Tania Caldwell  

URB200  

November 04, 2021  

                                              Racism and Workplace  

In the United States, workplaces have been a site of the fight for social injustice. During the 60s, social justice movements, such as the Civil Rights movement, fought for the rights of the most vulnerable people in the workplace. Today, many organizations got together and unionized to bring change. One moment in history was the Olympics protest in the 60s against racism in the United States. According to the documentary “the story behind the Olympic protest,” two African American athletes protested peacefully against racism in the United States. Although those athletes might know that they would face the elimination of the USA team for their protection, they saw the Olympics as a platform to protest against the domestic racism that was going on. Similarly, last year, the WNBA put their passion for play and protection in their workplace against police brutality against black men in the street. Both periods of history demonstrated that organizing and protesting social injustice and supporting each other could bring attention and help make a call for change in our society.   

The sport, the media, and the workplace have become the weapon to protect against racial injustices; for decades, we have seen how the sport in the United States had become in a space to bring racial injustices. The example of Muhamad Ali, Jack Robison, and Collin Kaepernick put their side their career to bring the media’s attention. The United States had not demonstrated equality regarding workers’ rights; an example of this, in the Mexico Olympics in the 60s, those black athletes represented their nation. Their nation discriminated against them and inhibited black people’s rights.   

The workplace protects continuing across diverse cultures. The reading “Revolt of the NYC Delivery Workers” by Josh Dzieza showed that the most vulnerable workers could make a change by organizing and supporting each other. In the case of the Delivery workers, the intensive crimes in the metropolitan area, the lack of support by the police motivated those workers to use the medial social platform to bring all the issues that delivery workers faced. The deliveries workers organized and got the attention of politicians to protect against the lack of working conditions and unfair wages because of their immigration status. According to Dzieza, social media such as Facebook helped those workers communicate, meet, and walk into places such as City Hall or the NYPD precincts to protect against the lack of support of the states of policies and working conditions.  

For decades, social struggles such as racism and discrimination in the workplace and outside had changed because leaders were not afraid to fight for social justice. The Olympic protest in Mexico City in the 60s, the WNBA in 2020, and the Deliveries workers show that the workplace could be a place to fight for benefits or wages and those issues that still create inequality in our society. In the case of the delivery workers, the immigration status, the injustice in their wage, the lack of working conditions for deliveries, they put out their problems and show support to each other.  Also, the WNBA protest and the Olympic protest demonstrated that some social struggles could not be a disconnect of labor and the workplace.

   References  

 Josh Dzieza, “Revolt of the NYC Delivery Workers,” Curbed, September 13, 2021. 

“The story behind this iconic Olympics protest,” Vox, July 9, 2020. 

“Nneka Ogwumike talks WNBA’s decision to postpone Wednesday’s games,” ESPN, August 26, 2020. 

 Tania Caldwell  

      URB200  

     October 13, 2021  

                                                             

The article explains how environmental injustices have negatively impacted communities of color. According to the article, low-income people have been impacted by air pollution and hazardous waste placement. African American communities are more likely to be around hazardous chemical waste, which increases air pollution and ill residents in those communities. Most organizations focus on fighting against environmental injustices and get partnerships with local organizations and activists to mobilize environmental concerns and the danger of those hazardous waste sites. One of those organizations is the EJ Movement, which has created partnerships with other organizations and brought politicians. Many Global South nations had been affected by the environmental hazards that the United States had contributed by industrialization. The movement had raised their fight to build protection for communities that were negatively impacted by environmental injustices. 

The podcast “Unleaded” by Abdul Vo explained how Flint’s community faced the harmful effects of using a water system that was not taken care of appropriately and ended up poisoning many families during the Flint Water Crisis. To save some money, the government uses the Flint water system that was not proper for human consumption, including lead, which harm children. The main point of this Abdul and the doctor in charge of this discovery was how the government reacted to this situation and how the government reacted to this issue. According to Dr. Hanna- Attisha, the government response was not expected. The government did not admit that the water was poisoned and did not take responsibility for the crisis.  

 The government involvement in environmental struggles shows that the people of color and low-income communities could be the most negatively impacted by the lack of environmental solutions in poor communities. The Flint Water Crisis shows that the government did not try to take care of the community; even does not caring about children could harm their health forever. For decades, African American communities had been the most impacted by environmental struggles, the hazardous waste, and water polution which still impact millions of American families. The government had failed to protect the rights of the most vulnerable people who true and put their health in their hand. In the case of the Flint Water Crisis, the citizen, true the government that it water would be taken care of by expected who knew that they consumed clean water.  

Pellow, David, and Robert Brulle. 2007. “Poisoning the Planet: The Struggle for Environmental Justice“. 

                                            References  

Listen to: “Unleaded” Episode of America Dissected podcast. November 4, 2019. 

Tania Caldwell  

   URB200  

October 07, 2021 

 

The article Gentrification and Urban Children Well-Being: Tipping the Scales from Problems to Promise” details how gentrification impacts poor children. According to Formoso and Weber, some studies show how Gentrification could positively impact low-income kids. The positive impact could be advanced for the children in the social, academic, and family life. Studies show that children in mixed-income neighborhoods can have more access to mentors, more school resources, and family engagement. Gentrification has caused the displacement of low-income families living in the same environment, lacking community support, education resources, and less parenting engagement in the urban areas.  Formoso and Weber showed that affluent families could bring more public resources; it could help improve the chance of more opportunities to mix-income families to have a better chance of social mobility.  

On the other hand, because of the excessive cost of rent and the livelihood in gentrification areas, low-income families might be forced to live in the areas and find a place where poverty, crime, and the lack of academic and public services resources. It could make it worth the situation for low-income children to focus on education, find mentorship, or have mental health stability (Formoso and Weber, 2010). One of the big problems in poor neighborhood is that children socialize with peers without positive support. Formoso and Weber focus on how Gentrification could change the lives of low-income children and can change parents’ views because they will be able to have more information about school payment and mental health support. Low-income children can find support in more high-income parents with a high level of education and more acknowledged resources to support those families.  

In the article “Working Class Growing Pains” by Jennifer m. Silva, showed different stories about different young adults who described their experience of coming from low-income families and how it could negatively impact the desire to have social mobility. Silva described how children from working-class families struggle after becoming an adult; the lack of financial resources, mentorship, and support from the parents make the chance of social mobility less accessible for working-class children. Silva’s argument demonstrated that living in a neighborhood without community support could impact young adults. In neighborhood, where I do not have support from the community, parents and peers cannot connect, and the public system does not benefit. Children might not find motivation and mentoring that could encourage them to go for an education. Suppose parents can get together and discuss programs that might benefit the children and mentally support those children who face violence. In that case, children might stay in the same line as their parents are, and the lack of information might be why many decided to quick their education and work for a low wage.  

The solution to improve social mobility in poor communities might not be Gentrification. However, I think mix-income could improve the support in the community, better than just low-income neighborhood. To change a community, there must be resources, and families should be forced to leave their birthplace because high-income families arrived. The solution should be that low-income communities should receive support to improve schools, mentorships, and social services that could help improve their livelihood for future children who might want to attend school and have a better quality of life. 

                                               

Reference  

 Formoso, Diana, Rachel N. Weber, and Marc S. Atkins. 2010 “Gentrification and urban childrens well-being: Tipping the scales from problems to promise.” American journal of community psychology 46.3: 395-412. reading guidefor this article. 

Silva, Jennifer. 2014. “Working class growing pains”, Contexts 13(2):26-31.” 

