the city prioritizes more roads in wealthier areas than poorer areas. On top of this, level 2 roads in wealthier areas also get serviced earlier according to live data from the city. While it is impossible to put all roads at a high priority, and servicing busier roads first is important, the city still does not treat all areas equally. In weather events like the ones this winter, some areas may not be plowed before the next snowstorm, making conditions worse and focusing treatment back to level 1 roads. The city should rethink areas of it’s road priority map to fairly treat wealthy and impoverished areas more similarly in order to reduce systemic injustice against poverty. 

This issue can be related to the concept of the Self and the Other from Beauvoir’s The Second Sex. Wealth differences create a “Self” (wealthy) and an “Other” (poor). In this case, the city is prioritizing the Self over the Other which further separates them from each other. 

Inequality due to snow removal is also discussed in this article from Niagara Falls (https://www.niagara-gazette.com/opinion/guest-view-the-inequality-in-niagara-falls-snow-removal/article_cecda884-0d51-11ea-bbc0-4b927c21be05.html). This article discusses how snow pushed onto sidewalks also shows systemic injustice, giving priority to those who can afford to own cars instead of relying on bikes and walking. 

This photo shows a large number of priority 2 roadways (pink)  in a wealthy area of Columbus.

This photo shows the contrast in the number of priority roads in Linden, a less wealthy region of the city. 

Since the start of the pandemic, Asian Americans have been facing an increase of discrimination and hate crimes, due to the false belief that they are the cause of the pandemic. The fact that the virus originated in China is being used to blame Asian Americans and normalize racism. Terms like the “kung flu” are being used to drive the idea that they are diseased and harmful, which dates back to the 1800’s. White workers created and spread this idea to prevent Chinese immigrants from being hired and taking jobs. Even wearing a face mask, which was often associated with Asia in the past, has provoked racism and harassment. In the past year Stop AAPI Hate, an incident reporting center has received over 1,800 reports of violence or harassment towards an Asian American. An article from Time magazine features ten Asian Americans and their stories of racist and fearful confrontations. Photographer Haruka Sakaguchi has been gathering photos of the victims and displays them at the sites where they were harassed or assaulted.

Photograph of Justin Tsui, taken in Harlem, Manhatten

Justin Tsui, a Chinese American, recalls a man telling him to go back to his country, citing the Covid-19 and the SARS virus as the reason he should not be here. Tsui felt so threatened he questioned getting off the train for fear he would be followed. The recent murders in Atlanta were racially motivated, and are just another example of the increase of hate and discrimination Asian Americans are facing. Now more than ever, they are constantly living in fear of what may happen to them, their friends, and their family. These events promote Adichie’s concept of the single story. Over two hundred years ago a perception of an entire group of people was created. This assumption was made specifically towards Chinese immigrants, but has now been used against any person of Asian descent. Back then people claimed the immigrants were diseased, a belief which is currently still being used to fuel hatred and violence. We have allowed a harmful and incorrect story to represent a large group of people, creating more racism towards them and causing them to live every day with fear.

The rest of the photographs and stories can be viewed here.

https://time.com/5858649/racism-coronavirus/

Works Cited:

Kambhampaty, Anna. ” I Will Not Stand Silent”. 10 Asian Americans Reflect on Racism During the Pandemic and the Need for Equality”

Time Magazine, June 25,2020

https://time.com/5858649/racism-coronavirus/

Systemic injustice has been a large-scale problem in the United States society ever since the country was founded. Even in modern times, it is still regarded as a problem. A phenomenon that I personally witnessed was during the past few weeks in the off-campus area. It was the first weekend of the second semester, and parties were full force to celebrate the start of the spring semester. I was walking to my off-campus house, which is on the corner of 14th and Indianola, and I witnessed a group of six or seven African American people being stopped by the police for no apparent reason (as far as I knew). I saw the same group of people earlier and noticed that they were party hopping like the many other people at the time. Out of everyone in groups roaming around the off-campus area, they were the only people who I saw being talked to by police. I stood and observed the scene for a bit, and I overheard the police telling them to go home, as well as some stuff that I couldn’t comprehend from a distance. I believe this is systemic injustice because out of all the people who were wandering around campus that night, they were the only group that I saw being stopped and questioned by police. The impact that this has is that it shows that police still have a mistrust among the African American community, and still have personal bias of crime rather than everyone else. The specific category in play here was most likely systemic racism, since the police zeroed in on one of the few colored groups in campus that were at a minority at the time compared to the whites. The police tend to have bias of crimes, like a mentioned toward African American people, which is why it is systemic racism. Something that would have to change for the wrong to be a right would be if the African American group went up to the police themselves, rather than the police stopping them. I don’t know for sure if that is what actually happened, but based off of a history of systemic racism, I doubt that is what happened.

The extent of these types of situations seems to be never ending. There are also other ways that society has performed systemic racism amongst African Americans.  From the articles linked below, the article from American Progress points out that African American households make an average income of around $20,000 per year compared to white households who average around $170,000 a year. This shows that society has been structured around favoring white households, while not giving a chance to those of African Americans households. The other article written by Catalyst shows the many instances of systemic racism in America, and how it has been structured into every day life.

