Humanizing others is a concept I am enthralled by in my
personal life and has also been a major theme in this course so far. Many
examples of “othering” have showed up in our readings and lectures. Slum lords thought
of their tenants as unhuman subjects in Evicted
and justified cruel treatment towards them by othering them. One of the
examples is when larrine is criticized for eating lobster using her welfare
money, but we cannot forget that even low-income families have the right to
enjoy common basic luxuries those that criticize her experience. Mathew Desmond
very successfully in my opinion humanized the people from the stories he recorded
which helped make his book a leading publication on the experience of eviction.
As we also learned from Kate Swenson’s presentation about Enterprise Community Partners, policy and public opinion has a great effect on the quality of low-income housing projects. Some Americans actively campaign for reducing welfare and low-income housing assistance when they themselves benefit from forms of housing aid such as mortgage interest deductions on their federal income tax since it is titled differently. Accessibility challenges litter the courthouse, whether in the form of circulation, language or gender barriers since the current system comfortably serves the majority. In our second visit to the courthouse, paintings of “dead old white guys” adorned the walls of courtrooms in which a Chinese senior was rescheduled after being denied a hearing due to the unavailability of a translator – a lady that also struggled to open a heavy swing door in the courtroom.
As we also learned from Kate Swenson’s presentation about Enterprise Community Partners, policy and public opinion has a great effect on the quality of low-income housing projects. Some Americans actively campaign for reducing welfare and low-income housing assistance when they themselves benefit from forms of housing aid such as mortgage interest deductions on their federal income tax since it is titled differently. Accessibility challenges litter the courthouse, whether in the form of circulation, language or gender barriers since the current system comfortably serves the majority. In our second visit to the courthouse, paintings of “dead old white guys” adorned the walls of courtrooms in which a Chinese senior was rescheduled after being denied a hearing due to the unavailability of a translator – a lady that also struggled to open a heavy swing door in the courtroom.
It seems like many of the issues facing housing were in some-way
caused or worsened by an inconsideration of another person or group. Just as
Mathew Desmond states as a conclusion to his findings, affordable housing is a
human capital investment. If people struggling with housing security are
othered, then people might not feel as bad about cutting funding for such programs.
I am personally in no way innocent of othering. I feel the solution to many of
our problems today lays in humanizing others.