Despite forming a major section of the American population, the African American community faces a significant amount of stress each day due to the existing or racial inequalities in the country. These inequalities range from employment opportunities to issues within the justice system. The Black Lives Matter Global Network is a chapter-based and member-led organization whose mission is to build local power and intervene inflicted on Black communities. On the other hand, immigrants within the country are constantly facing the challenge of deportation, which places significant pressure and stress on the members of this community. Household instability and complexity have affected a wide number of immigrant families and their presence within the country. This is made worse by the extension of the process required for an immigrant to become a citizen. Based on the analysis of the study, it is clear that a need exists for better policies to be put in place to support racial and ethnic equity for better outcomes for both the black and immigrant communities in the country.
This paper provides a highlight of the research to be conducted on these subjects. This involves the presentation of a background on each issue followed by the patterns, statistics and theories that affect these communities. Finally, the paper contains a reflection of the information acquired during the process.
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Black Lives Matter Network
The Black Lives Matter network was created in 2013, as a response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the individual that was believed to have murdered Trayvon Martin (Roberts, 2018). The project now acts as a member-led network across the globe with more than 40 chapters. The members of this network are engaged in the organization and construction of local power or interventions in violence inflicted on Black communities. The network was formed with the aim of structuring a systematic and intentional target on the oppression of black communities. In 2015, Mike Brown was murdered, and the lead suspect in the case was the Fergusson police officer, Darren Wilson. Once Darren Wilson had been acquitted, Darnell Moore and Patrisse Cullors organized a national ride known as the Black Life matters Ride (Tedeneke, 2016). After this, different organizers from 18 different cities developed the Black Lives Matter chapters in their communities.
The network has two programs through which carries out its purpose; arts and culture along with black futures month (Simon, 2018). These programs are focused on mitigating the level of violence and inequality experienced by black communities. There are huge racial disparities in how the police in the country use force against Black individuals as compared to members of other communities. African American men are more likely to be shot by police as compared to their white peers. African Americans make up a majority of the Police killing victims despite only making up a small section of the country’s overall population. This disparity becomes even greater when the suspects are not armed.
This difference highlights the more widespread racial inequalities that exist within the country’s judicial system. Black individuals have a higher likelihood to be arrested for drug substances, even with the chance that they would use them or sale them is very now. Most of these differences are a result of the level of neglect displayed by the police as concerning serious crimes. Hence, the Black Lives Matter Network has programs and initiatives focused on minimizing the existence and effects of these disparities on those involved.
Household Instability and Complexity for Undocumented Immigrants
In the absence of clear channels to citizenship, Mexicana and Central American immigrants that are not documented but lived in the country as children, live in more complex and less stable households as a comparison to documented and American-born immigrants (Hall, 2019). This absence of legal status has had a significant effect on economic and welfare status. This includes decreased educational opportunities, increased concentration in dangerous jobs, and lower rates for their labor. While integrated with the continuous threat of deportation, these issues have an adverse impact on the welfare and health of undocumented immigrants.
By a wide number of accounts, immigrants have become highly integrated into the country's social and economic life. However, this integration is highly stratified on the basis of legal status. The conditions that they face have a significant impact on their family experiences and living arrangements (Lenders, 2017). Family structure has a considerable dimension of inequality in the country, with a greater level of complexity and instability in the family, along with the living structures of immigrants. These complexities and changes in their household structures then result in poorer results for children. This presents a significant disadvantage within and across generations. Immigrant communities in the country have to constantly handle daily challenges while being adversely affected by household complexities and instabilities.
Undocumented immigrants face a higher likelihood as compared to other groups in the same phases of life to live in simple arrangements, exclusively with their partners or children, and have a higher likelihood to co-reside with the extended family. Their households are also identified as having a greater level of instability, as they experience changes in membership and sizes as compared to documented immigrants. 53% of undocumented immigrants who lived in the country before they are 15 years old are more likely to be living with greater sections of their family as opposed to 37% of documented immigrants (D’Angelo, 2019). They are also twice as likely to live with non-relatives. The average un-documented Latino lives in a house with around five other individuals (D’Angelo, 2019). Research also found that they are more likely to live in overcrowded housings with a lower likelihood of becoming homeowners.
The uncertainty linked to being undocumented decreases the level of stability in their family life which also involves children in the family that may have been born in the country (Lenders, 2017). This drives them to identify ways to become legalized in the nation, with attempts to get legal support and counsel. This results in a decreased quality of life from a large number of immigrant families as they are under constant pressure from their unestablished legal status.
Both these issues indicate the different racial and ethnic relations in the nations. This shows that different racial communities have different experiences despite existing in the same community. Moreover, the racial and ethnic background has a significant impact on the quality of life that members of these communities have. This research has also indicated that racial inequities are based on discrimination that the particular community experiences along with the decreased opportunities which result from this discrimination.
Conclusion
This research was critical in enhancing my understanding of the different challenges that different communities face. I am now aware that while these challenges may not be similar, both communities are significantly affected in their access to different services along with education and employment opportunities. This has increased my need to understand and identify solutions concerning how the effects of these racial inequities on the identified communities can be mitigated. This includes identifying the ways in which the documentation process can be improved for immigrants, along with what initiatives can be used to decrease police violence against black communities. By viewing the increase in efforts towards the alleviation of these effects, such as the Black Lives Matter network, I am hopeful that the conditions for racial inequalities can be decreased. This helps me believe that there more solutions that can be structured and implemented to enhance racial equality within the country.
References
Lenders, Mark. (2017). The Effects of Deportation on Families and Communities. Retrieved by: https://www.communitypsychology.com/effects-of-deportation-on-families-communities .
Tedeneke, Alem (August 2016). The Black Lives Matter movement explained. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/08/black-lives-matter-movement-explained .
Roberts, Frank. (July 2018). How Black Lives Matter Changed the Way Americans Fight for Freedom. Retrieved from: https://www.aclu.org/blog/racial-justice/race-and-criminal-justice/how-black-lives-matter-changed-way-americans-fight .
Simon, Carol. (July 2018). How social media has shaped Black Lives Matter, five years later. Retrieved from: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/07/12/black-lives-matter-movement-and-social-media-after-five-years/778779002 .
Hall, Matthew. (February 2019). Living Arrangements and Household Complexity among Undocumented Immigrants. Retrieved from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/padr.12227 .
D’Angelo, Stephen. (February 2019). Living arrangements of ‘Dreamers’ are more complex, less stable, study shows. Retrieved from: https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/02/living-arrangements-dreamers-are-more-complex-less-stable-study-shows
