Barriers to Social Services Fuel Racial Inequity

Source: Gov Tech Published: August 10, 2020

The past several months have brought into sharp relief a great many inequities that are fundamentally challenging our country.

We’ve endured the harrowing pain of watching Black people lose lives at the hands of the systems intended to protect all Americans, recently Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. We are seeing the inequitable impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting our nation’s legacy of health and economic disparities. We are witnessing economic fallout striking Black and Latino Americans at shockingly disproportionate rates.

People across the country are realizing a truth that Black people have always known: Racism is deeply embedded in our society’s economic and social systems, driving an insidious undercurrent that is hostile to the idea of helping people in need.

In short, while opportunity is universal in the U.S., access to it is not. The question is: How can technology be used as a tool to address inequity? Barriers to real equity exist at all levels; they’re deeply rooted, going back to before my great, great grandfather was born. Removing them will require systemic change across all spectrums if we want to do better, and in this modern era this includes looking at the role that technology plays in impeding or improving efforts for change.