Author: martinez.879

Text Review: Get Out (Film)

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Get Out is a 2017 horror/ psychological thriller directed by Jordan Peele. The plot involves Chris Washington an African American photographer who prepares to meet his girlfriend’s family at their house. His girlfriend Rose who is white has been dating Chris for a couple of months and the parents of Rose don’t know that Chris is African American. When Chris meets the parents of Rose, the mother is a psychiatrist and the father is a neurosurgeon. Chris notices the family have black servants in their secluded wooded house.  Chris soon realizes the sinister secrets of the Armitage family. Jordan Peele brings together a film with many twists and turns but hints at many key important messages like race, slavery, and labor.

Symbolism I noticed that the movie connected with the ideas of race. In the beginning of the movie Chris and Rose hit a deer on the way to Roses parents’ house. Chris notices it and feels remorse for it.  When they arrive at Roses parents’ home the parents act different towards the thought of killing of deer’s.  The father mentions the deer’s taking over their land and the only way to stop is to kill them. As we learn later in the film the family doesn’t just hunt animals, but Chris and other African Americans that Rose brings home.

Another symbol was slavery in the film. We know in history that many slaves were sold through auction. There would be bidders deciding which slave to choose for their property. In the film, there is a huge photo of Chris where the crowd bids on Chris. Jordan Peele does this to compare the Armitage family to slave owners. The showing of the past and how its seen in the present in society is depicted in this part of the film.

Spivak’s “Can the subaltern Speak”, is another connection you can take from the film. There were many examples, but one most prominently was Walter and Georgina in the film. They were the laborers to the Armitage family and was a connection to the oppression and inequality of African Americans. They weren’t able to speak for themselves since they were in a trance by the mother controlling them and their actions. This action is connected to many slaves in history who couldn’t speak for themselves and were controlled by slave owners. It was also a motif nod to the upper class choosing lower class individuals. Overall, Jordan Peele the director of Get Out brings many different ideas, symbols, motifs that tell a deeper and darker meaning onto the big screen for viewers to watch.

Yo, Is This…? Systemic Injustice in Housing

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Transcript: by Andrew Martinez

Hi everybody my name is Andrew Martinez. I am currently a junior at The Ohio State University. I am a business student majoring in Operations Management. I have decided to talk about Systemic injustices that many minorities face in society, an example would be the housing market. Before I attended Ohio State I was a transfer student from Texas. I have volunteered throughout my city and have seen first-hand the problems my city is facing in the housing market for minorities. Certain districts in my city have serious levels of poverty. When COVID-19 occurred many communities in my city have experienced serious problems in maintaining their home and health. My grandmother and sister both worked for the city of San Antonio and have seen the problems may minorities face in Texas. My grandmother working for the tax office in San Antonio and my sister working in the neighborhood and housing development center.

The housing market is divided in our country and its been worse for minorities. For example, Atticus LeBlanc from Forbes described how systemic racism exists in the housing market and gives an example in housing data that he obtained in his research. He states, “according to an Economic Policy Institute study, the median white household has 12 times more wealthy than the median Black household, and more than 1 in 4 Black households have zero or negative net worth; that’s compared to less than 1 in 10 for white families.” (LeBlanc, 2020). I wonder if this division is due to having not the same educational opportunities when compared to whites due to the neighborhoods? If so, who is responsible for this division since it continues to persist in today’s society?

When my sister worked for the neighborhood and housing development center for the city of San Antonio, she saw many gaps in the system for minorities. The people my sister interacted with during the reconstruction of the resident’s homes were majority poor residents on a fix income. Many of the families she interacted with were Latino and African Americans. Also, these family’s household income was less than 40,000 a year. Many of the homes my sister worked on had to be renovated to meet the health and safety code to deem the condition of the home safe. The applications that my sister received from minorities were in some cases not completed due to the complex terminology used in the format for the application which was one of the reasons why the process took over a month to complete. These individuals did not have a high school education or GD instead some just had only a middle school education. So, the applicants in most cases didn’t know what they were signing. So, do to these residents not having an understands on filling out applications properly and understanding what they are signing, have been fooled into taking out high interest loans payments on their homes for a mortgage. The interest rate for the mortgage can range close to 30%.  When the applicants took out the high interest loans sadly they were no longer eligible to be assisted since legally they no longer had official rights over the property. These individuals that greatly needed the assistance were minorities who sadly didn’t know how to properly manage their money right. The biggest struggle my sister saw was the lack of knowledge many minorities faced when buying a home and maintaining it financially.

