This semester, each of the systemic injustices post I had, meant something to me deeply.  I have always said if I am going to write about something no matter what it is for, I am going to write about it with purpose and meaning behind it.  Two of my topics were closely related from the systemic injustices I wrote about.  My fourth systemic injustice I wrote about was the inequality in several aspects of collegiate sports, rather it was on gender or race varying from sport to sport.  The sixth systemic injustice I wrote about was something that went viral during March Madness, and that was the weight room difference between the women basketball players and the men basketball players, with the men having a much more extravagant gym to work out in.  The two topics are very closely related, not just because they are both topics of collegiate athletics, but it shows an introduction to a bunch of people what they might be in store for in the adult world.  It is not right, we all deserve equal chances, and now we will dive into that.  

This image was the actual difference between the women’s and men’s weight room, guess which one is which, I bet it won’t be hard to figure which one is which.  In case it is, the one on the left is the women’s and the one on the right is the men’s weight rooms for the March Madness tournament.  Now there are obviously two different sides to this, one for why the gym’s are like this and why they should be, and the other being they understand why the gym’s are that way but that does not mean it is right.  People argue it is that way because of how much money the men bring in for their sport, and how little money women bring in for their sport.  There is an astronomical difference between the two revenues brought in between the two.  Which is a reasonable argument for the treatment to be so different.  That does not mean it is right.  Both the men and women work really hard, the women do not get as much recognition or national attention as the men.  The thing is, the thing many people preach nowadays, especially the NCAA, they say they try to make everything right, when anything comes up with gender in their sports Title IX comes up right away, and that is how they say they are making things more even.  To bring the girls more attention, they could potentially take some of the extra funds the men programs bring in and put it towards the women, it can help them get more equipment and allow them to train to the same capacity.  Like stated though, there is the argument that the women teams did not earn that money, but why didn’t they, because, they did not get the national recognition? That is not a good reason, they work just as hard as the men, and they deserve to be treated fairly for it.  

Even in the most recent March Madness there were games in the women’s tournament that were just as if not more entertaining than majority of the men’s games.  The women are starting to get more recognition I believe, but nothing to show for it, yet.  Hopefully the time comes soon, the only thing we can as fans of the game, is to support and make sure our opinions are heard.  A big star that is doing something with that is Megan Rapinoe, a women soccer player for the United States.  She is very vocal about the income difference between the women and men, and it has got a lot of national attention, which is great for everyone.  Rapinoe is so vocal about it because of the accolades she and the American team has achieved, while the men’s players are payed substantially more, but have no where near the achievements the women’s team does.  It is sad to see how the world does work like this, but it is just the way it goes, hopefully to change soon.

  The other topic I talked about, very similar, but it is a little more general of the topic, but it still helps get the point across, maybe even more across.  I found an article online that I found very interesting, the article can be found here (https://i-sight.com/resources/discrimination-in-sports-5-types-25-solutions/#Gender).  The article even dives into talking about playing time, how people get treated at each position, rather it is a player, an assistant coach, a head coach, and even the athletic director.  It also talks about the general revenue that is brought in between the two genders in collegiate sports.   The article also brings up race in several of the collegiate sports, and you really do not find an even distribution of race between any two sports, there are obviously some closer than others.  There are sports like tennis, water polo, golf, and rowing, where it is dominated by white people, with other races obviously being there but not a large or even significant number of them.  The sports that get majority attention are dominated by African Americans, there is no extra incentive in it for them, but people could argue without African Americans, the NCAA loses almost all of its revenue and profit.  It is also matching that no one gets extra revenue for what they bring in, the NCAA is known as one of the more evil and selfish companies, abusing kids basically while they do not get much gain out of it, while the NCAA gets everything out of it.  

This article goes into detail about how maybe we can help with each different type of discrepancy that people are facing because of how they are different, we are going to go over a few of those.  Something we can do just as fans, is support the women’s and girls’ sports, realize the work they put in and they deserve to be appreciated.  People may not find the sport entertaining but it does mean it deserves to be treated as less.  Something schools or front offices can do, is hire more women in power, to be leaders in the office or out on the field or court.  By doing that it shows how much similar women can do work as men do.  It is going to be a process, but it is a process that is well worth it.  Another big system injustice that is faced in all sports is racial discrimination.  Some solutions the article talks about is, writing a zero tolerance racism policy, focus on inclusion, do not make assumptions and support athletes when they use their right of free speech.  To go one by one, a zero tolerance policy, forces franchises and or schools to allow every athlete or person that is involved with sports at all to have an even chance as the next person working for it, they have to earn it fairly.  If we focus on inclusion, things start to blend, to mix and match, we see people all as one, the way it should be and hopefully we can get there one day, sooner than later.  By not making assumptions about the athlete based off their race, it allows us to see anyone be able to do anything in any sport.  Over the last few years, more and more athletes voice their opinion, and there is always an uproar right after it seems,  because they should just “shut up and dribble”, it is disgusting to think their opinions are less valuable than others because they are athletes, everyone has the right to speak their opinion, but some are lucky enough to have a big enough platform for it to matter more.  

Something that we talked about over our semester, that is connected to these topics, is implicit bias.  We had an excerpt from Jake Fortney, with help explaining Implicit bias.  There is a quote from his statement that is, “Implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner”.  I would explain this quote as people act without really thinking, and that is very true in all levels of sports today and through out history.  If we listened to this quote more in sports today, we would be much farther in many aspects of many of the games.  If we thought about things more, we could sit here and realize that women deserve equal treatment because of all their hard work and the entertainment factor of their games could be just as entertaining if not more entertaining than the men’s games.  People of all races could get treated more equally out of high school sports heading into college sports, people of different genders could get treated more equal, and people of different backgrounds could get treated equally as well, it is 2021 and we need to get to this point sooner than later, before things start to get bad.  It is the last thing we need in the world we live in today with everything that is going on.  Sports should bring people together, it is what sports has done in the past on many big events like 9/11 and the assassination of Osama Bin Laden, hopefully it can do it again here soon, in a big way

Thanks for reading my column,

Ryan Karn

Racism and the abuse of power

Racism

Even today, 156 years after Lincoln’s Declaration of Emancipation, American racial discrimination is taking place everywhere. Furthermore, in many parts of the world, unreasonable discrimination against other races occurs due to nationalism’s consciousness. We discriminate against someone for reasons such as ethnicity in a country that cannot live economically because our skin color is different. For historical reasons, and for the same reason, we are discriminated against by someone. So racial discrimination is happening all over the world. It can be seen that the initially attempted racism policy has spread to the present day, long after five centuries, and has spread not only to the United States but also to the world. Moreover, now, racism based on language has emerged from discrimination based on race and skin color. In other words, races who do not speak English have been discriminated against by races who speak English well.

This is new racism created in conjunction with language imperialism. When racism based on skin color gradually disappears due to various human rights movements, discrimination based on language is expected to become more severe due to other problems.

The misuse of power and authority is the structural inequality I’d like to discuss. There are numerous forms of power abuse in Society. However, the abuse of power by police officers is still a source of controversy. Since anybody can get a gun with a permit in the United States and many unauthorized gun uses, police officers have more authority than in any other country. One of the reasons is the high prevalence of gang and drug-related violence. However, police officer misuse of control continues to be a problem. 

Police officer’s uses of a gun are more generous than any other country in the United States. What is even more unfair is that there are significantly more black people killed by police officers. Everyone in the United States is under the same constitution and rules. Therefore this can not be Justified. Being a black person does not make them worse or better than any other race, but they are all equal US Citizens.

However, Statistically, black people are more likely to commit a crime and get killed by police. 

Some people view this differently. The reason why black people have more of those rates is because of the social-economic problem. In Us history, black people got freed in 1863 for emancipation by Abraham Lincoln. Even when they just got released, white people kept the wealth since, and black people started without any money. Therefore when they first got freed, most of them were lower-class people. For more than 150 years, many black people have stacked up their wealth throughout the generation. However, many black people earn comparably lower income compared to white people. Some people say that black people have more crime rates because they have more financial problems than whites. This societal location where they are at causes more crimes, therefore, more deaths. So some people view this as a financially unequal problem in Society, not a racial issue.

Officers are sometimes able to determine whether or not to shoot a suspect. If a suspect with a gun attacks an officer, the officer has the right to kill that person at any moment. However, since the police are just beings, they make mistakes when deciding whether to fire. The issue arises when they misuse their authority. Some officers may have legal problems, and others may be supremacists. Any crooked policemen have taken advantage of their positions, and these cases have escalated into significant issues.

The fact that police brutality continues to be a serious issue does not imply that no change has been made. People have mobilized to bring about reform in neighborhoods across the United States. 

it emerged from our realization that, in the end, the faithful and sustainable change would include a concerted and continuous initiative by neighborhood organizations. And it is in honor of those contributions that this manual has been published.

