A Gay In Space

004. Systemtic Racism and Mental Health

(Reposting one of my favorite essays for school)

Systemic Racism and Mental Health:

Racial segregation, while mostly dispersed from our past, is still seeing its effects on the African American population today. They are seen in how our society builds up natural barriers to those born within this group,  they can be economic barriers or plain old racism standing in the way. It is threaded in how we set up our economics without any forethought to think of how it would affect the African American population who already started on a lower rung. All of this affects the mental health of African Americans, only worsening the situation they are in. 

In today’s world, we can see many reflections of the time period of segregation, although today it is a lot more subtle and nuanced. Racism is built-in and threaded throughout society so intricately that one could barely notice from the outside. Today systemic racism exists in the lack of opportunity for people of color. Economically African Americans are starting at a less advantageous spot on the ladder. In the present day, the most important investment we as Americans can make has developed primarily into homeownership, but the slums that housed African American communities in the past are still housing them today. Homeownership for African Americans is nearly 30 percent below that of the rates of white Americans (Tracy). The lack of homeownership and low-value homes in these communities means around those areas they are likely to not be well funded for infrastructure. The youth of these communities are centralized in poor areas with underfunded schools, maybe no public transportation or well-paying jobs available to them. Growth for the African American communities haven’t been much for improvement, “‘Since 1985 housing costs have risen by 28% after allowing for inflation, while real median household income has fallen slightly’” (“Locked Out or Priced Out?”), resulting in a deficit that has only increased. Our economic systems are against African Americans.

The colored youth in our nation do not have easy access to quality education to put them at least on the same curve white youth is on. This is described by the increasing income gap between black college graduates and white college graduates. The two could have studied in the same field and the income for the white person would be higher out of the gate and farther in the future. Elise Gould said that ‘“After controlling for age, gender, education, and region, black workers are paid 16.2 percent less than white workers”’ (Gould 1). In fact, the overall wealth gap between the two has more than tripled in the last 50 years. As Tracy Jan writes for the Washington Post,  “No progress for African Americans on homeownership, unemployment, and incarceration in 50 years.” This could be because the higher end schools are significantly less accessible to the poor communities, or other smaller factors such as most times it’s better for them to stay home in a relatively stable environment than seek outside opportunities. 

The mental health effects on these communities are extremely notable. They are faced with adversity and financial struggle every day and they struggle internally as well. The poverty rates increase the chances to develop a mental disorder, as well as increase the chance of substance abuse, which also increases the high incarceration rates of African Americans, “America has pursued 'massive and sustained' incarceration framed as 'law and order… Mass incarceration has become a kind of housing policy for the poor” (Tracy). Instead of helping these communities with rehab our government has settled for incarnation. Mental Health America said that 16 percent of the 8 million African Americans have a diagnosed mental disorder. Getting the needed help for these people is often not a very possible option, as many of these communities look down upon mental disorders with negative stigmas, so even to acknowledge the existence of your mental issues is difficult. Additionally, most African Americans are not insured, or if they are, they don’t insure mental illness. “15.9 percent of Black/African Americans, versus 11.1 percent of whites Americans were still uninsured in 2014” (Black & African American Communities and Mental Health). If they do manage to get help, many therapists don’t know how to deal with the specific issues that African American groups face as the field isn’t very diverse itself with only two percent identifying as black. As well there are reports of therapists being racist themselves. African Americans are also less likely to be prescribed adequate medication, with only about 50 percent of patients receiving the correct treatments compared to the 75 percent of white patients. Some specific disorders that are a lot more difficult to deal with day by day are more likely to be seen in African Americans, such as PTSD.‘“Black/African Americans of all ages are more likely to be victims of serious violent crime than are non-Hispanic whites, making them more likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder’” (Black & African American Communities and Mental Health).

The systemic racism that leads to these communities being forced to the bottom of the ladder and in a dire situation that many seem keen on ignoring. Their situations within our borders seem dictated by the bigotry of the society of old, many African Americans' livelihoods are decided by unbalanced scales, which seems more and more are favoring our white population. The socioeconomic pressure that comes with being a poor African American is whittling down people’s minds and making it even harder to get to better positions in their life. It’s a cycle that many see as an impossible to escape trap; and have accepted their fate within it. The issues we need to take a look at as a whole, as a collective of American people is the lack of opportunity for people who are predisposed to a bad situation, which unfortunately we still have many groups and people today that fit that description.

Work Cited

“Black & African American Communities and Mental Health: Mental Health America.” Mha, 
www.mhanational.org/issues/black-african-american-communities-and-mental-health.
Gould, Elise. “Stark Black–White Divide in Wages Is Widening Further .” Economic Policy 
Institute, 27 Feb. 2019, 10:50 am, www.epi.org/blog/stark-black-white-divide-in-wages-is-widening-further/.
Jan, Tracy. "Report: No progress for African Americans on homeownership, unemployment and 
incarceration in 50 years." Washington Post, 26 Feb. 2018. Gale In Context: U.S. History, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A528973785/UHIC?u=idaho_s_borah&sid=UHIC&xid=155cf73a. Accessed 27 Sept. 2019.
"Locked out or priced out? Race and housing." The Economist, 30 Aug. 1997, p. 56+. Gale In 
Context: U.S. History, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A19713828/UHIC?u=idaho_s_borah&sid=UHIC&xid=c0ec8e8c. Accessed 30 Sept. 2019.
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books, 1994. Print.