Born Into An Entanglement: 5 Ways African Americans Experience Discrimination | The Odyssey Online
Start writing a post
Community

Born Into An Entanglement: 5 Ways African Americans Experience Discrimination

In case you live under a rock, here are some of the many, obvious yet subtle, ways African Americans are discriminated against in America.

16
Born Into An Entanglement: 5 Ways African Americans Experience Discrimination

In This Article:


Police Brutality

This is a very common way America has oppressed black people. It's the reason you see protests taking place all over the world.

The Police initially started as a slave patrol, which was used to catch runaway slaves and return them to their owners. Once the 13th Amendment was ratified, it made it possible for slavery to thrive through the criminal justice system.

There's a lot that goes unseen through the justice system, far too much for me to fit in one article. How does it go "land of the free," SIKE.

Education

As we all know, education is very important. Like very important.

Nonetheless, getting an education has many more obstacles for black people. It really starts sooner than kindergarten. Making up 18% of the preschool population, a black boy is 2X more likely to get suspended than his white counterpart. Whereas white preschoolers makeup 43% of the population, but only makeup 26% of those who get suspended.

If you're wondering why that sucks for black kids and their growth, you're not thinking. Being told you are a bad person at the ages of 3,4,5 really molds you into someone you're not. Furthermore, black kids are more likely to drop-out because of repeated suspension and expulsions. Hence why their graduation rates are disproportionate to their white counterparts.

Health Care

Challenges from the beginning. Being a doctor is all about taking care of people, but some stats show otherwise.

A black woman is 3x more likely to die while giving birth as opposed to white women. Black babies are 2x more likely to die in comparison to white babies. In fact, people of color are more vulnerable to diabetes, cancer, and heart disease. Just to let you know black children are TEN times more likely to die from gun violence.

There have been many stories where black women die in the ER, in fact, Deborah Gatewood recently died from Coronavirus after she tried to get treated by the same hospital she had been working at for decades. Imagine drowning and there's a lifeguard making eye contact with you as you continue to struggle, except instead of doing his job he continues to watch you as you take your last breath. That is what it feels like being Black in the healthcare system.

Housing

As we know America has always had a problem with land and its distribution. It's seen through the California gold rush, Native Americans, and the many other marginalized groups. I mean really, how could you take away land that in no shape, way, or form is yours, and then force the people who had already inhabited the land to live in reservations.

From redlining to telling minority buyers that a house is listed for a higher price than it actually is, racism takes place EVERYWHERE.

Here's a link to a video that explains redlining. Watch it, its a minute long :)

Employment

You're probably tired of seeing numbers and stats, so to sum it all up: workplace discrimination is illegal, however, wages and salaries are all different and are based on many factors. From race, to gender, to education discrimination thrives at work.

Report this Content
This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
two women enjoying confetti

Summer: a time (usually) free from school work and a time to relax with your friends and family. Maybe you go on a vacation or maybe you work all summer, but the time off really does help. When you're in college you become super close with so many people it's hard to think that you won't see many of them for three months. But, then you get that text saying, "Hey, clear your schedule next weekend, I'm coming up" and you begin to flip out. Here are the emotions you go through as your best friend makes her trip to your house.

Keep Reading...Show less
Kourtney Kardashian

Winter break is over, we're all back at our respective colleges, and the first week of classes is underway. This is a little bit how that week tends to go.

The professor starts to go over something more than the syllabus

You get homework assigned on the first day of class

There are multiple group projects on the syllabus

You learn attendance is mandatory and will be taken every class

Professor starts chatting about their personal life and what inspired them to teach this class

Participation is mandatory and you have to play "icebreaker games"

Everybody is going out because its 'syllabus week' but you're laying in bed watching Grey's Anatomy

Looking outside anytime past 8 PM every night of this week

Nobody actually has any idea what's happening this entire week

Syllabus week is over and you realize you actually have to try now...or not

Now it's time to get back into the REAL swing of things. Second semester is really here and we all have to deal with it.

panera bread

Whether you specialized in ringing people up or preparing the food, if you worked at Panera Bread it holds a special place in your heart. Here are some signs that you worked at Panera in high school.

1. You own so many pairs of khaki pants you don’t even know what to do with them

Definitely the worst part about working at Panera was the uniform and having someone cute come in. Please don’t look at me in my hat.

Keep Reading...Show less
Drake
Hypetrak

1. Nails done hair done everything did / Oh you fancy huh

You're pretty much feeling yourself. New haircut, clothes, shoes, everything. New year, new you, right? You're ready for this semester to kick off.

Keep Reading...Show less
7 Ways to Make Your Language More Transgender and Nonbinary Inclusive

With more people becoming aware of transgender and non-binary people, there have been a lot of questions circulating online and elsewhere about how to be more inclusive. Language is very important in making a space safer for trans and non-binary individuals. With language, there is an established and built-in measure of whether a place could be safe or unsafe. If the wrong language is used, the place is unsafe and shows a lack of education on trans and non-binary issues. With the right language and education, there can be more safe spaces for trans and non-binary people to exist without feeling the need to hide their identities or feel threatened for merely existing.

Keep Reading...Show less

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Facebook Comments