An issue that arises in this housing market problem for minorities is gentrification. In an article by Danyelle Solomon, Connor Maxwell and Abril Castro from Center for American Progress describes the gentrification happening for African Americans in Washington D.C. She states, “Nowhere are the effects of gentrification more noticeable than the nation’s capital, Washington D.C. between 1970 and 2015, black residents declined from 71 percent of the city’s population to just 48 percent. The city’s white population increased by 25 percent during the same period. From 2000 to 2013, the city endured the nation’s highest rate of gentrification, resulting in more than 20,000 African American resident’s displacement. Today, almost 1 in 4 Black Washington residents- 23 percent line in poverty.” (n.d, 2019) Isn’t this sad that the law makers and legislatures that live in Washington DC are unable to make a difference in the state that they are residing in for the residents? What’s the point of them solving issues when they can’t even solve the poverty issue that’s right in front of them that’s visible to see to the public?

People of color continue to experience racial bias in the housing market. Many neighborhoods that have predominately minority households have been undervalued by the market. Minorities experience racial biases when renting or buying a house. The only way to fix this division is to make the issue apparent and bring awareness to law makers to fix this housing issue for minorities. Across our country many families of minorities face exclusion and displacement from obtaining homeownership. New polices need to be available to promote more access for minorities to have additional resources and knowledge to have greater opportunities which have been excluded from them.

I do know in my City of San Antonio; we already see the effects of gentrification when they fixed the Pearl Brewery an old area of San Antonio and made it into a high-end condominium and shopping center. The city did this to revitalize the area, but unaware they were kicking out the people who were living in this area before the construction and due to the increase in property taxes the people are no longer able to live in there homes no more. So now they are moving around trying to find an area that can assist their fixed income that they have for there household. The people who were affected were the elderly and the minorities. Change is good, but is it good at the cost of affecting the people you were trying to assist in the first place? We need to remember why we do a project in the first place in order to not be sway by people who want to profit from the project or exclude a specific class/race.

With this division of housing for minorities the country is also facing hardships through COVID-19. Because of the pandemic this has not been easy for many minorities. Not everyone has been able to receive funding. People of color and low income families are facing hardships through housing cost burdens. Many are facing instability in their communities. Discrimination and structural racism is still very constant in housing for minorities.  Many COVID-19 disparities have been shown throughout this pandemic.  Huge hits of stay at home orders in different states and many other public health measures for people in communities. Many jobs for minorities lost and many can’t be worked remotely causing problems with housing cost problems.

In an article by Solomon Greene and Alanna McCargo from the Urban Institute, discuss racial disparities in housing. They state, “In April, Latino unemployment reached a record high of 18.9 percent, and Black unemployment reached 16.7 percent. Layoffs related to COVID-19 for black and Latino workers are also more likely to lead to housing instability, as they already reported higher rates of financial insecurity and lower savings to draw from to weather economic shocks before the crisis began.” (n.d, 2020) Issues like these bring up big questions about how are many minorities able to afford paying their rent monthly. New policies need to be responded towards this crisis during the pandemic. Policies need to focus and help lower income individuals need assistance. More opportunities for those minorities being affected by the pandemic.  If we don’t see any help or assistance, we could see problems in the future like the housing market to crash. Many foreclosures and division within the housing market will begin to rise if we don’t solve this issue.

