Different forms of racism at local, state, and federal level has been the reason to produce persistent inequities in economic well-being. Mitigating such disproportionalities requires long-term interventions to expand access to opportunities for suffering people of color. Lawmakers are required to establish programs designed to assist people of color in different working fields. However, doing so is not a panacea. It will not completely mitigate the existing economic and racial disparities, but it could be an efficient approach to pave the path towards achieving racial equity in different aspects of life.
The truth is that the economy of the United States is built on the segregation of people of color. Many preexisting government policies and practices helped create such a system where the legacy of slavery and the funding provided by anti-discrimination agencies are among the significant contributors to inequality. These decisions push the workers from different racial backgrounds in undervalued occupations, institutionalized racial prejudice in wages and other benefits, and employment discrimination. This consequently resulted in persistent racial disparities in jobs, wages, benefits, and every other economic and social well-being measure. This sort of occupational segregation, exploitation, and racial inequality in the United States is prevalent in different sectors. Therefore, eliminating disparities among White and African Americans needs to be amended to dismantle systemic inequality.
In order to mitigate the trending disparities among Americans, it is highly required to put efforts in dismantling systemic inequality, combat discrimination in the workplace, and expand access to opportunities for all Americans regardless of their backgrounds. It has been known for centuries that people of color were enslaved and forced to work in brutal conditions like in agriculture, domestic, and other services. They plowed and sowed fields, harvested and packaged crops, raised, milked, and butchered livestock (Craemer, 2015). Moreover, they also cook and serve food, cleanse houses, weave and mend clothing, and provide child care services. They also work as barbers, carry luggage, drove carts, carriages, and wagons (Littlefield, 2019).
In history, people of color were not permitted to work in any other field other than farming or domestic servitude. And if ever they do so, they got arrested, tortured, mutilated, and even killed without legal repercussions. In fact, the lawmakers sought to prevent Black people from moving anywhere in search of safety and economic opportunities. However, technological advancements reduced the need for labor for farm work or other domestic work. But still, the working class of people of color remained overrepresented in low-wage service jobs. Therefore, occupational segregation and persistent devaluation of the working-class of the Black population are a result of intentional policies and laws. Thus, the people of color remain overrepresented in the lowest-paid domestic and service vocations.
References
Craemer, T. (2015). Estimating Slavery Reparations: Present Value Comparisons of Historical Multigenerational Reparations Policies. Social Science Quarterly 96 (2), 639–655. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ssqu.12151
Littlefield, D. C. (2019). The Varieties of Slave Labor. National Humanities Center. http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1609-1865/essays/slavelabor.htm