Home. It‘s often a place we seek for enduring comfort, long-lasting contentment, and a general safe space we can retreat to after a long day at work or school. However, for many people, home is not this kind of place. Specifically, for the residents of Little Haiti in Miami who have been cultivating rich Haitian history since Redlining and Jim Crow laws have prevented Black residents from living near the beach. Today, they are being driven out of their homes as more and more people begin taking interest in living inland and in areas of higher elevation. This due to the rapidly rising sea levels that are flooding the private beach fronts leaving thousands of low income Haitian immigrants with nowhere to go.

Although we are long past days of overt racism at display, such as slavery, traces of discrimination in institutions and systems, such as (but not limited to): human trafficking, prison systems, etc., are often found. Although estimates of victims of human trafficking are unattested, many of them come from rural areas, are poor, and have limited access to education. In America, African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a five to one ratio to Whites. The common factor of the victims lies within their socio-economic status.

Although researchers have identified that economics play a pivotal role in prejudice in institutions, the truth behind the complex and intricate relationship between socio-culture factors, poverty, and discrimination is yet to be found. Thus, enhancing public knowledge on the ubiquitous topic of discrimination by examining how this may play out in other facets of life where it is unexpected is vital in eliminating such injustice. As more substantial explanations to such issues are undercovered, policies must be implemented to instill a common moral philosophy to ensure that socio-economic/racial profiling is no longer correlated with not only police brutalilty, but also environmental policies regarding land use, regulations, and restrictions that often negatively affects health and living standards of victims.

<Yuna Oh Apple/Valley HS/12th Grade>