Women are still fighting for their reproductive rights, including abortion and access to contraceptives. Currently, Roe v Wade, the court rule that stated that banning abortions was unconstitutional, is under threat, meaning that it will become very difficult for many women to get a safe abortion if it is overturned. Every woman should have all the resources they need to maintain their health and well-being. In addition, there is still a significant wage gap between men and women. I believe that men and women should be paid the same amount of money for the same amount of work. Unfortunately, women are negatively impacted by the gender wage gap often because of society’s pressure and expectation for women to be the primary caregiver.

 

Many minorities, such as African Americans, Asians, and Latinx people, face a lot of discrimination because of false, deeply-rooted stereotypes about them. The black community, especially, experiences racism shown through police brutality and many facets of life, including education, housing, career, and healthcare. Asian Americans also deal with a lot of racism and discrimination, which has heightened because of the pandemic. Latinx people encounter racial discrimination in many aspects of our society, especially in our justice system as they are most targeted for deportations. I believe that everyone should be treated respectfully and given the same opportunities no matter the color of their skin or their background.

 

Even though gay marriage was made legal in all states in 2015, the LGBTQ community continues to struggle to be treated with the same respect as their heterosexual counterparts. They come across a great amount of discrimination and harassment in the southern and middle states in the U.S., which are much less liberal than the east and west coast. It is sad to know that this is the reality, as everyone should be able to love whomever they want to love. 

In our country, white people are “advantaged” and have more privilege than people of color, especially black people who are “disadvantaged” and “lack privilege.” People of color face systemic racism in the country and have less opportunities than white people. This inequality is evident in all aspects of life from people of color being denied opportunities, to facing blatant racism in everyday life. 

Members of the LGBTQ+ community can also face much discrimination. They face discrimination from the government, as well as other citizens who refuse to accept or respect them for who they are. They are often denied the same rights straight people have, such as marriage, which was not even legalized until more recently. 

I think that it is extremely important to address the systemic problems that plague our country. As a country we need to acknowledge these issues and work to change them. I think it is important that everyone has the same opportunities and chances to thrive in our country, and currently that is not the case. 

Historically, laws and attitudes lean towards a sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, etc attitude, which is unfortunately a common theme around the world. Anti-immigration sentiments did not come up once or twice but is a continuity all throughout history and up through the modern day. These laws and attitudes still have large ramifications in today’s society, though many might argue otherwise.  

I would love to delve into every single group that I think is disadvantaged and all the human rights and inequality issues that America is currently is dealing with, but it’s unfortunately not that feasible to do, not to sure mention the differences and similarities between region to region, state to state, and county and county. Doing so would take maybe a whole paper to try and do it justice.

The biggest take away is that many of these disadvantaged groups such as women, people of color, believers of certain religions, being in the LGBTQ+ community, etc, deal with prejudice, stereotypes, implicit bias, and of course, the systems in which our society runs on.  Many groups are more likely to be born into poverty, go back into poverty, incarcerated, apprehended by police, liable to violence and sexual violence, lack access to resources, more liable to health problems, turned away from housing, be deported, and more. Intersectionality is also very important to think about, as, for example, black trans women are more likely to be murdered, be homeless, face unemployment, and more. 

Also, it’s important to never categorize a person based on these obstacles, each person is unique and each person is much more than what they faced or what they didn’t face. Each person’s circumstances are also unique and not everyone in a group can relate to each other perfectly. 

I think in our current situation, we shouldn’t look at everything with a “color-blind” or a whatever blind lens because many people disproportionately  face issues purely because of their skin color, origin, and identity, and we need to make sure how and why that exactly happens instead of ignoring that it’s a thing. We need to find solutions and elicit changes that can permanently change things for better, rather than putting bandaids on a leaking boat.

In America advantaged populations are often white people. This is referred to as “White Privilege”. Many American laws and policies have been enacted for them to succeed. America was built by white straight men for other white straight men. This to white privilege through centuries of minority suffering. While African slaves were being worked to death and Native Americans were being viewed as animals, some white people in this country have reaped the benefits and are still reaping the benefits today. And the Native Americans and African American populations, because of what happened to them, have no privilege and have been disadvantaged from the start. 

