During this semester, we reviewed the book Difference Matters by Brenda J. Allen. Our text highlights the ways in which our identities shape our experience with the organizations we work for, with, and exist in. In the book Allen describes the way we fall into “dominant” and “non-dominant” groups based on our identities (Allen, 2011). Our trip to Seattle highlighted, above all else, how the categories of ability and race, as covered in Difference Matters relegate many people in the Pacific Northwest to non-dominant status, and illustrated the disparity between dominant and non-dominant groups in organizational structure.
Race in America has been of utmost importance since the birth of our nation. Before slavery became mainstream in the early to mid 1700’s, we actively removed and killed native peoples, citing a belief that god had put the entirety of the new world at the disposal of European peoples (Greenberg, 2017). Allen describes race as “a fundamental axis of social organization” (Allen, 20ll) in our country, and today, we see the ways in which our society’s application of race has crystalized into steadfast inequalities between racial groups in modern America.
In America, 1/3rd of black children live in poverty, 1/3rd of black men born in 2001 will spend time in jail or prison, 1/3rd of black families have zero or negative wealth, and half of all black adults with college degrees have a family member in prison (McIntosh et al., 2020). Meanwhile, white households in America have a median net worth of around $170,000, and white people in America, on average, can expect to live almost 10 years longer than black people, as shown in figure 1 (McIntosh et al., 2020).
Figure 1
Brookings Institute
When you walk the streets of Seattle, this disparity becomes a living, breathing creature.
During our time in Seattle, it became apparent who held the power in the city and who did not. The demographics of shoppers perusing the racks in Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters, and All Saints stood in stark contrast to the demographics of the crowds of people suffering from addiction and homelessness just outside these glittering monuments of capitalism on 3rd street. By and large, the suffering in the city seemed to be experienced by black and native folks. At Westlake, on public transit, and at the city’s waterfront parks, the majority of those I saw suffering were not white.
According to Prosperity Now, an organization committed to “testing and amplifying new and existing systems-oriented solutions that address the root causes of inequity and racial economic injustice” (Frederick, 2020) white Seattleites earn 3 times more than black and native residents, and black residents are 3 times more likely than white residents to be unemployed. Regarding homelessness, 25% of people experiencing homelessness in the city, according to Prosperity Now are black. However, black people make up just 7% of Seattle’s population (Nieves & Santana, 2021).
Puget Sound Business Journal
This disparity revealed itself in our interviews with business owners in the city, as well. The businesses we visited were all white owned and, in our interviews, it became apparent that the owners of these businesses did not understand non-white clients’ needs and wants. More troubling, to me, was the attitude that providing racially appropriate goods and services, such as black hair products at a hotel, was considered an accommodation. This attitude inherently relegating people of color to a different class than white clients, who would get a full-service experience whereas clients of color had to put in requests for necessary items. And although our white interviewees were all interested in what they could do to be more equitable, the only professional we met during our trip who worked professionally in advocacy was also the only non-white interviewee. The disparities we witnessed (regardless of intentionality) in Seattle are a microcosm of the white supremacist culture in greater America that still affects the social status of Americans of color.
One’s ability status affects the ways in which we are able to partake in society as well. Though sometimes less visible than race, ability status can be highly inhibitive when seeking work or friends. In Difference Matters, Allen recalls a student with muscular dystrophy telling her he felt people “judged him for what he can’t do, rather than what he can do” (Allen, 2011, p. 137).
Our society is built primarily by people who do not have disabilities, and often the differing needs of people with disabilities are either overlooked or not prioritized by those in power. In the report “Transportation Access for Everyone: Washington State” produced by the Disability Mobility Initiative and Disability Rights Washington, notes that the opportunity for people with disabilities to work is often dependent on public transportation. Often, this transit is unreliable and fragmented. Because of this, people with disabilities who cannot drive are unable to keep steady, professional jobs. When people with disabilities are able to utilize public transit to work steady, 9-5 jobs, the commute times far exceed average commutes. Furthermore, many people with disabilities reported having to quit or reduce their hours at work in the past because of changes in transit schedules or elimination of transit routes all together (Transportation, 2021). People with disabilities are also less likely to attend university because of these challenges. Around 20 percent of Americans have some form of disability, but only around 10% of college students report a disability (podcast), meaning half of all disabled people do not obtain a post-secondary education. The combinations of lower educational attainment and arbitrary barriers to partaking in the workforce seriously disadvantage those who are differently abled. Additionally, as Dr. Bogart notes in the podcast “Allyship and Education against Disability Bias”, we view disability as a problem with the individual. There is no societal responsibility to assist those with divergent ability statuses, and often people in the West have a negative view of those with disabilities (podcast). Because of this, there is not a strong focus on improving our transportation or educational systems and the needs of people with disabilities are often relegated to the sidelines.
Disability Rights Washington
The statuses of race and ability are important in organizational structure as they often determine pay, and job status. As Allen notes, the ideologies of white supremacy and the belief in a culture of poverty are narratives in American society which often operate surreptitiously to undermine the power and potential of non-white, non-male, and differently abled people (Allen, 20ll, p. 33). Our time in Seattle was valuable because we were provided with an opportunity to both discuss with professionals and community members the disparities in Seattle and American society at large, as well as see for ourselves the ways in which marginalization takes away one’s power and stability in life.
References
Allen, B. J. (2011). Difference matters: Communicating social identity (2nd ed.). Waveland Press.
Bogart, K., & Bonnie, N. (2022, February 17). Included: The Disability Equity Podcast 36: Allyship and Education to Combat Disability Bias. In Jhu.edu. https://disabilityhealth.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Included-Podcast-Episode-36-Kathleen-Bogart.pdf
Greenberg, A. S. (2017). Manifest Destiny and American territorial expansion: A brief history with documents (2nd ed.). Bedford Books.
Mitchell, T. (2019, April 9). 2. Views of racial inequality. Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2019/04/09/views-of-racial-inequality/
Nieves, E., & Santana, M. (2021). The racial wealth divide in Seattle 2. Prosperitynow.Org. https://prosperitynow.org/sites/default/files/resources/Racial%20Wealth%20Divide_%20Profile_Seattle_FINAL_3.15.21.pdf
Rose Huber, B. (2017, September). Life expectancy gap between Black and white Americans closes nearly 50% in 30 years. Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. https://spia.princeton.edu/news/life-expectancy-gap-between-black-and-white-americans-closes-nearly-50-30-years
Stiles, M. (2017). https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/03/06/new-survey-vast-majority-of-seattles-homeless.html
Zivarts, A. (2021, August). Transportation Access for Everyone: Washington State. Disabilityrightswa.Org. https://www.disabilityrightswa.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/DMI-Research-Paper-Final.pdf