Social Justice for African American Women

Are African American women not being treated fairly? Are Black women being discriminated against more without holding a high school diploma or some degree? Does slavery play a part in how Black women are treated today? Racial discrimination plays a part in the crime and social justice of gender inequality on African American women. Since slavery is over, African American women have the same rights as White people. However, discrimination still takes place today. Authors such as Areva Martin, Guest Blogger, Yolanda Wilson, Kayla Patrick Fellow and Ryan Struyk explain how racial discrimination is view from Black women, Black men, White people and nonwhite people.

Today, I see racial discrimination as a big deal in the Black community. Most white people are oblivious to the thought of racial discrimination because it does not concern them. Black women are not being treated fairly at the doctor’s office, at work, while interacting with police, buying/renting a home, at schools, and while voting.

As counterclaims, White people do not believe that racism is a huge problem in our society, especially towards Black people. Some may think that Black people are already equal to Whites or too equal to them. Based on a national survey by Pew Research Center conducted in 2016, 38% of Whites believe changes have been made for Blacks to have equal rights. While about 11% don’t care about a change. Ever since President elect Donald Trump became president in 2016, the Trump Administration made it more expensive for black families to buy homes, made it harder for Blacks to vote, for Blacks to enjoy clean air and water, and to retire with dignity (Racial Equality). “And the fact is, most white Americans have never believed that it was necessary for blacks to agitate for their rights and liberties,” said Tim Wise. With White people being deluded or disinterested in the racial discrimination against Black people, it creates hate, separation, and innocent lives end up in jail or dead. This gives people like Trump too much power over our society. Tim Wise stated that in 1964, over 80 percent of whites said Black people should stop protesting for their rights. Whites did not care if Blacks were getting denied to have basic rights of citizenship, to vote, and to choose where they wanted to live. If we go back in time and say things were the opposite, if Whites were the ones who were slaves and Blacks were slave owners with all the power over white people, they would want the same that Blacks continue to ask for today, equality and respect.

To continue this topic, slavery plays a major part in how Black women are treated today. “Everybody knows about the roots of racial discrimination in the USA…They introduced slavery in America and used free labor of the slaves transported from Africa. With the run of time, slavery disappeared, but racial discrimination remained in the mind of society,” said Guest Blogger. Today, Black people may have the rights to “freedom”, to vote, to apply for jobs and education, but Blacks are more of a target of police brutality. It’s as though the police are the slave owners and Blacks are the slaves again. Police kill them, shoot them, jail them, and applies a great amount of force on them.

This leads into the topic of Black women being treated unfairly. Areva Martin said, “and yet for all the progress, there’s one area where black women have been unable to move the needle very much, that’s in getting paid fairly for their work.” Black women are taking over the United States. Black women are excellent entrepreneurs, bosses, CEOs, managers, receiving undergrad and grad degrees. However, Black women only make 62.5% compared to what men make, according to a 2016 study by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. This requires Black women to work twice as hard as men to make equal pay within the same field. “Black women are mot afforded the same regard for bodily privacy as white women,” said Yolanda Wilson. A black women name Chikesia Clemons was arrested in Alabama. Police pulled her from her chair and tossed her on the floor. Ignoring that her private parts were out, two cops threaten her for “resisting” (Wilson). Plenty of black women experience similar encounters with police. When it comes to arresting a White woman, such force would never be applied and it would be handled in the appropriate manner. Police handle black women differently from white women.

Black women are, also, handled differently when it comes to their education. 34% of Black women, preferably young adults, are making five percentage points less than white men are in colleges. Black women with master degrees get paid less than their white peers. Loans are even harder to pay back by Black women than White people.

Whether you’re white, black, or nonwhite, racial discrimination brings back horrific old times and it’s not okay. Although Black women push through these discriminations, let’s not continue to make them. The black community needs our help with one random act of kindness at a time.

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