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2018/02/21/447051/systematic-inequality/

https://www.catalyst.org/research/structural-racism-black-americans/

This past year I have worked as an in-home healthcare aide for a few adults who have development disabilities. I help cook their meals, provide transportation, and assist with other miscellaneous needs. The more I have taken them out into public, the more I have noticed the ways people choose to interact with them. I have begun categorizing people into four groups depending on how they address my clients’ presence: those who give them dirty looks, those who completely ignore their presence, those who communicate with them as if they’re two years old, and those who treat them as actual human beings. I fully recognize that they may lack certain social skills and need extra time to respond, but they are still intelligent, thoughtful people. One of my clients teaches me a new historical fact every time we’re together and my other client has learned to trick his staff into giving him caffeinated coffee, even though he’s strictly limited to decaf. Society has been stigmatized to treat people with disabilities as if they’re broken, but they are not. They have feelings, can understand when they’re being made fun of, and know their self-worth. When I see people treating members of the disabled community negatively, I educate them to help them better interact with people like my clients. The system has failed to teach people ways to constructively help and interact with them, and instead has silenced and alienated my clients.

It is too frequent that we see the isolation of those with a disability because of a stigma. In Toni Morrison’s Recitatif, we heard Roberta and Twyla bully Maggie, one of the women who worked in the kitchen who had “legs like parentheses” (Morrison 2), signifying she possibly had a physical disability, and an intellectual disability because they mentioned she never spoke. They screamed things like, “Dummy! Dummy!” (Morrison 3) and “Bow legs! Bow legs!” (Morrison 3) at her. I have attached an article with great advice on how to best communicate with people with disabilities of any kind:

http://www.nln.org/professional-development-programs/teaching-resources/ace-d/additional-resources/communicating-with-people-with-disabilities

This article does a fantastic job of providing great communication techniques, such as talking in a normal toned voice and asking if they need assistance, instead assuming they do. Something I really want to highlight in the list is to refer to them as “someone with a disability,” not “a disabled person.” This might seem like a slight grammatical change, but keeping their disability separate from them as a person is empowering. After all, whatever their disability, it’s not who they are, it’s simply one of many characteristics making up who they are. I found a great article that further educates how to talk about people with disabilities:

https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/disability-inclusion.html

This article focuses on the importance of wording that is chosen when referring to those with disabilities and offers a wonderful chart highlighting language that’s acceptable as well as language to avoid. People with developmental disabilities deserve better and one way for us all to do better is to educate ourselves.

About a two months ago, our President, Joe Biden, made national history. On January 19, 2021, he nominated Rachel Levine as his assistant secretary of health. Levine was the first openly transgender individual appointed by the U.S Senate. Levine is the highest ranked transgender official in the U.S government. In past elections, many individuals of the LGBTQ community have been declined roles, but are now included under Biden’s policies. Although she is a highly qualified individual, many Americans judged her and were very discriminating towards her identity. Multiple public examples, such as mocking individuals who cross dress and calling Levine “sir” on a radio show are inhumane and rude, regardless of your political stance.

Dr. Rachel Levine at the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Meeting in May 2020

As Biden said, “Dr. Rachel Levine will bring the steady leadership and essential expertise we need to get people through this pandemic — no matter their ZIP code, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability — and meet the public health needs of our country in this critical moment and beyond” (Biden, 2021).

As we know, the LGBTQ and transgender communities have faced discrimination for a while. This example of Rachel Levine contributes to a larger systemic injustice, effecting the identity of a large community of individually globally. Within the political system, we see that individuals are being discriminated against due to their physical appearance and identity, regardless of their knowledge. Despite the hate, Levine is proud of “the work we have done as an administration to address health equity, and the work I have done personally to raise awareness about LGBTQ equity issues” (Rubinkam, 2021).

Statistics of health care injustice within the transgender community

In addition, the health care system does not advocate for fair treatment of the LGBTQ community, specifically abortions and HIV treatment. The health care system fails to educate doctors on transgender patients, which unintentionally results in inadequate care. Additionally, many transgender individuals have issues changing their name and sexual orientation for medical documentation, which results in legality issues within the healthcare system (Baker et. al, 2013).

This issue can be related to the topic of “otherness”, which was introduced to us by de Beauvoir. De Beauvoir uses the terms “One- Other” to describe societal norms of those misrepresented in society. In this case, transgender individuals are viewed as “other” in our political, health, and legal systems. Levine is clearly viewed as “other” in the political system and other transgender individuals are similarly viewed as “other” in the healthcare system. These “other” individuals face injustices daily, in comparison to “one” in the system.

For this wrong to be righted, our entire society would have to adopt a more accepting and open-minded mindset. Our political and health care systems would also have to treat these individuals equally and not restrain them of their rights or care. Although transphobia is evident in our country, we are moving in the right direction and making progress in inclusivity for all individuals.

Works Cited: