Growing Up “Innocent”

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In America, the notion of childhood innocence is fairly ingrained within our cultural imagination, but who gets that innocence is, like many things, largely dictated by race. The hypothetical child is assumed innocent of knowledge around topics like sex and violence, and the hypothetical child is also assumed White by the White social imagination. For Black children, this assumption of innocence and of childhood itself is often denied, but how it happens is altered by …

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Difficulty Setting: White

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A metaphor for life in America being White is that it’s like having the difficulty of a video game set on easy mode. I first heard this metaphor when I was a teenager, approximately in middle school or early high school, and it’s stuck with me since then. The premise is simple, and the metaphor can be expanded on. It’s not just that White is the easy setting, it’s that those who are playing at …

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Medical Racism in Healthcare Systems

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A recent NBC News article discussed the removal of the J. Marion Sims statue in New York City. It talked about how symbolic actions, while important, represent only the smallest step society owes to Black communities harmed by medical racism. Beginning with this moment makes it clear how deeply rooted these issues are: taking down a statue may acknowledge past harm, but it does not repair the systems that continue to cause harm today. It …

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Either the White Way or the Highway

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To understand whiteness is to understand the gap between what America says it stands for and what it actually is. Whiteness is a system of cultural norms and advantages that positions white people as the default, the “normal,” and the most protected group in society. It sets whiteness as the standard for what it means to be human and creates rules based on personal biases about how society should operate. Anything that isn’t white or …

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The Dangerous Implications of Racialized Policing

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Racial disparities and discriminatory practices targeted at people of color remain a significant and deeply concerning issue in the United States. Built on hundreds of years of entrenched racism, the U.S. continues to show how both systemic and individual acts of bias shape institutions, influence public policy, and reinforce unequal outcomes across generations of marginalized communities. These racial disparities show up across nearly every domain of life, but the criminal justice system stands out as …

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Protect and Serve Who?

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How do you feel about the police? Do you see them as people who are there to protect you from crime? Can you depend on them? This should be the standard and in some areas, it is. I’m sure you can guess as to what I will bring up. You know because it is a huge issue. You know because in 2020, George Floyd was murdered by police officers and it sparked a huge outrage …

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Two Burdens, One Body

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As a Hispanic White woman, I can recall multiple times where I have not been “Hispanic” enough for White people and Hispanic people. One time in particular, in the sixth grade I was shown a picture of a darker Hispanic person and was told that if I was actually Hispanic I would look like them. I thought of my experience when I read the study Applying intersectionality to explore the relations between gendered racism and …

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Society Has Ignored Offensive Language and Slurs

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Something that has left me frustrated lately is how society is still using the G-word, a slur that is racist toward Roma and Sinti people, both of whom are different ethnic groups within the larger Romani people who share similar roots. I learned in my genocide class at high school that this word was offensive and when people mention that Roma and Sinti people were victims of the Holocaust in addition to Jewish people and …

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The Truth Has Yet To Be Taught

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Ever wonder about when you were taught about slavery in your history class in high school or middle school? Well, what if the curriculum was flawed? The answer is yes, that history about slavery is not being taught accurately in classes. When I was in elementary school and middle school, we discussed the founding fathers such as George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson. We learned about how these men were inspirational and admirable leaders, …

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Sharing Your Political Opinion Online

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In recent times, sharing an opinion online can feel a little scary. It’s not like having a casual chat with a friend, where words fade once the conversation ends. On the internet, what you post can stick around forever. There’s no real “rough draft” online once you hit publish, that draft becomes permanent. This has reshaped the way people express themselves. Many hold back, worried about being misunderstood or judged years down the line. Others …

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What is Google Being Paid to Show You?

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cover of book Algorithms of Oppression

It’s become clear to me that there’s an increasingly rising tension “between White and Black people.” I’m sure you might be accustomed to hearing this a lot by now if you live in the U.S. There is a caste system that places White people on top and Black people on the bottom. But what about all of the others that fall in between? How are they affected by this? Well, the Supreme Court recently allowed …

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The Silent Killer: Racial Disparities in Healthcare

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'racism is a pandemic' next to a face mask

Healthcare is the organized system of services aimed at improving the health of an individual, treating the sick, and supporting recovery. Sounds important, right? It sounds like something that everyone should have access to, right? Yet the reality of healthcare in the United States is a different story. Access to healthcare is a common struggle for millions of Americans, particularly those of communities of color. This unequal access is known as a disparity, an unfair …

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