After watching the video about understanding system racism it is sad to see how communities of color continue to be oppressed. And everything and everyone working against them. Growing up I was always taught that if you worked hard enough you could get a good education, go onto college and get a good job, allowing anyone can succeed.
I mean it's America right? Wrong.
Now I am seeing that was a very naive, white privileged, train of thought. How is someone supposed to succeed with just hard work? There are many other working parts I was unaware of to keep the status quo.
The heart-breaking part is that even if we completely changed and abolished red-lining and imprisonments for minor crimes, the damage has been done. Children of incarcerated parents are more likely to be incarcerated themselves. Only by investing in education and emotional support in the poorest areas will this cycle be broken.
With the interest in defunding police organizations might come the change in structure for dealing with crime. The cost of providing drug rehab programs, mental health services and other on incarcerated options needs to be explored and supported.