Structural Violence in the US

            In the US, structural violence is commonly seen between races like black and white Americans. We know that that blacks have suffered historically, however it is important that a fact such as this is observed from the social class perspective. When looking at structural violence in the US from a social class perspective, it is found that those who are lower class are more significantly more likely to suffer than those from higher classes, and this is seen regardless of gender. A wealthy black person will be, for the most part, just as well off as a wealthy white individual, and both are better off than the poor, poverty stricken person who is either white or black.

            This is not to say that black individuals are not worse off than white individuals. Given the history of the US and the treatment of blacks, I believe it is another type structural violence which leads to blacks being more likely to fall under the poverty line. Historically, black people have had trouble creating agency, even after their rights were restored and protected by the constitution.

Take Gary, Indiana, for example. Once a highlight of industrial activity, it attracted both black and white people. Because of the years and social standings of black individuals (as well as their access to education and jobs) surrounding the industrial boom, white people had the better paying jobs where black people typically had factory jobs which were lower pay. This lead to a somewhat natural segregation of black and white neighborhoods, which lead to unequal education opportunities, poorer physical environment, and due to the nature of the work, black people had harder time organizing and creating this agency they needed to improve their situation.

The inability for people to organize due to the increased poverty in their neighborhoods highlights an important consideration in structural violence. The poverty stricken are not only more likely to suffer and be marginalized, but they are also more likely to be silenced (Farmer, 1996). This is extremely important as it becomes a part of the reason why first world countries like the US are not only able to take advantage of their own citizens, but also of the citizens in different countries.

When a neighborhood or village is in poverty, they spend their time scraping together everything they can to live as well as they can. This takes up a vast amount of their time and energy, and it is something that needs to be done every day. Combine that with fighting off diseases and other problems that occur and you have someone who is expending 100% of their energy to survive.  When this happens, community organization is hardly found, if at all. This leads to the community’s voice being essentially non-existent.

In the United Stated, this has translated to public bads (things that are a necessity for society yet are unwanted due to the effects associated with them, such as a nuclear waste incinerator, a smelly factory, etc) consistently being cited near neighborhoods who either cannot organize to effectively ward off the public bad or need the kickbacks the government or business provides the community. Abroad, this means taking advantage of communities and whole countries for the gain of the country taking advantage. Actions like this leads to a variety of health issues. In Gary, the health of the black population was considerably worse than that of the white counterparts because of the type of labor done as well as the smog and other pollution from having to live close to factories.