WHAT IS SYSTEMIC RACISM?
So, of course we all know about racist acts of violence that result in stories like #GeorgeFloyd. But what about the SILENT KILLER?
If you follow my personal page on Facebook, you’ve seen me posting non-stop about the racial injustices in our country. Today I wanted to take a different route with the message. I want to help educate people on the silent killer which honestly may be more prevalent and damaging than the overt one: SYSTEMIC RACISM. Here’s today’s message. I hope it resonates like nothing ever has….. thanks for reading. xo- Ashley
P.S. Today’s main photo is taken from Ben & Jerry’s 2016 article on Systemic Racism. Take a look here.
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So you know about overt racism, right? You understand that something is racist when it’s blatant and in your face. But what about SYSTEMIC RACISM? What exactly does that entail?
Well, systemic racism is...
📍 The healthcare system not believing black women when they say they’re having a medical issue during birth which results in an increasing amount of labor/delivery deaths each year. ("...researchers found that out of the 658 women who died of maternal causes in 2018, black women fared the worst, dying 2.5 times more often than white women (37.1 vs 14.7 deaths per 100,000 live births...))
-NBCNews.com Jan 30, 2020
Read the article here.
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📍The school to prison pipeline that has become a version of modern-day slavery. It's a known fact that black men are imprisoned exponentially more than white men that commit the same crimes. ("...According to figures from the National Registry of Exonerations, black people are about FIVE times more likely to go to prison for drug possession than white people. According to exoneration data, black people are also 12 TIMES more likely to be wrongly convicted of drug crimes.") -Washington Post Sept 18, 2018, updated April 10, 2019
Read the article here.
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📍The deliberate prejudices exhibited during the hiring process at most corporations — do they have a “black-sounding” name? Well then, throw out that resume. Don’t bother calling them. (“…According to a joint study conducted by Stanford University, Harvard Business School and the University of Toronto…when looking for employment, only 10% of African-Americans got calls when they left details pertaining to their ethnic identity intact.”) Inc.com April 11, 2019
Read the article here.
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📍The high-powered white woman in the boardroom that speaks down on a young black girl trying to make it in the business, thus trying to sully her name in a room full of white executives. {{This is a paraphrased true story for ME. My only saving grace that day was a beautiful black woman “in the room”, who spoke up for me and saved the day.}}
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📍What about the short maturation period afforded to little black boys and girls in the eyes of white people? Our children are viewed (and often, tried in the criminal justice system) as adults way before they actually develop, while white children are infantilized until adulthood. “He’s just a kid/teen. He didn’t realize what he was doing.” That excuse isn’t afforded to black kids. Have you seen the memes circulating from black mothers stating “at what age will my beautiful black boy be viewed as a threat in your eyes?”
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📍And how about the fear of black business owners on social media that refuse to identify as a BLACK small-business owner for fear of losing customers/seeming too radical?
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📍And lastly, and maybe most importantly, it’s the race wage and overall economic gap that is currently a reality for all of us. We were slaves for centuries, then told we could finally be “free”. That freedom meant low-paying, blue collar jobs where we still faced brutal discrimination for decades. Then, we finally built our own colleges and were able to get an education but not without taking out student loans from predatory lenders that would put us in debt forever. Our communities weren’t given the same resources which in turn resulted in less opportunities to advance. We don’t have generational wealth (i.e. a grandmother or father that can give us a down payment on a house or pay for college) so when we do receive high powered jobs after working tooth and nail to catch up, those salaries are spent trying to pay down the debt we’ve amassed in order to stay afloat. I could go on and on but I think you get the point, right?
**THIS** is systemic racism. And it’s just a short synopsis of what the phrase means. I implore you to do some research and truly understand how it’s impacted our communities for decades and is still the biggest racial divider in our country.
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The system is broken. So, my biggest hope is that we finally have your attention. I hope that when the street protesting and social media posting stops...you’ll do your part to dismantle the broken system too.