Tania Caldwell  

URB 200  

September 23, 2021 

                                                                     

In the article “How Coronavirus is shaking up the moral universe,” John Authors talks about the different views of people with the situation of the lockdown in the earlies month of the pandemic. Auther explains how the human’s different social behavior as a reaction to these lockdowns could take different theories. It could be a violation of human rights, for others, an individual sacrifice for others. Authors connected the different strategies of government around the world and connected with different philosophies that could explain the behavior and reaction of humans to this lack downs. In other words, the sacrifice of the lack down, the mandated vaccine, or mask could make sense of the sacrifices of others as a community, but it may be an individual sacrifice for others. Auther gives the example of a young lady who did not care about getting Covid, connecting which everybody could choose what they think could be fair in society (Auther,2020). In his article, the author mentions a few philosophies that can explain the different behaviors of humans during this pandemic. First, he brought the philosophy of Rawlsian, a theory of justice, that argued how inequality could be justified; for example, if there is a lack down, many people could be out of their jobs. However, few are going to be outside working such as farmers, delivery. The sacrifice for people stays in the house, and the most vulnerable workers could be outside working to sacrifice their health. There is a justification for workers staying out, risking themself to bring food for those who can afford to stay at home during this period.  

In the reading “The Children and a Flute,” the idea of Justice, Amartya brings the example of how social behavior could lead before different philosophies. In her example, one child claimed that because she is the only one who played flute, it belongs to her; the second child claimed that he deserved the flute because he is too poor. The third child claimed that she had worked hard to the flute; it should be given (Amartya, 2011). These three examples show how society could react, what should be fair for one or not, and organize what justice could be. In other words, the three kids who claimed which one should deserve a flute that they claimed they deserved. All three children can support different thinkers of what should be fair or not, such as egalitarian, libertarian, and utilitarian. Similar to the Covid situation, what the lock what the community justices represent, what might be for one the liberty to get out, for others might be to work as a community such as communitarians, or we all should sacrifice few for others when it comes about justices.   

                                            

REFERENCES  

Auther, John (2020, March 20) How Coronavirus is shaking up the moral universe – The Economic Times. 

Sen, Amartya (2011) “Three Children and a Flute” The Idea of Justice 

Tania Caldwell  

URB200 

September 30, 2021 

                                              

In “The Right To The  City” by David Havey has shown how since the 1880s, urbanization has been linking with capitalism and has caused inequality in most modern cities.  Harvey details how the creation of urban spaces in the cities by getting financial credit support by some institution, and a capital surplus. The urbanization system brought inequality in the housing system, and who could be part of the urbanization privileges, which excluded the low income and working class.  Have shown how African Americans in cities such as New York whereby the end of the 60s, the housing market had not been affordable for them. African Americans started to be excluded of those luxury buildings. One example is today how many of the buildings in Downtown Manhattan are affordable   for the riches. The urbanization system combined with capitalism had created a housing crisis and forced low-income and working-class people to have access not have access to affordable housing. 

In the article, “The Right to the city in the global South?” Marianne Morange and Amandine Spire explained how the global South had been impacted as well with the urbanization big projects, which had brought the exclusion of the working class and low income people  in cities, out displacing those group in the firstworth place and takinge their land to do those big projects. Since the 1800s, there had been discontent by those who opposite the capital surplus, which only benefits the high-income class. Although urbanization has brought a lot of jobs sources, consumption has arising, unaffordable prices to the housing market that is only affordable for the most privileged.   

Both articles, “The Right to the City in the Global South?” and “The Right to The City,” explained how the urbanization system not only created inequality but also raised social movements.   The urbanization system had expanded to the Global South, having the same negative impact on the lower-income class. 

                                                         References 

Read: Harvey, D (2008) “Right to the City” New Left Review  

Morange,  

Marianne and Amandine Spire. (2015) “A Right to the City in the Global South?” Metropolitics 

Tania Caldwell  

September 9, 2021 

URB200  

                                                    

In the case of the United States, equality and protection of human rights might not be accurate throughout history. In her essay, Goodfriend argues how many human rights have been ignored by capitalism and globalization by the United States. Goodfriend argues that the support of the United States to other South American countries with domestic government problems had ended in an attempt of imperialism. For example, Goodfriend gives the example of Mexico during the Porfirio Diaz administration; The dictator required the help of the United States to stop the strike of Mexican workers who claimed equal wages as Americans in the same company (Goodfriend,2019). Of course, to support and protect American capitalism, human rights and equality were denied to those workers who should earn the same amount as American workers. Goodfriend called those actions “Solidarity,” but clearly, the solidarity to support a dictator and stop the fight for equality in the workplace shows that the United States’ solidarity goes far from the interest of only help.  

