In my last blog post about social justice, I talked about writing the many stories that surrounds racial justice in the U.S. but in Minnesota. There is one thing that must be discussed before we can talk about racial justice: racial equality.
For those who don’t know what racial equality means, it means that all places must give equal opportunities to all races. This includes places such as colleges/universities, employment, healthcare and so on. There has been many historical movements that have been made with racial equality, such as voting and schooling, but there is so much more work that needs to be done.
From the various articles that I’ve read over the last year regarding racial disparities within colleges and universities in Minnesota, there seems to be little improvement in higher education but is suffering a lot due to COVID-19. According to St. Cloud Times, “Enrollment [at St. Cloud Technical and Community College] among black students and students of color was down even more than 20%”. In addition to COVID-19 in play, another major factor that we need to consider is cost and living. Many students may have lost their jobs, which in turn, students could not focus on their school work and either their grades suffered or dropped out. For those that didn’t loose a job, POC students had to pick up extra hours to support the household and keeping up with their school work.
With the pandemic, racial equality needs to be at the forefront for anyone that wants change in their community. Personally, I want to see racial equality in the future career move that I would like to do within higher education. In student services, there’s a huge need for outreach for black and students of color for resources and to talk with them about their experiences. A lot of them are in a new environment and will most likely won’t know anyone at the school. I felt the same way when I first started at SCSU in August for grad school because it was my first time doing things alone and being in a different part of the country. Additionally, my work with LGBTQ+ students raises an extra need for students of color to be connected and to have a space for them to be authentic and to share their experiences with other non-POC students for them to share those cultural aspects.
Overall, racial equality is related to racial justice because everyone needs to have a fair system for crimes and trials to have their voices hears. More on racial justice will be explained in my next blog post.
Source: https://www.sctimes.com/story/news/2020/08/06/st-cloud-higher-ed-strives-toward-anti-racist-practices-amid-covid-19-scsu-sctcc-college-university/5474171002