My Social Location

“The people classified above the line of the human are recognized socially in their humanity as human beings and, thus, enjoy access to rights (human rights, civil rights, women rights and/or labor rights), material resources, and social recognition to their subjectivities, identities, epistemologies and spiritualities.” (Grosfoguel, 2016). My social location is complex, and though I experience adversity and discrimination in various forms that often intersect, I have also had the benefit of privilege in some areas of my existence. I experience discrimination and racism due to the fact that I am a black woman living in North America, or in the world for that matter, as racism exists across the globe. I experience advantages in life however, due to my sexual orientation as a cisgendered heterosexual woman.

Besides me, there are many examples of people who are disadvantaged due to race and who have experienced and witnessed the unfair treatment of groups of people by various societal systems. Some examples of racial discrimination in different aspeccts of life that still remain evident and continue to affect the Black community are in housing, healthcare, social services, policing, court systems, school systems, workforce among others. Institutional involvement and oppressive practices have historically been related to areas where the quality of life for people of color is adversely affected by systemic implementation of unjust policy.

Society has constructed entire institutions that ultimately deprive Black people of the same rights and freedoms that non-Black people, especially those who identify as white, are able to enjoy. In many ways this is done through the over-surveilling and under-resourcing of Black communities, and examples of this include policing in schools, and the involvement of institutions that do not have client and community centered approaches to community support, or even cultural competence when dealing with families of color. The presence of these institutions in Black communities combined with the infiltration of community and social support by these entities has led to detrimental results of which I have witnessed and experienced first hand both growing up in The United States State, and as a single mother in the Greater Toronto Area. Social assistance programs across North America have historically been known to involve court systems, forcing those seeking support to report their common law spouse or co-parent to child support agencies, subsequently leading to further involvement from the legal system. These policies have historically caused issues for Black families who wish to remain together as a unit and are faced with adversity when trying to do so. I have witnessed the break ups of families in my community due to stipulations placed on those in need of assistance. I have known Black people who have been subjected to police involvement by Children’s Aid Societies, as a result of reports and judgment passed down by non black teachers, medical care providers, frontline staff of social service organizations, and social assistance workers. and even speculating neighbors. Children’s aid societies apprehend Black children at a rate of 40 times more than white children in Ontario (Contenta et al., 2016). Health care issues that have historically affected Black communities such as the crack epidemic in the US in the 1980s and 1990’s, have been used to criminalize residents of these same communities. Rather than viewing such issues as health crises that need to be countered with culturally relevant and community determined approaches, society governed by majority white people have chosen to ignore evident needs for social change. In fact, race-based police brutality against marginalized people has even been linked to the higher rate of healthcare issues including sexually transmitted infections of people of colour (Ibragimov et al., 2019). Through examination of police killings and data collected from the Center for Disease Control, the decline in mental health of black people has been directly linked to the police killing of unarmed black people within their communities (Pazzanese, 2021). Black people like myself have been witness to these disparities in treatment of people of colour in various ways, which even include the treatment of those people who use substances. In a documentary directed by Ava Duvernay in 2018, former US Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich made reference to the policies that were specifically used to hold black people to unfair account in relation to drug addiction and crime, (Duvernay, 2020)

Black people have historically been treated unjustly by police in the US and Canada. There are many examples of the effects of police brutality in North America, including killings and attacks on the rights of Black people to organize for change and even to vote. The numbers of Black people who are killed every year, or who experience excessive force and interrogation by police and policing systems is exponentially higher than the number of non-black people who are murdered by officers. It is a known fact that the roots of policing actually lie in slavery and slave patrols. (NAACP ,2021)

Other examples of personal experiences I have had with racism are evident in the neighbourhood where I was raised, in Queens, New York. Our community was underserved in many ways and even lacked access to fresh foods within reasonable walking distance, despite the fact that many people in my neighbourhood couldn't afford to own cars. Along with other youth my age, I attended schools that lacked resources, supplies, up to date teaching materials, access to extracurricular activities and even staff. While end of year standard testing was the same across all school districts, areas where youth were predominantly Black, were traditionally given less resources to prepare and succeed on these exams, resulting in false reflections of the capabilities of my peers. Growing up I have learned first hand that Black children have been historically treated unfairly in schools and discouraged from aspiring to become as successful as their non-Black peers. When examining the discrimination around access to affordable and appropriate housing, it is clear that Black people have historically been pushed out of neighbourhoods and discouraged from striving to live in cities where the standard of living and quality of life are considerably better. Where people of colour have done their best to uplift and cohabitate in artistic, eclectic, thriving, areas, white people have historically engaged in gentrification, which is an act of changing a neighbourhood in order to suit wealthy newcomers, often leading to the displacement of people who have lived in these areas for decades. This has also been considered a health issue as it directly affects the health of communities and its residents as a whole (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001).