In American Society, other racial issues with abusing power happen. One of them is Asian hate. This is becoming a more prominent topic in 2021.  After being shoved to the ground, an old Thai immigrant dies. With a box knife, a Filipino-American is stabbed in the chest. After being slapped, a Chinese woman is set on fire. These are just examples of Asian hate that happened. The critical thing to notice here is that those who are getting are weak elderly or women. These people can’t protect themselves like others, and stronger people tend to attack them. This is also the abuse of more substantial power.

As an Asian who lives in the US, I have experienced many Asian stereotypes of racism. Obviously, I have encountered people saying stereotypes more than racism. I felt terrible all the time I hear stereotypical thoughts. When I went to middle school, I went by the name “Jonah.” However, people kept asking me what my real name is. I actually have my Korean name, but necessarily I don’t think my Korean a real character. Still, I just have two words, a Korean one and an American one. When I took my high school math classes, people kept assuming that I was good in Math, even when they did not see my grades. I was embarrassed by myself because I was not as good as other people thought I was good at math. Also, people keep asking me where I am actually from. I often feel offended because I feel like people are seeing me as different from who they are. These stereotypes are the ones that I remember, and I believe there are far more that I can not remember. Also, there were some racisms that I placed. It Happened When I went to New York, a random person called me a “Chink” and walked away. I was with my friends, so I just did not react and acted chill. However, when I keep thinking about it, I am mad at how he called me disrespectfully on the street. I think these kinds of racial-related insults should not be used to anyone but especially not to someone who they do not know at all.

One of the things that I noticed as the COVID-19 Pandemic started is the Asian hate. Some people who got penalties bad things happened to them because of the Pandemic tend to blame Asian people just because COVID is created in China. I am mad at these things because, first of all, I am Korean. It is a huge mistake to blame this situation on Asians. The virus started in China because the virus is what people can’t control. We just have to get over it together and not blame any race because COVID should not be a racial problem in the first place ( it can become a national problem because of the spread). But it is not an individual’s problem.

I think there are far more racisms in other countries than in the United States. However, in the United States, people can use guns, so it is much more severe when violent things happen than in the US. I have been to many countries, and countries with more than 90 percent of only one race tend to have more racial discrimination problems. I am currently in Korea, and I am seeing lots of racism toward foreigners. Unlike English, Korean is not learned in school in other countries. So foreigners in Korea can not speak Korean very well. Korean people tend to look down on foreign workers. For example, when I went to a restaurant, some unfamiliar people were eating. I heard a Korean saying that the foreigners lose their appetites and complained to the waiter. I was shocked because, in the US, I have never heard things like that. Also, when I went to Italy, Europe, I felt something. First of all, I went to Italy two times. The first time I went there with my Korean family, and the second time, I went there with my white American friends. Things that I noticed are that Italian people were nicer to the white group. For example, when I tried to get on to train, an Italian couple wanted to block us from getting on the train. I did not understand what they were saying by blocking us, but It sounded insulting, and we felt offended. When we went to a restaurant, the waiter threw silverware to the table. It was actually in an insulting way. At the time, I was 100% sure if it was racism or not because they could have been just rude people. Still, as I went to Italy with my white friends, I was more sure than racial discrimination. In a white group, I did not see any people acting rude in Italy. It was more enjoyable to travel, honestly. 

Compare to these things in Europe, I believe that all the races are much more equal than in other countries. Some problems still exist these days, and we can all try to fix them and improve together in the USA.

reference https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684

There Will Never Be An End to Racism

The Founders Were Oppressors

There has never been a point in time in this nation where at least one group of people have not faced some form of discrimination. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” was a rhyme that most of us grew up knowing. Throughout my childhood years, we celebrated Christopher Columbus’s arrival to America. For many years I thought that Christopher Columbus was a man worthy of being honored until I was informed about the horrendous demands and the harsh treatment that he inflicted on the aboriginals. From forced labor to genocide, Columbus and his men did it all. We were even  taught the term “Native American” was appropriate to call the aboriginals, but in reality, they were the true “Americans.” I mention Christopher Columbus to remind people that from the point that America was discovered up until now, man has always despised one another. 

Slavery

Throughout the world, slavery has existed for many years. “The history of slavery is a large and untellable story, full of tragedy and cruelty that spans both centuries and continents. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact year that slavery began, historians can trace the roots of this inhumane practice back roughly 11,000 years” (restavekfreedom.org). There are many different forms of slavery: sex trafficking, forced labor, bonded labor (also known as debt bondage), domestic servitude, and unlawful recruitment of soldiers (borgenproject.org). The most saddening fact about slavery is that children at times are involved. Although each testimony of each slave around the world may vary, the characteristics and mindset of their oppressors are constant. Their hunger to be in control, and to have power over someone is consistent with the term oppressor.

The Significance of History Itself

I’ve always heard that it was important to learn about history. Whenever a sad or gruesome part of history was being taught in class, it was common for the teacher to say things along the lines of, “it’s important to learn about uncomfortable topics like this so that history does not repeat itself.” But are we truly taking that saying to heart? What are the steps being taken to prevent history from repeating itself in all forms? Not just the physical aspect of slavery, like torture but the repercussions that affect the mind.

______ Still Exists

Thankfully slavery (unwilling servitude, forced labor)  in the United States was abolished due to the 13th amendment being passed. But there is no denying that racism is still prevalent and that the hatred for one another because of one’s skin color is still common.  Just because slavery was abolished does not mean that everyone is treated fairly. There has been a great change if we are just comparing slavery to the times that we are in now,  but there is still more work to be done.

Recent Incidents

From Diary of Systemic Injustice: 

[Towards the end of May in 2020, the whole nation heard of the murder of George Floyd. A lot of news regarding police brutality typically involves Black/African Americans, every single case that has been brought to light left me and many others outraged. Terrill Thomas was a Black man who was arrested for firing a gun inside of a casino with no one harmed. He later died of dehydration after the water in his cell was shut off for seven days. According to the NPR article, “They forced him to spend the last week of his life locked in an isolation cell 24 hours a day, with no drinking water, no edible food, no working toilet, no mattress, no blanket, no shower access, no means of cleaning his cell, no ability to communicate with his family, no relief from constant lockdown, and no meaningful access to urgently needed medical or mental health care.” His treatment was compared to Jacob Chansley, a White man who was accused of participating in the rioting in the U.S. Capitol. “A judge ordered corrections authorities to provide organic food to an Arizona man—- The order came after a lawyer for defendant Jacob Chansley complained that his client had gone the past nine days without eating because organic food isn’t served at the Washington jail where he’s housed,” Chansley said that because of his religious practice he demanded organic food, which was later granted to him. I understand that as a citizen he has the right to exercise any religion. But when it comes to Black people or other minorities, I thought that prisoners had their rights taken away. Hearing his story saddened me tremendously because Terrill Thomas was treated so inhumane, while Chansley had his bourgeoisie commands fulfilled. Not only did Thomas have his rights taken away but the necessities to live, like water. Without doing too much research, I immediately thought that this was the perfect example of White privilege. That specific riot that took place at the U.S capitol also sparked a lot of debate regarding injustice and bias. Because a lot of people, including myself, believe that if Black people did the same thing, there would’ve been casualties. In correlation to what I mentioned last week, even if there was an appropriate charge for a White person, there is still injustice behind the scenes. Instances like these make it reasonable to feel/think that people think that the lives of Black people are insignificant. I would also like to add that it is unfair for all white policemen to be labeled as “racist” and for all  black men to be labeled as “thugs.” It sort of feels like a cycle: hatred(racism) from one group, produces fear from the other group, resulting in violence and sometimes death. The people who are meant to protect and serve the community are the ones that we fear the most. There have been too many deaths that were unreasonable and unjustified. I believe that this would be considered systemic injustice because a lot of white men (including policemen) believe that because they are favored in society they have this sense of pride. When the judicial system fails to discipline them, they have more reasons to not fear doing anything wrong because they won’t be labeled as “in the wrong” in the sight of the decision-makers.] Due to COVID-19, there has also been a significant increase in the number of hate crimes towards the Asian American community. [In the times that we are living in, it seems like it is gradually becoming worse and people are bold about expressing their racist/prejudiced way of thinking. Systemic is defined as something that is fixed, and structured. This system isn’t gonna change if people in authority are on the same side of the oppressors or even sometimes are the oppressors.] Cases like these are just a few examples of why minorities still feel as if this country cannot be considered home for them. Back then for the enslaved,  the reason was that they were not given human rights/ freedom in “the land of the free.” But today, racism is one of the major reasons. There is still a form of favoritism for White people and this gives them a sense of superiority. Viewing people as subalterns even in the slightest/nonchalant way is a form of superiority complex. It is only inevitable for people who are not White to feel inferior. Sometimes a majority of people are quick to blame white people for all the evil doings and unfair treatment in this nation, but I think it’s more of a lack of understanding and empathy.

Why Will There Never Be An End?

