Photo credit: Anna Shvets
In the United States of today, the color of one’s skin may predict socioeconomic standing, this in violation of the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Generally, this convention seeks to eliminate racial discrimination. Currently, the United States fails to meet the stipulations of this convention.
For the purpose of this post, I focus on Black and Latinx populations. The United States of America perpetuates a divide regarding the opportunities available to Black and Latinx populations when measured against their White counterparts. Jim Crow, redlining, and systemic racism at differing levels all coalesce in the U.S. of 2021 to create realities constantly working against the Black and Latinx community. Indeed, a report from American Progress, a non-partisan think tank devoted to progressive ideals, found that households with Black residents receive median incomes 25-45% lower than that of those with White folks. The same report further found that, as of 2019, Black, Latinx, Hispanic, and Asian people in this country make up 36% of U.S. workforce yet constitute 58% of agricultural workers, 70% of housekeeping personnel, and 74% of baggage handlers and bell-hops. Such jobs are vital to this country’s economy however are largely underappreciated, this a result of views held during Jim Crow and slavery. Only once the aforementioned discrepancies shift may Black and Latinx communities begin to see economic equality.
Illustration credit: Miguel Gallardo
While redlining and other such practices present a blatant form of racial discrimination, Black and Latinx communities continue to be under-supported by the federal government. Statistics show such lack of support perpetuates racism, a discrimination that is linked to the prevalence of adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, in Black and Latinx communities. Generally viewed as traumatic instances from one’s earlier years that negatively impact that person’s lived reality, ACEs can be crippling, creating a more difficult trajectory. To decrease the prevalence of ACEs in Black and Latinx populations, society should shift greater power to these segments of society, this reallocating power discrepancies in the United States with the aim of achieving greater equality.
I worked with Latinx immigrant families during President Trump’s harsh immigration policies; this informs my writing. Both before and during the separation of families at the border, I helped connect these families with their relatives and friends in the United States. I was ever struck by the resilience shown by these individuals. These children, wrenched from their parents by armed government agents as tears streamed down both the children and their parents’ faces, will experience trauma for the rest of their lives due to such adverse childhood experiences. Even so, the parents or family units showed much resolve, determined to persevere despite the many obstacles put in their way.
I should add here that I am a White, cisgender male from West Los Angeles. I do not have any first-hand experience with the racial injustices present in the United States. I cannot speak directly to the difficulties or challenges of living in this country with dark skin. I can, however, draw from my experience working with certain populations of color to act as an accomplice against these forces of oppression. Indeed, choosing to ignore these forces would be to preserve the status quo. Instead of settling with the privileges my whiteness carries, I choose to engage with the racial inequities of the country, curiosity breeding knowledge, knowledge breeding wisdom, wisdom breeding power.
Photo credit: Anete Lusina
The city of Chicago is familiar with racial discrepancies. A report released by University of Illinois, Chicago, found that Black and Latinx populations of Chicago experience discrimination in many facets of life, this extending to economic, educational, justice, and health. Such widespread discrimination among multiple sectors of life is unsustainable and must not be tolerated. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
The United States perpetuates a cycle of injustice towards Black, Latinx, Asian, and indigenous communities, investing very little in their welfare, pushing them towards a pre-determined socioeconomic status, and creating environments more prone to adverse childhood experiences. This trifecta of inequality along racial lines is in clear violation of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racism. Ultimately, the United States must honor the guidelines set forth in this convention. Only by doing so may this nation begin to chip away at the injustices of institutional racism in the country. Dr. King’s wise words may inform such efforts, a constant reminder of the vitality of equality for all.