Some concepts that are directly related to the idea of discrimination include; stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. Stereotypes about Black people are perpetuated through media and oftentimes, were started with the distinct intentions of keeping non-Black members of society from viewing Black people as deserving of the same justification and leniency that they themselves have benefitted from. Some of my own personal experience with discussing some of the various examples in this essay, especially relative to stereotypes. have personally led to frustrating outcomes in which I felt like the person I am speaking to had chosen to purposely misunderstand my stance, and had been jaded by the way the media and biased news has portrayed Black people for decades. There are people that believe that Black people are overly violent, using terms such as “black on black crime” without acknowledging the unique Black experience of people living in predominantly Black neighbourhoods, in close proximity to other people of colour.. It has been proven that Black people do not use drugs more than white people, yet they have experienced imprisonment for drugs at much higher rates (Rosenberg et al., 2016). This is another example of negative preconceived notions and stereotypes about Black people, that have culminated as a result of over involvement of police in black communities and its many impacts, which include affects on children. Many white people I have talked to have the misconception that Black men choose to leave their families, rather than identifying causes such as unfair justice and social welfare systems that set the precedents for this image. I have been in conversations with White and non-Black people on many different occasions where I have felt like I had to answer for the actions and reactions of my entire race. Prejudice from non-Black groups stems not only from what they are taught in homes and in communities of people that look like them, but it is also a result of the systems put in place through the process of colonization, to allow for the mistreatment of black people to go overlooked and unseen as inhumane. Ultimately, stereotypes and other negative images and ideas surrounding Black people have been seen as justification for the ill treatment of black people in North America.

Discrimination is the negative treatment of people based on preconceived notions about who they are, and about aspects of thier culture as well as thier race, sexual orientation, gender and living situations among other identifying factors. People can be discriminated against for many reasons. Discrimination as a result of race hase been evident since slavery and laws which continue to oppress Black people are still existent today. We see this when analyzing statistics in society related to housing, prison systems, the workforce, education and others.

One dimension of my social location in which I experience privilege is my sexual orientation. I am a woman who has always identified cisgenedered and heterosexual. I have never had to consider much of the things that people who are a part of the LGBTQ2S+ communities do in their everyday lives. I have benefitted from heteronormativity, which is the assumption that everyone is heterosexual. An example of this is the ability to engage in public displays of affection with a partner without having people look at me in a surprised or judgemental way. I have not been offended when people have automatically assumed that my partner identifies as a man, or be made to feel uncomfortable when engaging in public displays of affection with a partner. I suppose that one way I have learned to be an ally with the LGBTQ community is by using the term “partner”, instead of boyfriend or husband, and by speaking up against people who speak negatively about the LGBTQ+ community in my presence. My best friend Tyler, is a gay man and he is one of the most thoughtful and kind people that I know. The love and admiration that I have for him has not only encouraged me to be a more active ally, but our closeness has really allowed me to see the benefits of allyship to his community and how heteronormativity has affected his life. Another example of how I have enjoyed privilege as a straight person is the lack of discomfort in having to tell my family and friends about my choice in a life partner. I have not had to deal with the potential backlash and judgment from the people that I love and who surround me.

Though I have many adversities due to my social location and intersectionality. As an SSW I will work to always be aware of this location and to acknowledge that everyone I come in contact with, has a social location of their own. Understanding that I might not be able to fully comprehend the struggle of those who experience disadvantage where I experience privilege, I will always strive to use empathy in doing my best to provide welcoming and inclusive brave space for my clients and peers. As for those like myself, who continue to go through life, facing disadvantage due to their social location, I will choose to be an ally, and in doing so I will be a voice, but more importantly an ear. As a person who has faced an immense amount of hardship based on my race, I have learned that being proactive about advocating for marginalized people is the least that I can do for my descendants. We cannot promise each other that we will be successful at fixing the world for the benefit of everyone in it, but we can promise one another to at least try.

References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2001). Healthy places. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved November 17, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyplaces/healthtopics/gentrification.htm

Contenta, S., Monsebraaten, L., & Rankin, J. (2016, June 23). CAS study reveals stark racial disparities for blacks, Aboriginals. thestar.com. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/06/23/cas-study-reveals-stark-racial-disparities-for-blacks-aboriginals.html

Grosfoguel, R. (2016). What is racism? Journal of World-Systems Research, 22(1), 9–15. https://doi.org/10.5195/jwsr.2016.609

Ibragimov, U., Beane, S., Friedman, S. R., Smith, J. C., Tempalski, B., Williams, L., Adimora, A. A., Wingood, G. M., McKetta, S., Stall, R. D., & Cooper, H. L. F. (2019). Police killings of black people and rates of sexually transmitted infections: A cross-sectional analysis of 75 large US metropolitan areas, 2016. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 96(6), 429–431. https://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2019-054026

Netflix. (2020). 13Th . YouTube. Retrieved November 13, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8&ab_channel=Netflix.

The origins of modern day policing. NAACP. (2021, December 3). Retrieved November 10, 2022, from https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/origins-modern-day-policing

Pazzanese, C. (2021, May 14). How unjust police killings damage the mental health of Black Americans. Harvard Gazette. Retrieved November 17, 2022, from https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2021/05/how-unjust-police-killings-damage-the-mental-health-of-black-americans/

Rosenberg, A., Groves, A. K., & Blankenship, K. M. (2016). Comparing black and White Drug Offenders. Journal of Drug Issues, 47(1), 132–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022042616678614