America is known to have years of history recorded where White men have always had the upper hand and authority to demean people that did not look like them. Today, slavery doesn’t necessarily exist anymore (due to the 13th amendment). White men aren’t necessarily threatening people with guns or weapons, and Black people and other minorities are not enslaved by them. But there is a form of slavery that still exists, and that is the oppression of the mind and also the spirit behind every evil doing against another human being. Whether that may be an implicit bias way of thinking towards another race or physically expressing their hate, it’s still racism.

Looking at this image, I’m reminded of a Bible verse  about the matter of the heart:

“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts. . .” Matthew 15:18-19

For racism to end, every single individual walking on earth needs to have their mind renewed on race and how we view one another. Whether we like to admit it or not, most if not all of us have some form of implicit bias. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we are racist and that we choose to be racist, it just shows how much race has been ingrained in our minds for a very long time. The people who are “superior,”  and know that they have an upper hand in life,  but ignore this unfair treatment is the reason why racism still exists.

This image can also have many different meanings, depending on who is observing. Here is how I interpreted it and how it correlates to racism:

• The root of this nation (the foundation) has always been corrupt. From the “beginning” when Columbus discovered and inform Europeans about America, he belittled the aboriginals and treated them inhumanely.
• The reason why this nation has not removed itself from the same foundation as its founders is that the heart of individuals today have a similar way of viewing themselves: greedy, superior, powerful, and in control. The heart can be very wicked. The root of the problem (racism) is the contaminated hearts in this nation. Years and years of continuous hatred for one another have only made the roots of the tree grow larger and deeper, making it harder and harder to deracinate. 
• The roots represent the hatred for one another that grows day by day, with recent news of police brutality, hate crimes based on race, more and more people are being turned against each other–being fueled with anger.

If the roots continue to go downward, there will never be an end to racism.

References

https://restavekfreedom.org/2018/09/11/the-history-of-slavery/

https://borgenproject.org/types-of-slavery/ 

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/29/728023455/-6-75-million-settlement-paid-to-family-of-milwaukee-inmate-who-died-from-dehydr 

https://abc7.com/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-riot-capitol-siege/10313166/ 

Image 1: https://creativemarket.com/Alltruecolours/5360302-Sketch-vector-Handcuffs-on-the-hands 

Image 2: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/350084571026639308/ 

Is this a racist_Ruitao Chen

(Word document with photos)

Ray: Good evening everyone, welcome to our podcast! It is my honor to have Mr. Chen as my guest for this conversation. As you know, that though the technology is developing rapidly and the society becomes much stabilized than past, issues among races are still a widely debated topic. There are also a lot of discrimination based on the bias and stereotypes. How do you think about the existence of these cases?

Mr. Chen: Yeah, you know, I’m also quite concern about these phenomenon existing in our present society, but I think we cannot solve the problems unless we know its origin and people’s mind behind it.

Ray: Wow! You seem really know a lot. When preparing for this show, I’ve read some academic papers on analyzing discrimination. I’ve noticed an interesting term in explaining it, which is called Systemic Racism. Have you heard about that term before?

Mr. Chen: Absolutely, well, firstly I would like to explain the meaning of racism. Racism is based on the comparison among different races. These races may show different physical appearances, religions, cultures. Racism is the mind of superiority of hierarchy when comparing to people of other races with different traits. Systemic Racism, also known as Institutional Racism, can be categorized as a form of racism performed as normal practices within a specific type of organizations, societies, or even groups.

Ray: So you mean that systemic racism does not target to one person or several people, instead, it focuses to a group of people, right?

Mr. Chen: That’s correct! Recently I’ve seen a piece of news from New York Daily reported that some African – American woman say a worker in Harlem eatery racially profiled and falsely accused them of dining. One of the women, named Fitzgibbon, walked to a bar with her friends. As they ordered the drink, an employee asked them how they pay for the dish. The employee shouted at Fitzgibbon and said that she was in the restaurant last week and slipped away without payment, while according to Fitzgibbon, she remembered it was the first time she came to this bar. She was confused by the hostility and felty dehumanized. After the closely scrutiny check on the recording, the result showed that the woman who slipped away last week looked totally different from Fitzgibbon. Not only black people in cities, but also black people in rural area are receiving unfair treatments. USDA is a kind of programs which help to improve the economic conditions and living standards of rural Americans. However even today, black farmers are still treated unfairly in this USDA program. Recently House Agriculture Committee started to hold a testimony to the unfairness received by black farmers during their interactions with U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday. What is more astonishing is that this issue has remained unresolved for more than decades. Committee’s chairman Scott said “This festering wound on the soul of American agriculture must be healed”. Some data shows that only 0.1% of black farmers has received economic help in Trump administration USDA program, which is much lower than levels of white farmers.

Ray: Why do you think that black people, I mean as a whole race, are receiving unfairness and discrimination even in the present society?

Mr. Chen: Well, I think everyone who lives in the society has his or her own social identity, and the identity is a kind of measurement for constructing a person or a group of people. To be more specific, a psychological identity is how a person models itself, while a social identity is the identity of this person in the society. It determines which social group does this person belong to.

Ray: But how do these identity conceptions relate to racism?

Mr. Chen: Just as I said, social identities define people’s belongings to social groups. This implies that people with different identities will be united, or bounded, to different groups. For instance, we can use the simplest cultural backgrounds as identities to divide people into different groups. Imagine there is an Asian boy who born in America speaks English, play with American friends, and read U.S. literature in his lifetime. He will regard his identity as an American though his parents may be immigrants from Asian countries like Korea. Just like the Asian boy case, a person, or a group of people’s identities, are hard to change in others’ perceptions. From a historical perspective, black people, as a whole group, has the identity of subordinate race in white people’s impressions, since they were imported as slaves and were suppressed by the white local landlords. This fact might be quite tough, but I think that’s the origin of racism in U.S. society.

Ray: You mentioned that subordinate race in white people’s perception is one of the identities of black people, but besides the historical aspects, do you think that there are other factors that contribute to black people’s identities which implicitly lead to systemic racism in present society? Because I think as the society develops and time goes on, the influence of history to a race is gradually disappearing, so there must be some other causes.

Mr. Chen: You mentioned the development of society. Yeah, as the time goes on the identities of races are also changing. I do think the historical factor is the most reason which build black people’s identities, but I also think there are some social reasons which causes black people still receive unfairness and injustice nowadays.

Ray: Can you talk more about those social reasons?

Mr. Chen: Sure! Continue my description of the black farmer news. Despite black farmers are receiving injustice and unfairness, neither the society and government care about their rights and voices. The majority are not the victims, so even if they know the injustice to black people, they still consciously ignore the issue. That is the reason why the issue remained unresolved for decades. Since the issue is ignored, some white people nowadays still hold stereotype toward black people. Furthermore, the government even does not care about the black citizens, just because black people are not the majority comparing to white people and will not harm the government’s domination. This inequal treatment is not to one or several black people. Instead, this inequality and injustice is to black people in every city and every village in U.S. as a whole group, which illustrates the Systemic Injustice. We should not deny that the majority in U.S. society are white people, but I don’t want to see that black people are viewed as the so – called “other” group by white people. Just as Aijaz Ahmad mentioned in his article, when the conception of “otherness” is formed due to race, religion, or ethnicity etc, there will be no kindness or friendship. Instead, oppression and revolt will appear.

Ray: Wow you do give very professional analysis to reasons of systemic racism. We all wish the society to become a much more fair and better place for every member in it, but as you see, the resources and opportunities nowadays are still very unbalanced among different races. If we can eliminate racism, bias and stereotypes within people’s minds, do you think our society will become more cooperative and fair?

Mr. Chen: Sure! I think the rise of the conception of othering is the basic reason of dividing people into groups, while the systemic racism is based on the conflicts among various divergent groups. In order to build a better society, we must firstly downplay the consciousness of small groups within people’s minds.

Ray: So the first step is to erase the systemic racism society within present society, do you have any suggestion for the solutions?

Mr. Chen: Well I think firstly we must let people know that it is unnecessary to be racists. Changing young people’s minds is the first step. Since when they teach their children, their children may not have the concept of being a racist. If the group of racists no longer exist in future through education, the systemic racism will be eliminated. At that time, everyone will start to know that we are all same because we are all human. No matter what race we belong to, we share many identical physical traits, so there is no need to discriminate others. Besides, changing the social system is also very important. We must let our next generation enjoy the same rights of receiving education. We can do this by lowering the interest of college loan to a very low percentage at around 0.001% and offering a long time span for returns. By giving more chances of education to black families who cannot afford the tuitions, we can see more intelligent black youth enter the best universities in our country, and these youth will be the force that breaks the boundary of the hierarchy of society in the future.

Ray: After hearing your suggestions, I feel more confident to our society. I can’t wait to see what will happen if everyone become friendly and kind to each other! Just as a social activist named Martin Luther King once said: “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” At last, thanks for your presence to this live chat Mr. Chen, and that’s the end of our podcast. See you next week!