In an article by Laura Romero from NowCastSa, describes the gentrification happening for many Latino families getting pushed out by rising rent prices. She states, “The East Side is experiencing a wave of gentrification as new construction takes over San Antonio, Texas. A new apartment complex on the East Side is shown on September 5, 2019 next to a demolished neighborhood clinic. San Antonio’s East Side, and most recently, the West Side, are rapidly becoming inaccessible to Latinos and pushing them out (Romero, 2019). She goes on discussing how the Latino community’s local identity is gone from those neighborhoods. This one prime example that shows my city in Texas is changing and giving less opportunities for minorities communities is apparent. They are pushing many minorities out of the inner cities that they have been residing in their entire lives in order for the wealthy and influential residents to move in the area. The housing issue is one that needs to be fixed and soon or we may no longer have local residents living in the San Antonio community, but non-local renters looking for potential secondary residency.  We will soon lose our communities individualism if this continues.

My thoughts on the housing issue is this we need to bring awareness on this issue. We need to help our minorities in this country. We shouldn’t have division in the housing market. We all want to provide for our families and provide for our country, but pushing out people especially minorities is saddening and needs to change. There needs to be more opportunities for minorities in our local communities. An example would be having a new set of policies for minorities and laying the new foundations in our country to grow our minority communities to include better access to educational opportunities as well as job opportunities too. As a minority Hispanic, myself we need to make changes in order to obtain improved opportunities for minorities in this country. We the people are the future for change no matter your gender or race we need to work together toward a brighter tomorrow.

 

Citations:

LeBlanc, A. (2020, July 08). Council post: How systemic racism exists In U.S. housing policies. Retrieved March 12, 2021, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2020/07/09/how-systemic-racism-exists-in-us-housing-policies/?sh=681b505a6959

Danyelle Solomon, C. (n.d.). Systemic inequality: Displacement, exclusion, and segregation. Retrieved April 02, 2021, from https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2019/08/07/472617/systemic-inequality-displacement-exclusion-segregation/

Submitted by Laura Romero on September 11. (n.d.). Gentrification, rising rent prices PUSH Latinos out of neighborhoods. Retrieved April 03, 2021, from https://nowcastsa.com/Gentrification-rising-rent-push-Latinos-out

Greene, S., & McCargo, A. (2020, June 02). New data Suggest covid-19 is WIDENING HOUSING disparities by race and income. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/new-data-suggest-covid-19-widening-housing-disparities-race-and-income

Art, S. (n.d.). Sheldon Museum of Art main content. Retrieved April 04, 2021, from https://sheldonartmuseum.org/barriers-and-disparities

The housing market is changing, but Don’t panic! (2018, October 13). Retrieved April 04, 2021, from http://www.myfolsom.com/2018/10/housing-market-is-changing-but-dont-panic/

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase: Unemployment Gap in Texas

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A division in our country for minorities is the unemployment gap, issues between the economic inequalities and social inequalities. In my home state of Texas there is a lack of infrastructure for Latinos and blacks in the communities. When growing up in my city of San Antonio there has always been a division in certain communities. The division has always centered around wealthy and the poor communities where gentrification is present.

With COVID-19 many minorities have faced hard times due to the closure of business do to decreasing social interaction. Many communities in my city have working class individuals who have minimum wage jobs and survive paycheck to paycheck. Due to COVID some places had to close business due to not being able to accommodate to the Health official regulations on top of paying the rent which has caused many businesses to shut down. Many unemployed employees from working class communities have faced financial hardship because of the effects COVID-19 had on their lively hood.

 

In an article by Charisse Jones in USA TODAY, she addresses the unemployment gap for Blacks and Latinos at large. She states a statistic from the Harvard University State of the Nation’s Housing that “In 2019, homeownership among whites stood at 73.3% compared with a homeownership rate of 42.8% among Black households, the widest gap since 1983.” (Jones, 2021). Charisse Jones also brings up a proposal by the President to create opportunities states “Biden’s proposal includes creating and restoring parks and infrastructure in Black, Latino and indigenous communities and empowering the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.” (Jones, 2021) This article shows that because of the unemployment gap minorities have when compared to among the whites it shows how less likely a minority will be able to finance a home due to an unsteady income, they may have due to be a working class individual. The work opportunities are based on consumer demands for these individuals and are not consistent with changes in societies