In his book review, Langlois explains the universalism of human rights, including the human rights imperialism principle that details how universal rights provide the power to the government to have sovereign to the government, but in an authoritarian administration, the rights of citizens could be taken away by those leaders (Langlois, 2013). The idea of Langlois about universal rights connected with what Goodfriend argues about the occupation of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Nicaragua by the United States. The support and solidarity to solve the domestic issue in those nations have been used to occupy those nations to own later benefit for those national resources (Goodfriend,2019). The United States could be seen as a universal right to have a powerful nation get involved in a domestic issue that a non-wealthy nation might have. However, on the other hand, imperialism takes away the rights and freedom of the nation’s people by exploiting and using those places enrichment to benefit the United States.   

   Imperialism and human rights declaration demonstrated that human rights under political support might be necessary but could not always help protect all human rights. The United States must use solidarity to locate other nations that later could be used as beneficial nations that increase the power of this imperialist nation. Human rights could vary in nation, culture, and group. However, the capitalist system had caused many human rights violations, such as underpaying Mexican workers who earn less than American coworkers (Goodfriend,2019). Human rights might be more efficient if it could have less connection with political power and centralized the human rights declaration as a universal way to protect humans, bringing equality in gender, race, education, and labor. 

Tania Caldwell 

September 02, 2021  

URB200 

                                                

The speech “Native Liberation the Way Forward,” Nick Estes explains how the organization “Red Nation” fights for the struggles that Natives Americans still face, such as discrimination, police brutality, environmental racism, education disparity, and other social problems. Estes emphasizes how natives still face the same struggles from the past, being forced to assimilate the western culture and get rid of their identity and culture. Also, the discriminatory social services provided to natives Americans have forced them to live in poverty and without social mobility. Similarly, in an interview with Joanna Fernandez about the Young Lord in NYC, she explains how the Young Lord organization in the late 1960s began a movement to fight for discrimination against Latinos and other people of color, sanitation problems in their neighborhoods, health care, and unemployment discrimination. In my perspective, Estes, and Fernandez, both described how both organizations, such as Red Nation (In the Present), and the Young Lord (in the past), stand to reject social profit and build a more socialist society. Both organizations brought attention to social needs such as health care, housing, and environmental protection to address equality in our society.  

  According to Estes, a group of a young generation of natives Americans rejected the idea to live in a profit society that only marginalized and discriminated against Native Americans. As Estes described, social problems such as low life expectancy, violence, racial and sexual discrimination are factors that move the young generation. Similarly, Fernandez described how the Young Lords Organization organized to fight against housing deterioration and families’ health affected by the public housing deterioration in the low-income neighborhood in cities such as New York. Both organizations, Red Nation and Young Lord, are similar by organizing communities and bringing the politicians’ attention to an end to the profit sector and providing minority communities the same quality of social services, without oppressed and putting those communities on the poverty and needs.   

  Most of the social services delivery in the past and present have brought inequality to the most vulnerable communities. The Red Nation and Young Lord, both organizations, organized young rebels and revolutionary people who see the negative impact of a capitalist and colonialist society that only benefits the elite group, and live the minorities groups who must accept and assimilate the precariousness of the urban life. According to Estes, In the Native American community, to leave their reservations means that they must give up their culture and identity to survive in a discriminatory society (Estes, 2016). In the case of The Young Lords Organization, those rebels who got the attention of politicians showed the face of living a black and Latino low-income community, where their race and culture forced them to deal with housing and health and environmental discrimination.  

  To conclude, for the Red Nation and the Young Lords, social justice means living in a society that existed humanity and social services equality without being discriminated against for race or ethnicity. As Estes said: Instead of non-profits, we need anti-profits organizing independent of corporate influence and state co-optation and embedded in the true power of every society: The common people”. In other words, new generations want communities that not depend on capitalism that only makes from human needs such as housing, education, environmental justice, a profit that could not be beneficial for the most vulnerable communities.