Source: Business Insider
George Floyd’s death in police custody on May 25, 2020, let loose a groundswell of public rage about the way Black Americans and Latinos are policed. But it also sparked a deeper conversation about the way they experience all aspects of modern life, whether it’s under representation in college attainment rates, or over-representation in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
Extensive academic research and data collected by the federal government and researchers has documented numerous ways that Black Americans and Latinos experience life in the United States differently from their white counterparts. It’s called “systemic” racism.
Racism continues to exist in our communities in spite of the pervasive denial of its existence. Racism is what makes others look at us with suspicion and attribute negative characteristics and behaviors to an entire group of people because of the color of our skin. This racism manifests itself in limited educational opportunities, housing, employment, health services, wealth distribution, political opportunities, justice system and representation in leadership positions.
Business Insider has produced different graphs to show the disparity of Black and Latinos in United States. I will take the next few weeks to show each one of them on this blog.
The first two graph I am showing below are about employment and unemployment of Black and Latinos for the last seven year.
Systemic racism continues to impact the lives of Black and Latino in this country. In order to impact positive changes we must address the institution’s policies and procedures, as well as the intercultural competency of those in leadership positions and their staff.