Upon reflecting on this semester, I came across an incredibly overt example of systemic injustice that wasn’t obvious to me at first. My first week at school had been packed with online zoom interviews having to do with the Fisher Fall Career fair as well as recruitment for business fraternities on campus. Looking back, I realized that every single one of the conversations I had was with a person of my own race. I talked to men and women that were white. The fact that there were no people of power that were able to represent any other race reveals yet another example of privilege I have access to on a daily basis. As a white person in America, I ALWAYS have the ability to expect the company of a person of my race. This privilege is not available for people of other races. As young, amenable individuals, it is important for everyone to be able to have an influence that they can relate to, and a lot of times, this relate-ability depends on the comparison of gender, age, and especially race. This concept relates to Deming in Lisa Ko’s The Leavers, as he is forced to grow up in a community that was predominantly white and had little experience with diversity. Deming feels the inferiority tied to the concept of the “other”, and is unable to relate to the people around him, inhibiting him from having the motivation to become the best version of himself. Without a relatable role model, Deming was stripped from the opportunity to step up in his community without feeling like everyone around him was implicitly making assumptions and judgments about his race or appearance. The fact that people of other races don’t have a connection with someone like them proves that this institutional racism is embedded as a normal occurrence within society. Placing white people as the primary people of power may dishearten people of other races, leading to an even more prevalent disparity among races. This ongoing process truly proves how systemic this racism actually is, and reveals its ability to prevail in our society today.
This article calls attention to racial injustice in the workplace. Additionally, it provides many resources to other sources that inform about systemic racism in our country.
https://ocs.fas.harvard.edu/diverse-populations
If you would like to learn more about systemic racism, this video provides information on the issue in an easy-to-understand format.