The sense of "otherness" and lack of safety for people of color is widespread and further heightened by the rise of race-based violence and discrimination in the United States and abroad.
Community members on Basic Black said the mistreatment of Black and brown people caught up trying to flee the war in Ukraine shows that white supremacy is in every country, and also highlights the hypocrisy of allowing Ukrainian immigrants enter the United States while refugees of color continue to wait in line.
"We have tons of brown and Black people, Haitians, Latinos, waiting forever to get the chance to come to here and present their cases in court, yet we lifted those sanctions now for the Ukrainians to come. So that speaks very loudly about what the priorities and the values of these nations are that yes, we're supposed to have all men created equal. Equal is not equal for everyone," said Eva Castillo, director of the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees for MIRA, the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.
Castillo later added that there is a lack of compassion for immigrants. "It takes a lot of work to get things done if you're a person of color," she said.
Although the crisis in Ukraine is far from the U.S., it stills bring forth the issues of inequity and prejudice for people living here, said Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, executive director of Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston.
And it was only a week ago that an attack unfolded in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York. Authorities say the man suspected of killing 10 Black people at a local grocery store identified with a conspiracy theory popular among white supremacists.
Espinoza-Madrigal said the mass shooting was "heartbreaking" and law enforcement is too lax about the rise of hate crimes.
"The notion of being hunted down is something that people of color have experienced and continue to experience. And it is frankly irresponsible that law enforcement has not done enough to protect people of color, knowing full well that there are real threats out there," Espinoza-Madrigal said.
Dr. Sandra Mattar, a clinical psychologist, assistant professor and director of training at the Immigrant and Refugee Health Center at Boston Medical Center, said the trauma caused by such attacks can have significant implications on the heath of people of color.
"You suffer from race-based traumatic stress and you cannot be at ease, you cannot even breathe at ease. So, this has significant implications to your sense of safety in the world, your sense of identity, your sense of trust and functioning out there in the world. And so, there is no place where you can feel safe, except for a few places in your community. And that has significant implications to your health," Mattar said.
Moving forward and making change starts with public policy, and voting for elected officials who will create such policies, said Dr. Clarence Lusane, professor of political science and director of the international affairs program at Howard University.
"The whole point of voting is electing people that will push through public policy that can begin to move this country in the right direction. So we have to see all of that and continue to fight on that level," Lusane said.
Watch: Basic Black: The rise of race-based violence, hate and discrimination
Watch the latest episode of Basic Black Fridays at 7:30 p.m. on GBH 2 or live on our website. You can also watch on the GBH News YouTube channel. Subscribe to get notifications for future premiere episodes.
