Social Analysis

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• Systems are an overarching collective of institutions that have a common theme and/or belief that addresses or perpetuates issues. Examples include Healthcare, Education, Prison, Economic, Immigration, Entertainment, etc.

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• Institutions are the individual places that enact and carry out the principles, beliefs, or actions of the systems. Examples include schools, businesses, hospitals, etc.

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• Spirits of The Air are popularly/commonly held beliefs within the institutions that aren't necessarily true. They may be presented as biases

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Misuse of systems are the root of social injustices and all of the systems listed above as well as many others perpetuate injustices for many people from all walks of life.​ Racism, Able-ism, Gender, and Economic background background are all factors which contribute to biases in systems.

At my service site specifically the staff and children face social justice issues related to the education, economic, immigration, healthcare, and prison systems.

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Education System

Free To Bee is a private institution as part of the Education system. Free To Bee aims to provide each child with not just an education but a quality education regardless of race, color, gender, physical ability, etc. However after students leave Free To Bee, all other education institutions are not the same. Racism affects students abilities to achieve and have access to quality education. Minorities tend to be relegated to certain geographic areas due to economic access and racial discrimination. As a result the schools and resources in the areas have lower funding. With low funding, students of minority backgrounds are relegated to schools that don't have adequate resources to give students the same opportunity as others to achieve success as in other, more well-funded areas (Sens, Emilia, and Phie Van Rompu. ).  A study has also shown that "racial discrimination in schools negatively affects students abilities to learn"(EJI 2018). So while minority students attend underfunded schools, they additionally face discrimination which makes it near impossible to achieve success. Able-ism also affects students. Many schools do not have proper accommodations due to funding to aid disabled student, so they are also relegated to a menial low-quality education and discrimination.

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Economic System

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When you have low or no skills due to poor education, you are systematically limited in your ability to obtain higher paying jobs that require high level skills and high level thinking. The economics of our current society require people to have a certain amount of money to live at a basic level. When you lack education that allows you to have a high paying job, you don't have the access to a better life for yourself or your family.

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"He who hold the makes the money also makes the rules". This means that the people who have the most resources dictate how the rest of the world will operate in business activities and in how monies are spent. The revamping of the current tax laws are a prime example of how the economics of affects low wage earners different than high wage earners. The tax laws favor the wealthy and affect them in positive way, but affect the low wage earners negatively. Because the wealthy people are in the political offices that create these laws, they are designed to favor them in the best way.  Business owners are usually people who have resources that dictate how peoples lives are impacted.

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Immigration System

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The system that allows people to enter in to a country are very important, because it affects the way by which they can live. If you are a refugee fleeing a country due to religious persecution or political freedoms, by having an opportunity to repatriate to another country offers safety and security.  Because refugees are allowed into a country and they are allowed to be educated in the country, this allows them to become empowered and gain the ability to care for themselves and their families. By having access and opportunity they can contribute to the society that they reside in and create a stronger economy for the area they impact.

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Many parts of the education and economic systems have institutional biases built in them form historical practices that were held during a time when the US upheld racist and discriminatory practices. Of those that still exist are in the banking industry and the education systems in many arts of the US. Language barriers have traditionally created stereo-types that people are not intelligent, but language is not a measure of intelligence its just a barrier of communication. Recently banks have started to target market communities that have bilingual services and marketing. By doing so, they are helping to empower segments of the populations that are traditionally held back by a bias.

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Healthcare System

When people do not have access to health insurance, they do not get healthcare on a regular basis and then become sick and can't work. Chronic illness becomes serious illness because it was not managed and eliminated before it became a serious illness. This is a vicious cycle that keeps people down and unable to maintain consistent employment and prove to support the suppression of a segment of the population. When you are not able to work, you are economically depressed and when you are economically depressed, you are usually impoverished and not able to care for yourself and your family at a basic level.

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If the US had universal healthcare, all people would then be treated equally and have the access to maintain their health and well being at a basic level and not be subjected to economic hardship because they would be well enough to work and provide for their family.

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Prison System

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The prison system has been used as substitute for free labor in many market places. The prison pipeline was started when slavery ended and businesses at the turn of the 20th century, needed to maintain the production of products and could not afford the expense of paying wages. So frivolous laws were created to entrap people and get them into the prison system so they could work for free while in jail. Since the system has become so profitable fo big business, our current laws support and have expanded the pipeline and allows for large number of poor and uneducated people to be shuffled through the system, because they economically are not able to afford the fees to free themselves when caught in a legal situation. Whole industries have been built on the backs of people in prison. So it also supports the economic machine of systematic racism. 

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