Reference:

Institutional racism. (2021, April 01). Retrieved April 05, 2021, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism

Ahmad, A. (1987). Jameson’s rhetoric of otherness and the “national allegory”. Social Text, (17), 3. doi:10.2307/466475

Ariana Figueroa, V. (2021, March 26). House agriculture PANEL probes ‘systemic’ USDA discrimination against black farmers. Retrieved April 05, 2021, from https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/03/26/house-agriculture-panel-probes-systemic-usda-discrimination-against-black-farmers/

Sommerfeldt, C. (2018, April 07). Black women say harlem Eatery staff RACIALLY PROFILED, falsely accused them of dining and dashing. Retrieved April 06, 2021, from https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/manhattan/harlem-restaurant-staff-accused-racially-profiling-black-women-article-1.3830000

PS: Individual submission

https://anchor.fm/katrina-tran/episodes/Yo–is-this-Racist–Podcast-Assignment-euagr4

Transcript:

Hi, my name is Katrina Tran and I am currently a second year social work major here at OSU. This podcast today is going to cover and discuss the recent events concerning anti- Asian hate. Over the past year, this is a topic that has been seen numerous times on the news and social media as anti- Asian hate and anti- Asian hate crimes have risen an enormous amount. So let’s get into it.

Why was there a spark in anti- Asian hate you may be wondering? Let’s travel back to 2020 for a little bit.

2020 was a year of the unknowns. It was a time where questions were being asked constantly, with little to no answers as the coronavirus first hit the United States. As quarantine went on, the Black Lives Matter movement hit the news and social media and topics including systemic racism and social injustices sparked uncomfortable conversations. The media played a big part in how events were portrayed and let’s just say, matters became worse as the president al election was looming in the distance.

The first spark that contributed to this anti- Asian hate culture stemmed from the pandemic, as Donald Trump explicitly called the coronavirus “the Chines virus”. Let’s take a moment to baffle in this statement. As the year went on, racial slurs and offensive language were all ways of verbal abuse to those in the Asian American community. The pandemic was hitting us all hard, but caused the Asian American community to feel a sense of additional hatred in a time were people all over the country were suffering. As the pandemic continued and people begin slowly getting back to a normal- as- can-  be life, a turn of violence and hate crimes starting spiking around the United States.

The Black Lives Matter Movement sparked a lot of uncomfortable conversations, that personally, I think people never thought about when speaking about racism. The topics of social injustice, systemic racism, and xenophobia, all very important topics, but again, the lack of education on these topics were what propelled people to speak about them to help the community. This goes for the Asian American community as well.

Social injustices are not specific to any one race, gender, or group of people, it happens all around us, even in little ways that we may have never thought about. The Asian American community has been looked at as a “model minority” as people like to say for a very long time. What are the constraints of this so called “model minority”? Why is the Asian American community label as a “model minority”? These are all questions that arose during this rise of Anti- Asian hate. This stereotype was based in a way that people wanted other races to act like how Asian Americans did so that is where this label had come from.

So let’s talk about some of the recent hate crimes. A 84 year old Thai immigrant died after being shoved to the ground on a walk in San Francisco. A Chinese woman was slapped and then set on fire in New York. A Filipino American was cut on his face with a box cutter on the subway in New York. And the shooting in Atlanta, where 8 people died. All of these hate crimes targeted toward the Asian American community, all of them tragic and stemmed in hatred. It doesn’t just stop with violence however, people being verbally attacked when out in the community, at restaurants, just living their normal lives. How can any of this be acceptable? Short answer, it shouldn’t be.

Let’s dive into these uncomfortable conversations a little more. Asian Americans have experienced racism, but in different ways than other races may have. Mircoaggressions are a huge way that Asian Americans experience racism. I want to speak on an article written in Google’s diversity and inclusion section by the marketing analytics and operations director. She spoke about the time she was in the Houston airport where she was being asked “where are you from” constantly from a strange man. She never answered the first time he asked, so he continued asking. He starting listening off different countries in a hopes she would tell him and even spoke loudly and slowly in English assuming she did not understand him. A women ended up answering for her, saying “how about American?”. She speaks about these mircoagressions, small phrases that are used about Asian stereotypes, to explain how no matter how hard she worked towards the so called “American Dream” that she would never be viewed or feel like a true American. This struggle of finding one’s identity between their culture and America is one that many people experience both in and out of the Asian American community. She also speaks about a topic that we have discussed throughout this course of the “One” and the “Othering” and her story is a great example of it.

I think this is a really great explain of verbal harassment towards the Asian American community. This story helps give insight to how different Asian Americans are being treated by strangers. I want to take a minute to discuss my own personal experiences.

As an Asian American, my parents were both immigrants from Vietnam and settled down in a small, pre- dominantly white community in Northwest, Ohio. After I was born in Ohio, I spent the first four years of my life back in Vietnam before I came back to Ohio to start school. As I grew up, a lot of my culture disappeared, disappeared from various parts of my life as I tried to fit in with my classmates. Different microaggressions were used constantly, even by me. I did not think at the time that I was offending myself or my Asian roots as I distanced myself from it to fit in. I did not know this was happening at the time, but once I came to college, the experiences and uniqueness I found about myself inspired me to realize that my culture was actually a big part of who I am. Microaggresions like “oh do you eat cats”, “can you see since your eyes are so small”, and many more were phrases that I was asked constantly.

So where do these stem from? I think a lot of it has to do with stereotypes that have been thought about the Asian American community for a long time. With the recent hate crimes directed toward the Asian American community, what’s the next step.

Protests on stopping Asian American hate have been very popular as people are standing up against these injustices. Famous actors are speaking up on social media about their experiences. Lana Condor for example was a huge actress that spoke about her experience as an Asian American and the struggles she has faced in Hollywood as an Asian American actress. Social media has been a place to share stories, information, and more on the the events occurring, what we can do to stop Asian American hate, and awareness about some of the things that happen to the Asian American community and people’s experiences.

I think that as we look at social injustices, it is all around us. Microagressions are just a small way that it is happening. Social injustices aren’t just seen in the Asian American community. Look at the Black Lives Matter Movement, it’s happening to so many different races and what are we doing to stop it?

I think that education is a huge step in the right direction. Education about hate crimes, systemic racism, social injustice. All of these things are present in our society, but have we taken the time to learn about it. Systemic racism was never an issue I personally was educated about until it became a popular topic of conversation during the past year. I never knew I was experiencing microagressions until it became a topic of conversation with the spike of anti- Asian hate. These are all things that are occurring, so now is the time to educate ourselves and others on these topics. Education can be found through reliable social media and news sources, from personal experiences and recognition of specific things, and many other ways of accessing information. I personally have found that I enjoy reading Skimm, an unbiased source that discusses current events that I receive once a week or so.

This is the time for us to speak about the issues in society, not just about race, but about all social injustices towards different groups of people. We all have the responsibly to take action and speak about what is happening within our society. All of these issues have been happening for decades, and everyone seems quite fed up that change is not being made. It takes a lot of self- reflection, I have found to be able to understand why education and speaking on uncomfortable topics are important. So the big question is, what can you do to help make change in your life, your community, and in society?

Works Cited

Cai, Weiyi, and Audra. Punched, Kicked, Shoved: Documenting the Anti-Asian Violence. 4 Apr. 2021, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/04/03/us/anti-asian-attacks.html.

Cabral, Sam. “Covid ‘Hate Crimes’ against Asian Americans on Rise.” BBC News, BBC, 2 Apr. 2021, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684.

Transcript:

Hello, Welcome everyone, I’d like to welcome you to the yo is this racist podcast. Now for some background My name is Gabriel Craig and I’m a sophomore currently studying business operations management at The Ohio State University. Throughout today’s podcast, we’re going to be going through many different topics in society and discovering is this in fact a racist, a systematic injustice? Or is it just society and humans being humans? Now one common practice in our society that I would like to talk about today would be tipping. Every time we go out to eat, there was always an unwritten rule that the server at least 20% and some people always tip less, more or not at all. Now, tipping is the compensation for many industries and many careers throughout our world. When a kid mows your lawn out front, you tip them. When a valet takes your car you tip them when someone delivers food to help you tip them. Now, tipping has been around for many centuries, but it has a very dark past and a dark origin that many people do not know about. Now, after slavery ended, many freed slaves were free able to go and work whatever jobs they wanted to try and build their own income. But white supremacists did not want freed slaves to be able to build up their own personal income and generational wealth. So what they did is they implemented tipping in many African American professions to stop them from earning a fair wage. When you create tipping the laws and minimum wage laws don’t apply to the wage, the person being served controls how much the person makes, and in many times, African Americans and many freed slaves did not get the right compensation compared to their white counterparts. In fact, many of them were not even tipped at all. This made it so that newly freed slaves could not build up the generational wealth they needed for their offspring to have a better life, leaving a constant cycle of them staying in the service jobs and being caught by the tipping loophole. Now, this phenomenon was not happening just in olden times, this was happening in our grandparents period, our parents period. And right now, Washington Post reported that black Restaurant Servers are making less than their white counterparts during the pandemic. These problems do not disappear with the same system we have in place, and we need to make a change in the restaurant industry. And make it so that fair wages given to all workers of color. So I would come to the conclusion that tipping is in fact racist. Although normal people tending every day are not racist. The dark ties behind this are significantly hurting the minority population in the workers industry.
And we need to make it so that all minorities and every worker, in fact, make an hourly wage to abolish tipping and prejudice. The next topic I would like to talk about are drug laws and prison reform. Now, why is it more common for a minority to be in prison? We all have the same laws to follow and they should all apply equally? Well, in our society. This is not true. And certain laws were created to lock up certain people of color, and not white people. Believe it or not, before 1971 most guns were illegal on the street, and did not have prison time or mandatory minimum sentencing. And you may think, Well, why did these laws change because people were being hurt, like the health department must have wanted to step in to make sure people weren’t getting hurt? Well, no, this isn’t true. The reason why drug laws were created were purely political reasons. In 1971, Richard Nixon declared drugs public enemy number one, and the ones I was convinced, many people think, was to make the public a better place. But that wasn’t true. The creation of drugs was helped the Nixon agenda, the Nixon campaign in 1968. And the Nixon white house after that had two enemies, the anti war left and black people. This is from former Nixon domestic policy chief john anchorman. This is what he told Harper’s writer Dan bomb, you understand what I’m saying? We know we can make it illegal to be either against the world or black but by getting the public to associate the hippies, with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily. We could disrupt those communities, we could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their communities, and ruin their lives. So a richard nixon White House cabinet member just admitted to creating drug walls to lock up minorities for political reasons. And you may think, Oh, this happened in the past and must be over now. But no, that’s not true today. minorities are four to five times more likely to be arrested for the same crime and serve a longer prison sentence than their white counterparts. All for nonviolent drug crimes. So yes, drug crimes are racist. They were created with malicious intent to lock up a part of our population for political gain, and no one can convince me otherwise. As you can see, so far in the podcast, we’ve talked about two societal norms that both have dark racial past. that many people don’t truly know about. And that just says a lot about our society. And we also have to think what other things in our society have dark racial past just like these innocent ones. Now let’s move on to a lighter note, I would like to be talking about certain terms that many people may go, Oh, is that racist? Now referring to a black person as black is not racist, only referring to black people as African American is, in fact, racist. This is because not all black people are from Africa, or have genetic ties to Africa, for example, South America, Jamaica, many other islands that are no connections to the continent of Africa. So what everyone is referring to the black population as the African American population, they’re doing an injustice, they’ll like be afraid to all white people as Eurpeon. all white people are not from Europe, there’s Australians, there’s a million other countries. It’s the same thing with Africa and black people. They’re not all from Africa. Many people think it’s taboo to say black and even cover their mouth. And they think they’re doing the right thing by saying African American, but many people would even prefer the term black because African American, it just sounds too extra to them. So I would say you are not racist if you do do this. But I think it is important to educate yourself and realize what your words may mean to someone who is not even genetically tied to that continent. Now the next topic I want to talk about on the podcast is this racist would be colorism in the media and Hollywood. And it has become almost too obvious to me at this point. And I think February Black History Month really showed me how the Hollywood feels about the minority population. So I first really noticed colorism really noticed it as a trend when I saw this one Disney Black History Month appreciation video, and it was showing all of his name black actors, and appreciating that it was really nice to deal with a good wholesome feeling. When you really looked at all the actors. They were all light skinned mixed actors. There was very little dark skinned actors on Disney screen at Disney’s like, hey, look, we have blacked actors. We have black actors, but only the ones we approved because they’re mixed with being white.
And I can see why dark skinned people can be very frustrated with this because they’ve been asking for representation and media. And then they get this whitewashed version of it. And although mix people are still black as well, you’re missing the main part of the minority population who has been arguing for this. And then when you look at colorism as a systematic injustice, you realize how much deeper it gets than just the media. colorism was created by white society to pit black people against each other and to make them discriminate by Oh, the lighter the skin tone you better you are when that is really not the case at all. Now Caitlin greenbridge from the Guardian, she writes that colorism shows up and even Starker ways the difference in periods between darker skinned and lighter skinned men, mirrors differences in periods between whites and blacks. darker skinned women are given longer prison sentences than their light skinned counterparts. This discrimination starts very young to if you’re a dark skinned girl, you are three times more likely to be suspended from school than your light skinned peers. And these are all people who are considered the same race. And just because their shade is a slightly different skin color is created this hierarchy. And this hierarchy was created by white supremacy in our society that has been systematically infecting it’s almost a virus is unconstitutionally changed how a certain part of our population has thought. I remember my girlfriend shared a story with me that stuck with her for the rest of her life. She is a darker skinned girl, but her sisters are a lighter skin complexion. And one day she was saying in middle school, and some lighter-skinned boys said, Hey, back in slavery, you would be a field slave and your sisters would be house slaves And so would we because you’re so much darker skinned at us. And she said it literally broke her heart and changed how she felt about the whole world. Because someone who she thought was her own race could be so hurtful to her. Now why did these boys say this to her to put her down? I don’t know. But I truly believe that it is deeply rooted in our society. And it was created by white people with a lighter complexion you are the more higher you on the hierarchy. And that is not correct and as even infected the own minority populations. I think a way we can combat colorism is support affirmative action programs to put more people in color and power and to put darker-skinned models on the face of media to show people that they are being represented. Alright guys, thank you for listening to the podcast. That is all I have for the yo is this racist podcast. I hope you guys learned something today. The biggest takeaway I want you to have is that even things we take for normal in our society can have an extremely dark past and someone can still be being hurt because of it. It is important to always be aware of your own prejudices. So I want everyone to have a good day.

Transcript:

Hello and welcome to the “Yo is this Racist?” podcast as part of the Comparative Studies 1100 course at The Ohio State University.

For this segment, I am your host, Tom Weber. I am currently a senior studying Aerospace Engineering and will be graduating next month at the time of this recording – so, May of 2021.

Today I want to discuss an instance of injustice in more depth that I have already covered briefly for my second Diary of Systemic Injustice entry – and so I’ll jump right into that.

In the Spring of 2018, I was fortunate enough to be an engineering intern for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, more commonly known as NASA.

I interned at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida from January of 2018 until May of that year. When entering the space center every morning for work, employees must drive through a guard station checkpoint that is staffed with Kennedy Space Center, more commonly referred to as KSC, police officers. The KSC police check employees’ identification, so their security badges that they have for the space center, before granting access to the space center, kind of similar to – you might think of military police or MPs at military bases, and how they check your IDs.

Occasionally at the checkpoints, either for reasons of suspicion or randomly, drivers are pulled aside to have a search performed of their vehicle.

During the second month of my internship at Kennedy Space Center, in February of 2018, an internal email was sent out to all NASA KSC employees detailing statistics on these searches being conducted at the KSC security checkpoints.

The data presented in the email made it glaringly obvious that people of color, specifically black men, were being pulled aside at the checkpoints for “random” – and you can’t see it but I’m using air quotes here – random searches. These drivers were shown in this data to be singled out at a much higher rate than other, predominantly white drivers, entering the space center.

The KSC police officers appeared, from the statistics presented in the email, to be singling out drivers based off the color of their skin.

So, this brings me back to the original question and title of this podcast – “Yo, is this racist?”

Obviously, the answer in this case is yes! No if ands or buts.

The Kennedy Space Center police officers were assuredly not conducting random searches and basing a vehicle search off a driver’s skin color was a flagrant misuse of their authority, which had been given to them by the federal government. So, the KSC police force is part of the federal government since it is contracted by a federal government agency, which is NASA, to do security for the premises of the facility. So that is worth noting, and I’ll get to that in a little bit.

The data of the vehicle searches presented in the email indicated that the racist policy utilized by the KSC police was a systemic issue within the entire police force. And that’s why I chose to write about it for my diary. I thought it was a really good example and something that I had experienced in my own life. This isn’t something really that you would see come to light, you know, in the general media since this was sent as an internal email within the government agency itself. So, I felt like that was a great example for this assignment.

By searching the vehicles of drivers based off their skin color, among other factors, the KSC police created a situation that is very relevant for discussion in this class as well as topical for current events in the United States – given the uprising for racial equality that occurred over this past summer of 2020 – for racial equality.

In class we discussed the One-Other dynamic discussed by both Hegel and de Beauvoir and it can be seen in this case, that the KSC police created a One-Other power dynamic establishing the driver as Other and themselves as One – which isn’t probably too difficult to see in this situation.

Now, you may argue that any driver that is being singled-out – you know anyone, not even if they’re being singled-out for the color of their skin or another factor, but any driver being randomly singled-out by the police is an Other in the KSC police officers’ eyes which could potentially be true in an isolated example of a police officer pulling over a driver. So, you know, your run-of-the-mill you didn’t stop at a stop sign and get pulled over – in that scenario, maybe.

However, already possessing the implicit racial bias – whether it be the specific police officer that is doing the traffic stop, or in the case of the KSC police, the entire force – would appear to make the specific target of the injustice – the singled-out driver who is the subject of an officers’ bias – the Other in the situation uniquely.