In an article by Andy Olin in Rice Kinder Institute for Urban research, he addresses the economic division in race in Texas. He states from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, “In 2019, the white unemployment rate in Texas was 3.2% overall and 3.1% for white men. The unemployment rate for black residents was 5.3% overall and 6.2% for black men.”(Olin, 2020)

This is an issue that needs to have more awareness in political agendas from our state’s representatives and be addressed not only in my state of Texas but seen from the whole country in actions being taken.  As a minority, from Texas we need to spread awareness to this issue and create better opportunities in our communities. We need to support one another in our ideas to improve this gap for minorities. The unemployment gap issue I related to this semester was Spivaks “Can the Subaltern Speak”. Spivak describes group marginalized and without power to themselves. That they have no voice and are marginalized by either their race, gender, or religion. Minorities are expressing a division of inequality in not just the workplace, but in their communities as well. We need to have open opportunities and community support within the communities in order for us to make an everlasting difference in society.

Citations

Jones, C. (2021). Joe Biden pledges to ADDRESS pay, SYSTEMIC racism: ‘black and latino unemployment gap remains TOO LARGE’. Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/01/18/biden-black-america-plans-boost-lending-address-racial-inequities/3578539001/

Olin, A. (2020). Texas economy ranks near the top for racial equality in a nation with pervasive wealth inequality. Retrieved from https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/2020/06/19/texas-economy-ranks-near-top-racial-equality-black-housing-employment

Julia Lane Professor of Economics. (2021). US unemployment data fail to capture covid-19’s full IMPACT – Here’s how to fix it fast. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/us-unemployment-data-fail-to-capture-covid-19s-full-impact-heres-how-to-fix-it-fast-143236

03/17/2020, M. (n.d.). COVID-19 store Update: Temporary store Closures mount. Retrieved March 27, 2021, from https://chainstoreage.com/covid-19-store-update-temporary-store-closures-mount

Context Presentation Week 10: Identity and Mental health for adopted children

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In the novel, The Leavers by Lisa Ko we learn about Deming Guo a Chinese American who is the son of Polly Guo. We learn in the beginning of the novel from the perspective of Deming the struggles of being Chinese in the States when living in the Bronx of New York with his mother Polly, Leon, Vivian, and Michael. All these members played a part in Deming’s early childhood life until one day Polly disappears. When the mother disappears, Deming is soon left to foster care. It does not take long until Deming is taken into the custody of the Wilkinson’s family and has his own name changed to Daniel Wilkinson. This becomes a challenge for Deming because now he is having to grow accustomed to a new identity within the American culture. Daniel experiences trouble later on in his life with gambling addiction, lose of self-identity and wondering why his own mother left him.

We learn that when Polly leaves Daniel and he becomes adopted into the Wilkinson family this ordeal affected him mentally. This issue soon led to him to have a gambling problem which then affected his relationship with Angel. He also had an identity crisis too within school and within societies expectations. At times, he would reminisce about the past and living in the Bronx. When this occurs, it reminds him of the self that he lost. In the novel, the aspect of Deming’s mental health I felt was taking a toll on him. Not knowing who he was or what he wanted to do in life. In an article by Madison Park of CNN, she discusses adopted children have a greater risk for gaining mental health disorders than non-adopted children. She states, “children who are adopted may be at elevated risk for mental health disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional defiance, major depression and separation anxiety disorders according to Dr. Ronald Federici” (Park 2010).

Deming went through so much challenges from losing his mother to being adopted and changing his culture from Chinese to American. His relationship with his music and Psychic Hearts and the ways the Wilkinson’s wanted him to go back to college. Cultural identity, mental health issues and a sense of belonging were all aspects that played an important part in Deming’s life choices.

 

Citations

Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Chapel Hill, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2017.

Park, M. (2010,). Adopted children at greater risk for mental health disorders. Retrieved March   from http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/13/children.adoption.mental.health/index.html#:~:text=Children%20who%20are%20adopted%20may,a%20wide%20body%20of%20research.