The 5 Faces of America

I believe multiple of the five faces to describe oppression exists in the world today. For example, the financial divide between the lower class and upper class. Lower-class workers are exploited and used for minimum-wage labor, while the upper class generates funds in large amounts. This can be seen as oppression because people are taught how to function in working the general 9-5 job at a young age. In school they tell you about all the careers that usually fall under working for someone else. It’s rare that you learn about starting a business and creating your own set of funds.

Another example can be shown from the multiple cases of unarmed black people being shot by white police officers. Police officers have sworn to serve and protect the community no matter the race or ethnicity they portray. However, it appear a few are not abiding by this oath and nonthreating people have been dying at their hands. This act of violence leads to further acts of retaliation such as riots and protest. Even when the people use the power of their voice, the police still come with gas bombs, weapons, and K-9s. Also, I’d like to note that the police officers usually do not receive a true punishment for the actions they take and are let off with paid leave.

The last example I’d like to address is the marginalization of certain groups of people. Black people have been placed in environments that lack basic access to healthcare, healthy foods, and even libraries. The spaces they live in have schools that have not been updated in years. The jobs in the area tend to be minimum wage and having access to higher paying jobs takes transportation that a lot of people don’t have. Another issue with this is the process of gentrification, which is forcing these people to leave their neighborhoods because white people aren’t comfortable leaving in the same spaces as them.

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