In other words, I would argue that only the subject of the bias is the Other in this situation of systemic injustice and the police officer as well as any other driver not being targeted by the officers’ racial bias is the One.

But, you know, there is also another way you might look at this and connect it to something we talked about in class. So, you might take it one step further even as far as trying to classify the singled-out driver – especially someone singled-out for the color of their skin – in this situation. Hopefully, you remember the idea of the subaltern and their voice (or rather their lack of a voice) when we discussed Spivak’s reading of “Can the Subaltern Speak?”

A subaltern, as a refresher, is somebody who is so different from somebody else or potentially viewed to be lesser in terms of status or even intelligence – that they cannot be properly understood and are often described in terms and framed in a background that does not adequately or accurately encompass their life or culture. So, to put it concisely – they do not have a voice for all intents and purposes of this discussion, at least.

So back to the case here of a black man, for example, being “randomly” selected – and again I am deploying the air quotes – for a vehicle search by a Kennedy Space Center police officer. The officer has already decided, without the driver speaking or doing anything, that this person is deserving of an additional measure of security, based solely on this man’s skin color – and maybe the combination of being a male as well, but that’s a different discussion of intersectionality.

So, the person in this situation with power and authority, namely the police officer, has decided to act based off implicit bias and what they think of someone else without knowing or adequately understanding that person or allowing that person to speak for themselves. I think it seems as though the driver in this scenario, the black man that we’re using for our example – the racially singled out drivers shown in the email data, which was shown to be largely black men – may even be subalterns since the are not even capable of speaking for themselves. And so, in this proposal you would have the police officer at the guard gate of the space center as the One, the white or otherwise – you know not checking the bias boxes for the officers – as the other, and the singled-out drivers as subalterns. I mean, this is definitely an interesting thing to consider that would potentially be overlooked. So, it’s a point I wanted to bring up.

Something that I think is important to mention here is that many people think that systemic injustice in the United States, especially in the federal government, is a thing of the past.

The KSC police and their singling out of drivers is an example of systemic injustice present within a federal government agency – NASA is a government agency just like the FBI, TSA, or the postal service – as recently as 2018 – only 3 years ago.

And I am sure issues like this still plague various departments or agencies within the federal government. I say this, because how can meaningful change happen in society if the federal government that so many look to for guidance is plagued with the same issues?

To fully understand the nature of the issue here, too, I want to circle back to the institution of the guarded space center checkpoints in the first place. After all, they are not protecting UFOs and flying saucers at the centers … or are they?? – I don’t know.

The checkpoints were recommended to be implemented after the events of the September 11^th attacks in 2001, as part of broad-sweeping heightened security measures at federal government installations in the US. With that in mind, it probably would not come as a surprise to hear that the checkpoints have also had a history of xenophobic actions in terms of searching the vehicles of anybody appearing foreign or of Middle Eastern origins – another obviously unacceptable misuse of authority. And there was a lot of that that happened after 9/11, especially targeting Muslims or those of Middle Eastern origins.

So I just wanted to give more background to the institution of these checkpoints in the first place – and they kind of had a history of this type of misuse of authority.

After the email was sent showing the injustice present within the KSC police force, a review board was formed to root out bias in the police force at Kennedy Space Center, as well as the checkpoints and corresponding security forces at all NASA centers across the country – there’s, I want to say, 15 to 20 NASA centers – I don’t remember off the top of my head, but these include Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX – you might all know this one from the movie Apollo 13 and Houston we have a problem – and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL in Pasadena, California – famous recently for the Mars Perseverance Rover.

And, you know, I’ll just conclude this by saying that:  While work is being done nationally to progress towards rooting out racial and other forms of bias, there is still much work to be done – I mean we saw that over the summer, just in American society, but including in the federal government itself – as exhibited here, with this case.

Anyways, that’s it for this segment “Yo, is this racist?” So, thank you for tuning in and have a great rest of your day.

