Let’s talk about the years of inequality

Oftentimes, we as humans love to simplify complex issues. For example, in a video published in 2015, a young woman offers a cop a peace offering during police brutality riots. I along with other Americans stared in awe as we realized that the “young woman” was Kendall Jenner. Kendall Jenner’s 2015 Pepsi ad was met with backlash and controversy because it simplified a complex racial issue, BLACK LIVES MATTER, and reduced it to something that could hypothetically be solved by a can of soda. The key problem is that a lot of people don’t fully understand the concept of “inequality”. It is more than just “not fair’, and while most people notice the BLM movement now due to social media, this movement goes back almost hundreds of years. In 1963, when Martin Luther King delivered his famous speech “I have a dream”, there was one line that remained in the hearts of people. It was “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” 57 years later it is evident that we as a society have failed MLK, because African Americans in this country are STILL oppressed, judged, and killed, making it all the more imperative that we understand the inequality that is so deeply rooted into our society.

Merriam Webster dictionary defines “inequality” as “the quality of being uneven”, which is essentially correct. However, as Bryan Lufkin of BBC points out, there’s a problem with how we define inequality. Inequality cannot be simplified to “unfair”, but rather consists of three key ideas. First, people should have equal opportunity in society, regardless of their race, religion, gender and etc. Second, there is the idea of fair distributions: everyone should get rewards and benefits based on their own merit. Lastly, the notion of equality when it comes to outcomes which means that people receive equal outcomes when it comes to similar situations. Yet, the topic of concern is that the US government has disappointed African Americans in all three areas of inequality. After 46-year-old George Floyd was murdered due to police brutality, protests became riots across the United States. Although this has drawn much criticism, if people are concerned and angered over the one week of rioting, let’s take a minute to acknowledge the anger coming from 400 years of inequality.

We all learn about slavery in school, how at one point in time people thought they had the right to own other people and treat them as if they weren’t human but rather possessions. This is where the inequality began. The fact that slaves had to fight for basic human rights shows the division created in our society simply based on skin color and race. Next, let’s look at segregation. Slavery was abolished in 1865, yet that didn’t mean people of color automatically had rights. They were still treated poorly and routinely discriminated against. They lost opportunities because of the color of their skin, they received a poor quality of education due to lack of federal funding, and experienced racial profiling as well as hatred. The inequality was evident. Fourteen-year-old Emmet Till was kidnapped, beaten, and brutally murdered for supposedly whistling at a white woman; it has been 65 years and not one person has been convicted for his murder. Nobody would believe or even listen to the Scottsboro Boys or the Central Park Five when they said they were innocent. The inequality was evident when people chose to believe those who were white, simply because they were white. The inequality was evident when African Americans weren’t considered for jobs because of their race, which led to a massive surge in income inequality that still exists today. These riots have only been happening for the last week, but for the last 400 years African Americans have faced poor healthcare, lack of access to proper education, racist politicians, racist justice system, police brutality, lack of job opportunities, racial profiling, mass incarceration, minimum wages, higher rate of COVID-19 deaths, low income, higher rates of crime, lack of federal support, and so much more. All of these things have not changed and only further deepens the inequality that has been rooted into our country. It is not just one problem that African Americans have to face, but a multitude of problems that the United States government hasn’t even attempted to fix over the last hundred years. It is a multitude of problems that highlight the very evident oppression, inequality and discrimination that have become the daily life for many African Americans.

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Understanding inequality is imperative, especially while we are in the midst of riots and protests. While the protests have gotten violent, we must realize that this is after years of oppression and inequality. However, considering the fact that the US government hasn’t done anything to improve this inequality, it is up to us as citizens and humans to help people in need. Something you can do from the comfort of your own home is support African American owned business. African Americans have one of the lowest income rates among minorities, but by supporting their businesses you are helping improve the economic inequality they face. Apps such as WhereU Came From as well as Official Black Wall Street allow you to find black owned businesses near you as well as online. Furthermore, schools and companies can donate some of their money and hold fundraisers to support predominantly African American schools, as those students tend to see a lack of resources leading to poor education. While social media is a great tool and an excellent way to spread awareness, it is not enough to change the 400 years of inequality and injustice that people have faced in our country. By actively being a good citizen and supporting African Americans economically and socially, we can slowly reduce inequality so our future generations can live in a world where everyone is offered the same opportunities and treated with equality.

What has occurred in our country over the last 400 years is horrifying and heartbreaking, and with a lack of change and no action from officials, we must utilize our voices and speak for those who can’t. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Walter Scott, Eric Garner, Dominique Clayton, 17 year old Trayvon Martin, 12 year old Tamir Rice, and the thousands of others who have died due to this inequality deserve justice and deserve to have their voices heard. Let us create a world where future generations can be equal without being discriminated against because of their skin color, let us change what our government could not, and let us make Martin Luther King proud.