These disadvantaged populations: Native Americans, African Americans, and other groups like the LGBTQ+ community have been looked down upon for centuries. They were hated because of who they love and enslaved because of the color of their skin. They were pushed into communities and were left there with nothing. No good housing, no nutritious food, and not even good schools. They are treated without respect or care for their wellbeing. These disadvantaged populations are suffering while the privileged population is still benefiting from past actions. This isn’t equality. This is discrimination. Everyone should have the same chance at success as the next person. Everyone should have access to good schools and healthy food. It is ridiculous these things depend on the color of a person’s skin.  

These populations have been targeted in several places, whether it be in a workplace, in the media, or even taking a simple walk to the store, there is always a skewed view that is perpetuated within each of these populations. Asian-Americans are often seen as the ‘model minority’, seen as capable of climbing the socioeconomic ladder with ease because they are considered to be extremely intelligent and seemingly “perfect”. However, this perception causes heavy burden to the Asian-American individuals who feel as if they are able to be as successful as their white counterparts. However, it only adds to a negative feedback loop, as the systemic racism in America prevents them from getting better wages or receiving promotions, and this ‘bootstrap mentality’ unfortunately doesn’t work in our chauvinist capitalist society. African-Americans have are typically thought to involve themselves in illicit activities and are seen as ‘dangerous’ because of the discrimination they’ve faced since the beginning of America’s history and even before. They have constantly been at the receiving end of violence and face fear at the thought of being the victim of a police officer and despite people who celebrate the accomplishments of black culture, some stay silent once they have expressed their need for help. The Latinx community has been the target of even our president, Donald Trump, who amplified anti-immigrant sentiments and threatened to deport immigrants out of the country. These negative sentiments eventually culminated into a stereotype in which Latinx people were seen as dangerous as well. 

Tokenism is something that I’ve noticed happening to all these populations but specific to women and LGBTQ+ people in the workplace environment. More often than not, they are seen as representatives of something “diverse”, yet no affirmative action is being taken; women are still not receiving half as much the wages as men and LGBTQ+ people still face the isolation and condemnation of their peers, and are not allowed the freedom of identity. Diversity without inclusion is performative activism, and has only been enabling the oppression of these marginalized groups.

Unfortunately, although America has set into place several laws and regulations which would help combat discrimination towards these peoples, there is still much work to be done in spreading awareness of how these marginalized groups are being treated and change the way they are being presented in the media. I think that regardless of anyone’s difference, it is our individual responsibility to make sure that we can advocate for them however we can; whether that be educating ourselves on their culture and how they have been oppressed, using the personal pronouns one identifies with, acknowledging the accomplishments of these marginalized groups, and most importantly, start conversations with people who may think otherwise from us. Of course it’ll take time to integrate these changes into our divided society, but bringing respect and understanding to whatever conversation we have about these groups is something that needs to happen. 

In terms of populations that are more privileged, white people (more specifically white males) have the greatest advantages. On the other hand, people of color are generally much more suppressed and many times do not receive the same treatment as privileged populations. We can see this in something as simple as human and individual rights. People of color continue to experience injustice with the current systems and widespread beliefs that are in place. And it isn’t just people of color that are treated differently, women, the LGBTQ community, people who follow certain religions, and many more are at a constant disadvantage in today’s society. 

Everyone should be treated equally, and through certain movements we are slowly trying to work towards that goal. We shouldn’t be handing out certain advantages and disadvantages due to someones differences. 

(Chart of US Poverty Rates by Ethnicity)

America’s history (and present) is chock full of racism and the marginalization of racial/ethnic groups. Racial groups, especially African-Americans, have continually fought against the racist systems this country was founded on that seeks to oppress them. Discrimination is seeped into the very soul of our country and engulfs every aspect of it, like jobs, education, healthcare, and media. Sometimes (most of the time) racism isn’t as “overt”, and this most commonly manifests itself as microaggressions and stereotypes that our society and media just love to spread.

 But racial/ethnic groups are not the only marginalized groups in this country. Women, the disabled, and the LGBTQ+ community have been continually discriminated against. As much as this country loves to portray itself as “the land of the free”, it really only applies to one specific group: white, cisgender, straight men.

 In the past, there has been a distinct lack of intersectionality between these marginalized groups. However, this is trying to be amended as people attempt to band these groups together to advocate for equality and fair treatment for all of them. While I am privileged to live in this country, I find the continued treatment of these groups appalling, and so I strongly support the idea that everyone no matter race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexuality, etc. need to be treated equally.