Yo, Is This Racist…

mason.1009, sienko.4, and clements.172

Episode #1

Episode Transcript

19:16:33 Hey guys welcome back to our podcast of Yo Is This Racist, together I''m here with my fellow co hosts, and we're going to be diving in a little bit more about potential racism within celebrities and with Hollywood.
19:16:49 Now our first topic of discussion is going to be about Kendall Jenner. She recently launched a tequila brand, and she''s claiming that this is going to be the best tequila, ever.
19:17:01 However, she's gotten a lot of backlash within the media, and people are saying that she is appropriating tequila companies, and the Mexican culture.
19:17:11 So we're going to get started talking about this. First off, what do you guys think or what were your initial thoughts when you first saw that she released that tequila brand.
19:17:21 Well, I mean, one of the things I think about starting a business, especially in the context of a business that one might accuse of appropriating someone's culture is the fact that I mean with a business it relies on people buying their product.
19:17:37 So at the end of the day I mean if it's well known that this person is doing something that, in your opinion isn't doing a good job or is doing something that you consider wrong, I mean you can always not buy their product and in some instances the backlash
19:17:52 over this might lead to more people buying from traditional suppliers.
19:17:57 Yeah, I agree, I... when I first heard that Kendall Jenner was coming out with a tequila, I was kind of taken back by it because I only know her as a model and a personality.
19:18:11 So it made me question what made her get into this and she kept this a secret for so long. So I was very confused at first, about what would make her want to make a tequila, like tequila is known for being more Mexican; Latinos, they're the ones that make
19:18:29 these tequilas, and I even found a quote that said, "this is a joke for real to tequila makers," what Kendall did was literally make a bottle and found a bigger brand that bottles quote her tequila.
19:18:42 I found that by the writer Tyler Chin on gearpatrol.com, and it also said that a lot of people were angry that a non Mexican person was profiting off the Mexican product when so many Mexicans rely on making and selling tequila to support their families.
19:19:01 I suppose you could say that it's shameful. I mean we're used to celebrities doing shameful things to make money. And I'm not really surprised. I mean, you see it all the time you see you see a product line from a celebrity. I mean,
19:19:17 Justin Bieber had a clothing line. I mean, Tyler crater has a good clothing line.
19:19:23 But, I mean, it's not it's not uncommon for a celebrity to create and shill a product that is both terrible and something that they didn't even wholly create.
19:19:39 I yes, I guess, sorry, but I saw something that Kendall, since she's the one making the business, they're saying that she's going to be making so much money off of this, this particular company, but she was like, are these players who work in like the
19:19:56 the agave fields which are growing in Mexico normally like are these farmers going to be making more money because of her company, and people were talking about like, are they going to be getting any more benefits than just their CEO I guess is a millionaire,
19:20:10 you know what I mean. And also, I think another thing that is important to consider too is that since Kendall's...
19:20:19 I guess you brought this up earlier to have Kendall selling this tequila, who are the people buying and supporting this business and like I also feel like that could be a potential problem too is a lot of the time people just shop from companies and
19:20:31 shop for products, and they don't really care about the company's morals or values, or if they're offending a certain culture while doing it.
19:20:42 I think that a lot of people buy things just to try things out without really diving into what is going on behind the scenes. For example, Travis Scott coming out with a new seltzer, a lot of people were buying it just to say oh I tried it and have their
19:21:00 opinion on that so I wonder who's going to be buying this tequila just so they can say, I bought Kendall Jenner tequila, and then form their opinion based on that.
19:21:10 Well I mean if it's a, if it's a fad. It just rises up and then falls really quickly. I don't really think that it could create any lasting damage. I mean maybe if she created a brand that was extremely successful in the long term.
19:21:26 And I don't know if it's... that's looking to be the case, especially if this tequila according to traditional makers of it isn't very good.
19:21:34 It looks like this might be a quick jump. And then a fall.
19:21:39 The controversy... the fact that there's a controversy over it isn't really helping our case, although controversy in many cases can sell.
19:21:47 We witnessed that just this month, or maybe last month with the Dr. Seuss books.
19:21:55 Whenever there's some kind of upheaval or some, some massive or what people perceive to be some world ending event is always a surge in sales, surge in prices... people are willing to be opportunistic.
19:22:08 I don't know if it will change the tequila market, or really affect people who are producing it traditionally, if you're just a casual tequila consumer, you're definitely not going to be checking to make sure that tequila you're drinking is traditionally
19:22:24 produced or, or for quality, and people like that will probably try Kendall Jenner's brand once, determine it to be subpar or exactly the same as a commercial brand that she's copying from and move on.
19:22:39 I don't know if it'll truly make a huge impact.
19:22:44 But, I mean it's processes like these that prevent people from straight up destroying someone's market.
19:22:53 Yeah, I guess. Some other problems people were having with the bottle was that she messed up I guess the labeling, like it's... I think it's supposed to be like 'Blanco Tequila', but I think in Spanish, it's technically 'Tequila Blanco' because the adjective
19:23:10 comes, I think after the word. I might be butchering it but people were having a problem with that, saying that she wasn't even able to accurately have the correct label, in terms of the Spanish culture, which I also thought was interesting and she also
19:23:28 was drinking the tequila on the rocks, and that's just not a traditional way to drink tequila. So I guess other people were having a problem with that as well, which I thought was interesting that she wasn't even using it unlike a traditional sense.
19:23:43 This is a similar.
19:23:46 In my opinion to the pizza effect, I mean you could give it any names but Americans, generally like to import a culture, or some some food or product from another culture and then change it to American tastes.
19:24:01 And if you if you go to Italy, and you try the pizza there it's very different from what you might get at a regular pizza chain in America, Chinese food
19:24:14 Similarly, and although I mean a lot of these products are produced by immigrants, and they tweak it for their market. I mean, they're business people first.
19:24:19 But it is kind of interesting to see someone selling something that, that they have no connection to. It does seem disingenuous, and it doesn't really seem honest but I don't really think we expect too much honestly from famous celebrities.
19:24:39 So I'm not surprised, but I'm not because I'm not surprised I don't think it's going to be a huge difference.
19:24:52 Yeah.
19:24:54 And I guess another thing that some people were saying that other celebrities, including The Rock and Justin Timberlake also have tequila brands, and they have not seen received this amount of backlash compared to her because she is a woman in the media but.
19:25:08 So that's also something else to consider, I guess.
19:25:13 We also have another similarity with celebrities that are accused of using something to exploit their own music is Justin Bieber. He recently released an album called Justice, and in one of his songs he has an MLK speech, and the verse is stand up for justice
19:25:34 is what Martin... Martin Luther King says, but Justin cuts it off so it sounds like it's saying, "stand up for justice." What do you guys think about this.
19:25:44 Do you think it's right or wrong or what's your opinion?
19:25:47 I think in terms of the shamelessness, it's about on par if not worse than what Kendall Jenner did.
19:25:55 I think in this case, this is just a case of someone commercializing social justice. It's not uncommon to see Martin Luther King portrayed in popular culture.
19:26:06 And it's not uncommon, especially in hip hop and pop music to see it, social justice movements portrayed in a certain way or leaders quoted, and it's not uncommon at all to see cultural issues discussed, I mean that's a lot of popular music cultural
19:26:23 issues are the reason that the song was created. Killer Mike is a big example
19:26:31 MF DOOM, who recently passed away.
19:26:35 Carlee, what do you think. Um, I read an article that said, a lot of people think it's performative nonsense. And I kind of agree because of Justin Bieber, he says he's not trying to make a connection between himself and Martin Luther King, which he shouldn't.
19:26:54 But I don't understand, if he thinks that he has a lot more educating he needs to do, why would he even go there and try to include something that he knows is going to be controversial, especially in today's society where we're facing a lot of racism,
19:27:11 and we're still trying to combat that. So I was just kind of confused why, if he knew what was going on in society, why would you want to put himself in a position where he would potentially face this type of backlash.
19:27:26 I think you make a really good point. Um, I saw that the song where he has stand up for justice in it from Martin Luther King. It's a song about his wife, so it's kind of, I guess, confusing as why would he bring that in when it's not even about, I guess,
19:27:42 inequality, it's about like his wife, but I also did see an article where Justin Bieber was talking about it saying how he was trying to bring education and awareness to the Black Lives Matter movement and to racism in America and in Canada, he said in
19:27:57 Canada where he grew up he wasn't even like aware and fully educated about all this and he said that he has such a large platform, which he does, so he wanted to bring more attention, and he also had started a campaign for a lot of other like justice movements.
19:28:13 And I think this is where I'm confused because I'm happy that he's wanting to educate Americans and all his huge influence more about the true racism that's existing in America, but I don't think going about his way of how he did it with his album is
19:28:32 not fully appropriate.
19:28:35 I know he's received different backlash and everything and I think it is a little bit absurd, because I think that he can.
19:28:42 He can, he can do a lot, and bring a lot of awareness, but that's also like, I don't know.
19:28:58 It does sound like the celebrity cop out though, saying, I mean, people people getting mad at him, he argues that oh I''m trying to raise awareness. I know very few people who aren't aware of Martin Luther King.
19:29:03 And if people weren't aware of Martin Luther King is out there be such a huge response to it.
19:29:10 In this case I think he tried to get away with it, couldn't get away with it, and tried to use this excuse as a cop out I, I, I doubt that Justin Bieber is really educating people with several second sample of him.
19:29:28 I agree, I think he just wasn't thinking, and thought this would be the right thing to do, to mention a social issue in a song, thinking it would have a positive effect, and instead it had a negative effect.
19:29:42 So,
19:29:46 yeah, I guess one final thought is that I did see that one of Martin Luther King's ancestors reached out to Justin Bieber, praising him and like approving of what he did, so I guess it depends on how different people feel but I do think
19:30:03 that Justin should have done things in a more appropriate way.
19:30:09 Celebrities have such a big platform, and I think sometimes they find difficulties trying to use that platform in a way that won't cause controversy in a way that doesn't have their morals questioned, and I think it just came down to the fact where this
19:30:26 is just something that he, you know, he thought would make a positive impact.
19:30:32 And everyone has their own opinion on it so.. What's our verdict: racist or not racist?
19:30:41 I mean I don't want to say full on racist but I definitely don't think it's not...
19:30:48 Maybe not politically correct, I'll put it that way. Yeah, I agree. I think maybe it's just not appropriate.
19:30:54 I'd say it wasn't racist it's just a little embarrassing.

Hi everyone, I’m Tara and today I want to discuss the topic regarding racism in our healthcare system. This topic in particular really interests me because I am planning a future career as a medical professional. My interest in this issue actually stemmed from another class I am taking here this semester, called Ethics in Healthcare, where one week we were assigned to listen to a TED talk discussing racism in the field. In addition to the crisis we are facing today with Covid 19, we are able to see how communities of color are being hit harder than others. It is important to note that racial inequality in the healthcare system is also in part due to racism in other parts of the  system. Economic disparity for some communities of color due to past policies and structures in America creates an unequal access for people of color to receive healthcare. This unequal access is what leads to health issues in these communities, like the fact that “Black people are 3.57 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white people.” Black people are also likely to experience things like higher blood pressure, lower access to vaccines, and even lower life expectancy. In the TED talk Doctor Mary Bassett speaks on her experiences in Zimbabwe where she spent years helping deal with the AIDS epidemic. She explains how she watched Wester civilization receive treatment for AIDS through drugs while her patients in Zimbabwe were left in the dust with no access to those same drugs. Bassett says, “But I knew that epidemics emerge along the fissures of our society, reflecting not only biology, but more importantly patterns of marginalization, exclusion, discrimination related to race, gender, sexuality, class and more. It was true of AIDS. It was true just recently of Ebola.” I found this quote to be so powerful because she explains how the problems we face in regards to infectious diseases always impacts those who are marginalized more and we see this through the AID epidemic and Covid-19.

Now not only is it an issue with securing access to healthcare but racism also happens within the hospitals amongst medical professionals in terms of treatment and care and happens intentionally or unintentionally. Bassett explains the medical community has stood by idly while the Black Lives Matter movement has been working towards equality. She explains how they never use racism in research studies as an explanation or component to certain medical trends. We can see within the medical community that there is incorrect treatment for patients of color because preconceived ideas that black people have different traits that would change their diagnosis or treatment leaving them vulnerable to more damage. Even in the emergency room, people of color are less likely to be emitted and are more likely to die. This is an issue that largely does not affect the privileged and non marginalized groups as they are able to gain access to medical attention. An article published by the Harvard Medical School explains the system that allows racist acts to come from doctors who are not inherently racists and from our implicit biases. We need to understand within our selves our own implicit biases in certain cases. It is so important to see the environment around us to understand what is the right and wrong thing to do. As healthcare professionals it’s not just solely important to eliminate racism within your close quarters but to join the overall cause. As Bassett says, it’s important for those pursuing and in the medical field to help set the alarm bell along with the movement towards equality. This inequality can be changed through the understanding and alliance of the medical community. I think the issue is not only reliant on the medical inequalities but other aspects of systemic racism. Inorder for true strides to be made we cannot only move forward in the medical aspects but also help support issues regarding police brutality, the education system, the housing industry, and so much more. All of these parts systems work off of each other to create disadvantages for people of color. I think inequality in the healthcare system is one that largely goes unrecognized. The issue of free healthcare and different plans is a largely discussed political topic but a lot of the other parts go unrecognized. I also think that people just do not understand the unequal access to healthcare is damaging to these communities in different ways. Many do not understand that this leads to black women being more likely to die during childbirth or that black babies are more likely to die between birth and their first birthday. Healthcare is such a fundamental right, it is how to live a long and healthy life but we allow our system to deny access to it. With this pandemic and all its effects it’s so difficult watching communities of color get it even harder than anyone else because of the system we created. 

