Sharmaine D Barnes, LMFT, CEAP
Racial Trauma Specialist
Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter
– African Proverb (Igbo, Nigeria)
Social Injustice
Types of Social Justice Issues
Social justice issues can be delineated into two categories, which are interrelated and often co-dependent: Inter-Social Treatment and Unequal Government Regulation.
Inter-Social Treatment involves treatment of certain groups of people based on personally-held biases and prejudices. These prejudices most often manifest in relation to sociological categories such as:
Race
Gender
Age
Sexual Orientation
Religion
Nationality
Education
Mental or Physical Ability
Unequal Government Regulation involves laws and regulations that purposefully or otherwise create conditions that obstruct, limit, or deny certain groups equitable access to the same opportunities and resources available to the rest of society. These laws can intentionally (explicitly) or unintentionally (implicitly) create the conditions for social injustice.
Areas in which government policy often gives rise to social inequality and injustice include:
Voting Laws (i.e. redistricting and voter ID)
Policing Laws (i.e. search and seizure and drug scheduling)
Environmental Laws (i.e. clean water and air, industrial waste disposal)
Health Care Laws (i.e. insurance mandates and coverage eligibility)
Education Laws (i.e. public school segregation and integration)
Labor Laws (i.e. worker’s rights, occupational health and safety)
Source: https://www.pachamama.org/social-justice/social-justice-issues
The Voting Rights Act of 1965, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, aimed to overcome legal barriers at the state and local levels that prevented African- Americans from exercising their right to vote as guaranteed under the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The Voting Rights Act is considered one of the most far-reaching pieces of civil rights legislation in U.S
EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE!