This diary entry was one I wrote for the halfway mark of class. Since it was an important week I had decided to write about an observation I make every single time I walk to work. I am writing about the biggest injustice I see almost every single day. I live in an apartment on north campus, but I work at the Ohio State University target on high street. I always opt into walking to work and it is always disheartening that there are so many homeless people on just 3 blocks of north high street alone. While this is heartbreaking on its own I have also observed that the majority of those who are homeless are African American men. While I always try to give any change that I have its never really enough to help. With this is mind, and the materials we’ve covered I decided to research and my findings are very sad. According to ABC news even though African Americans make up only 13% of the population, they make up 40% of the homeless population. Even worse is that those homeless with children, 52% are African American. This is clearly the result of unequal equity and opportunity in our community for those specific people. It is heartbreaking that anybody has to endure that, and it needs to be a priority in our nation to fix. Nobody deserves to die hungry or cold.
This systematic injustice can directly be related to Spivak’s writing on the subaltern. In this particular case American society has by some particular means created a system where specifically African Americans are struggling to keep a roof over their heads, and to reclaim said roof. In this case the homeless African Americans would be the subaltern. This is because they are forced systematically to have difficult and possibly homeless lives. Then they are unable to do anything about it either for themselves. The American system has robbed these people of not only their voices but also their lives. It is completely unacceptable and before researching the topic I had absolutely no idea how bad the racial injustice was. We need to give these people a voice, a platform, and an equal opportunity to help themselves and their families.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/50-homeless-families-black-government-report-finds/story?id=68433643
Hi Hayden,
I really liked how relevant and relatable your DSI Showcase was. I think everyone who lives in Columbus is familiar with the homeless people often roaming High Street and the surrounding area, and like you said it quickly becomes apparent that there’s a racial imbalance. I feel like this particular fact is something that a lot of people don’t even realize when talking about America’s poverty and homelessness problems, and that makes it all the more important to have awareness about hoe these issues affect different races disproportionately.
Hey Hayden!
I really appreciated your showcase. I actually live in an apartment on high street on south campus and i can confidently say i see these same things everyday. Applying this to Spivak’s writing on the subaltern works really well here as i do agree with you especially with the subaltern being specifically these African American homeless individuals. Thank you for also emphasizing this injustice as i believe something like this that is right in front of our eyes is extremely important to shed light on. Great job on your showcase!
Hi Hayden,
This is actually something that I’ve noticed as well. I wrote about something similar in my DSI showcase. This issue stems from a topic called systemic injustice. It is almost as if people that are African American are set up for failure in our society. They lack role-models represented in the professional class, opportunity due to the color of their skin, and privileges that people of the majority race have access to every day. Not only is this concerning ratio prevalent in homeless people, but it is also prevalent in the prison population and Covid-related deaths and illness. Unequal opportunity is rooted in this society, and the homeless people at Ohio State are not unique in this discrepancy.
Hayden,
It is truly unfortunate and ridiculous how achingly true your post is. I wrote a similar diary entry, I believe in my first week, explaining redlining, which is one of the biggest reasons why so many people of color, and especially Black people, are so extremely less privileged when it comes to housing, specifically. Redlining is the systemic denial of loans and other services by the federal government and this has happened far too often to people of color dating all the way back to the Great Depression. It is a huge reason why people of color mostly inhabit poorer inner cities or are homeless and not wealthy suburbs.