Throughout this course we have been analyzing stories that apply to concepts regarding discrimination. The current state of our healthcare system is the perfect example of “othering” explained by Hegel. White communities have labeled people of color as the “other” creating systems and policies that do not allow them to have access to the same rights that all humans are supposed to be granted. I think a large majority are oblivious to this issue without really knowing. Many are against racism in the smaller sense but do not understand how the way this country functions is in fact racist as it does not allow for equal opportunity. That is what the Black Lives Matter movement is trying to find out but so many still do not see the issue. The movement is trying to voice the injustices the system has created for black people in so many ways. This also ties into Spivak’s, “Can the Subaltern Speak?” when it explains how certain groups are perceived as less because they have less than others. Therefore these groups do not have the ability to stand up and take what they deserve. People of color are receiving worse health care and assistance due to a racist system. These communities are trying to gain justice and the medical field is just another part of the system that does not allow this.

In all, it’s important to understand how each backbone to the system in their own ways creates disadvantages for black people. These systems work off each other and so we need to understand that the less opportunities given in education, housing and so much more also impacts healthcare and vice versa. 

https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crsj/publications/human_rights_magazine_home/the-state-of-healthcare-in-the-united-states/racial-disparities-in-health-care/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/racism-discrimination-health-care-providers-patients-2017011611015

There Will Never Be An End to Racism

The Founders Were Oppressors

There has never been a point in time in this nation where at least one group of people have not faced some form of discrimination. “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue” was a rhyme that most of us grew up knowing. Throughout my childhood years, we celebrated Christopher Columbus’s arrival to America. For many years I thought that Christopher Columbus was a man worthy of being honored until I was informed about the horrendous demands and the harsh treatment that he inflicted on the aboriginals. From forced labor to genocide, Columbus and his men did it all. We were even  taught the term “Native American” was appropriate to call the aboriginals, but in reality, they were the true “Americans.” I mention Christopher Columbus to remind people that from the point that America was discovered up until now, man has always despised one another. 

Slavery

Throughout the world, slavery has existed for many years. “The history of slavery is a large and untellable story, full of tragedy and cruelty that spans both centuries and continents. Although it is difficult to pinpoint the exact year that slavery began, historians can trace the roots of this inhumane practice back roughly 11,000 years” (restavekfreedom.org). There are many different forms of slavery: sex trafficking, forced labor, bonded labor (also known as debt bondage), domestic servitude, and unlawful recruitment of soldiers (borgenproject.org). The most saddening fact about slavery is that children at times are involved. Although each testimony of each slave around the world may vary, the characteristics and mindset of their oppressors are constant. Their hunger to be in control, and to have power over someone is consistent with the term oppressor.

The Significance of History Itself

I’ve always heard that it was important to learn about history. Whenever a sad or gruesome part of history was being taught in class, it was common for the teacher to say things along the lines of, “it’s important to learn about uncomfortable topics like this so that history does not repeat itself.” But are we truly taking that saying to heart? What are the steps being taken to prevent history from repeating itself in all forms? Not just the physical aspect of slavery, like torture but the repercussions that affect the mind.

______ Still Exists

Thankfully slavery (unwilling servitude, forced labor)  in the United States was abolished due to the 13th amendment being passed. But there is no denying that racism is still prevalent and that the hatred for one another because of one’s skin color is still common.  Just because slavery was abolished does not mean that everyone is treated fairly. There has been a great change if we are just comparing slavery to the times that we are in now,  but there is still more work to be done.

Recent Incidents

From Diary of Systemic Injustice: 

[Towards the end of May in 2020, the whole nation heard of the murder of George Floyd. A lot of news regarding police brutality typically involves Black/African Americans, every single case that has been brought to light left me and many others outraged. Terrill Thomas was a Black man who was arrested for firing a gun inside of a casino with no one harmed. He later died of dehydration after the water in his cell was shut off for seven days. According to the NPR article, “They forced him to spend the last week of his life locked in an isolation cell 24 hours a day, with no drinking water, no edible food, no working toilet, no mattress, no blanket, no shower access, no means of cleaning his cell, no ability to communicate with his family, no relief from constant lockdown, and no meaningful access to urgently needed medical or mental health care.” His treatment was compared to Jacob Chansley, a White man who was accused of participating in the rioting in the U.S. Capitol. “A judge ordered corrections authorities to provide organic food to an Arizona man—- The order came after a lawyer for defendant Jacob Chansley complained that his client had gone the past nine days without eating because organic food isn’t served at the Washington jail where he’s housed,” Chansley said that because of his religious practice he demanded organic food, which was later granted to him. I understand that as a citizen he has the right to exercise any religion. But when it comes to Black people or other minorities, I thought that prisoners had their rights taken away. Hearing his story saddened me tremendously because Terrill Thomas was treated so inhumane, while Chansley had his bourgeoisie commands fulfilled. Not only did Thomas have his rights taken away but the necessities to live, like water. Without doing too much research, I immediately thought that this was the perfect example of White privilege. That specific riot that took place at the U.S capitol also sparked a lot of debate regarding injustice and bias. Because a lot of people, including myself, believe that if Black people did the same thing, there would’ve been casualties. In correlation to what I mentioned last week, even if there was an appropriate charge for a White person, there is still injustice behind the scenes. Instances like these make it reasonable to feel/think that people think that the lives of Black people are insignificant. I would also like to add that it is unfair for all white policemen to be labeled as “racist” and for all  black men to be labeled as “thugs.” It sort of feels like a cycle: hatred(racism) from one group, produces fear from the other group, resulting in violence and sometimes death. The people who are meant to protect and serve the community are the ones that we fear the most. There have been too many deaths that were unreasonable and unjustified. I believe that this would be considered systemic injustice because a lot of white men (including policemen) believe that because they are favored in society they have this sense of pride. When the judicial system fails to discipline them, they have more reasons to not fear doing anything wrong because they won’t be labeled as “in the wrong” in the sight of the decision-makers.] Due to COVID-19, there has also been a significant increase in the number of hate crimes towards the Asian American community. [In the times that we are living in, it seems like it is gradually becoming worse and people are bold about expressing their racist/prejudiced way of thinking. Systemic is defined as something that is fixed, and structured. This system isn’t gonna change if people in authority are on the same side of the oppressors or even sometimes are the oppressors.] Cases like these are just a few examples of why minorities still feel as if this country cannot be considered home for them. Back then for the enslaved,  the reason was that they were not given human rights/ freedom in “the land of the free.” But today, racism is one of the major reasons. There is still a form of favoritism for White people and this gives them a sense of superiority. Viewing people as subalterns even in the slightest/nonchalant way is a form of superiority complex. It is only inevitable for people who are not White to feel inferior. Sometimes a majority of people are quick to blame white people for all the evil doings and unfair treatment in this nation, but I think it’s more of a lack of understanding and empathy.

Why Will There Never Be An End?

America is known to have years of history recorded where White men have always had the upper hand and authority to demean people that did not look like them. Today, slavery doesn’t necessarily exist anymore (due to the 13th amendment). White men aren’t necessarily threatening people with guns or weapons, and Black people and other minorities are not enslaved by them. But there is a form of slavery that still exists, and that is the oppression of the mind and also the spirit behind every evil doing against another human being. Whether that may be an implicit bias way of thinking towards another race or physically expressing their hate, it’s still racism.

Looking at this image, I’m reminded of a Bible verse  about the matter of the heart:

“But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts. . .” Matthew 15:18-19

For racism to end, every single individual walking on earth needs to have their mind renewed on race and how we view one another. Whether we like to admit it or not, most if not all of us have some form of implicit bias. This doesn’t necessarily mean that we are racist and that we choose to be racist, it just shows how much race has been ingrained in our minds for a very long time. The people who are “superior,”  and know that they have an upper hand in life,  but ignore this unfair treatment is the reason why racism still exists.

This image can also have many different meanings, depending on who is observing. Here is how I interpreted it and how it correlates to racism:

• The root of this nation (the foundation) has always been corrupt. From the “beginning” when Columbus discovered and inform Europeans about America, he belittled the aboriginals and treated them inhumanely.
• The reason why this nation has not removed itself from the same foundation as its founders is that the heart of individuals today have a similar way of viewing themselves: greedy, superior, powerful, and in control. The heart can be very wicked. The root of the problem (racism) is the contaminated hearts in this nation. Years and years of continuous hatred for one another have only made the roots of the tree grow larger and deeper, making it harder and harder to deracinate. 
• The roots represent the hatred for one another that grows day by day, with recent news of police brutality, hate crimes based on race, more and more people are being turned against each other–being fueled with anger.

If the roots continue to go downward, there will never be an end to racism.

References

https://restavekfreedom.org/2018/09/11/the-history-of-slavery/

https://borgenproject.org/types-of-slavery/ 

https://www.npr.org/2019/05/29/728023455/-6-75-million-settlement-paid-to-family-of-milwaukee-inmate-who-died-from-dehydr 

https://abc7.com/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley-riot-capitol-siege/10313166/ 

Image 1: https://creativemarket.com/Alltruecolours/5360302-Sketch-vector-Handcuffs-on-the-hands 

Image 2: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/350084571026639308/