Aging, well-being, and elder abuse are social constructs that in my experience do not recognize, validate or address the experiences or life course of Black and Brown people. These constructs as understood and practiced, support lives lived through the comfort and security of whiteness; these constructs do not support lives, and communities, lived differently and disproportionately.
Beyond embedding inequitable economic opportunity, our social policies have created and sustained disproportional civic infrastructure. These are underdeveloped and underserved communities deprived of basic services, banking opportunities, accessible healthcare, living wage job opportunities, healthy nutrition and food, social services, educational opportunities and consistent transportation options. Structural racism has come with the unwelcome effect of increased physical isolation of older people; vulnerable to abuse; vulnerable to a range of adverse life outcomes; an aging arc replete with risk and harm.
Voter suppression disenfranchises communities. Funding and resources are directed to enfranchised communities. Voter suppression, largely aimed at communities where people of color reside, erodes the infrastructure and health of these communities. Voter suppression could be viewed as the 21st century version of the Poll Tax. After the Civil War, African-Americans received the right to vote. To counter this, many state governments created the Poll Tax, which was a fee to vote. Legally enforceable until 1964 when the 24th Amendment abolished it. Today, voter suppression includes closing polling places, strict voter ID laws, massive purging of voter rolls and more. All of these activities are designed to disenfranchise people of color, older people, students, poor people and people with disabilities. More broadly, voter suppression successfully erodes representation, which reduces funding for basic civic infrastructure. Services and supports that enable older people to thrive are all but eliminated. Neglected, broken infrastructure with broken sidewalks, underfunded public safety, few comfortable social outlets, leaves older people in these communities alone, isolated and vulnerable.
In the pandemic, community and connection changed due to the need for social distancing. The internet became a primary mode for connection; and for some, community. How we work and the concept of the workplace were completely upended. For some, the ‘workplace’ became fluid, as concerns about Covid compelled employers to expand the concept of work and the workplace. The possibility and/or the privilege of working remotely was an option for some. So too was the possibility of receiving healthcare remotely. Telehealth became an important way for many to receive healthcare. Remote work and telehealth are predicated on effective and available broadband, which in turn is predicated on a civic infrastructure that has the resources to provide and sustain broadband. Residing in a community that does not have the resources to support available broadband is another layer of disproportionality and enforced isolation.
Redlining is an umbrella term for the various types of race-based exclusionary tactics in real estate. Examples include racial steering by real estate agents directing Black and Brown people to certain neighborhoods or buildings, and race-based covenants in many suburbs and developments that barred Black and Brown people from purchasing homes. This institutionalized racial segregation in America.
Redlining is federally sanctioned discrimination; federally sanctioned abuse that is historic, generational and systemic. The cumulative impact of redlining is that older people of color often live in deteriorating communities that feature sub-standard housing. These policies erode the tax base which reduces the number and quality of key services including economic opportunities, educational opportunities, social services and supports, along with other fundamental components of civic infrastructure that enable communities to thrive.
The primary source of economic security for the post-WWII middle-class was the ability to buy real estate and the resultant equity that accrues from ownership. The primary beneficiaries of this opportunity were and are people for whom a system of segregated disproportionality was built. Supported by policies and agencies such as the National Association of Real Estate Boards, the Federal Housing Administration, the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, the GI Bill and other policies that created a virtually impenetrable web of racially restrictive housing covenants and laws that combined to enrich a white middle class and oppress economic opportunity for people of color to this day.
The Federal Housing Administration institutionalized the system of discriminatory lending in government-backed mortgages, reflecting local race-based covenants in their underwriting practices and reinforcing sustained aggression against Black and Brown communities. The discriminatory practices captured by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation’s maps were in continual use until 1968, when the Fair Housing Act banned racial discrimination in housing. The GI Bill guaranteed home loans for some veterans returning from World War II, the post-war Baby Boom, and low housing prices allowed White families in the 1950s to move to the suburbs.
One example is Levittown in Long Island. In the 1950’s 17,447 houses were built in Levittown with strict whites-only covenants at an average cost of $7000.00. In 2021, the same 17,447 houses have an average value of $560,000. Levittown continues to be more than 80% white.
Disparate access to housing and the attributable wealth has solidified the caste system that we see today.
Another result from redlining, over half of Black and Hispanic older people aged 65+ have incomes below 200% of the Federal poverty line. (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2018). The non-Hispanic African American population aged 65 and over was 4.6 million in 2017 and is projected to grow to 12.1 million by 2060. In 2017, African Americans made up 9% of the older population. By 2060, the percentage is projected to be 13%.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHIQIO_bdQ
The various kinds of work that serve older people who have been abused or exploited are fundamental components of our social services and civic infrastructure. These institutions and systems are situated and operate from a frame of whiteness. From how aging is defined through the prevention of the abuse of older people, mitigation of abuse; and practices of intervention are all framed through whiteness. This in turn supports the status quo and thereby perpetuates harm to older people of color by not recognizing their difference or how they experience and recognize abuse or exploitation.
Just because we are engaged in helping and serving older people, does not mean that we are exempt from the perditions of racism.
In elder abuse work, laws and law enforcement are often presented as important interventions or desirable outcomes to mitigate harm to older people. We have failed to consider how these interventions collide with historic racism in our criminal justice and law enforcement systems.
There should be more focus on the importance of community. Racism deconstructs and destroys community in the same way that abuse destroys connection by isolating victims and leaving them vulnerable to harm. We cannot fully address the needs of older people of color who have been victims of abuse, if we do not talk about community and well-being. To be more valid, our work must expand to intentionally understand and include the systemic harm that people of color experience constantly. We must commit to gather data that will help understand how elder abuse is experienced differently by people of color. Researchers must develop a comfort level with working from an intersectional perspective. The experience of aging and elder abuse is very different for people who experience systemic harm and vastly disproportional access to services and resources.
Most of us are not responsible for the creation of systems based on disparity but we are responsible for confronting and addressing the harm that these systems cause. Only by addressing these wide disparities, can change be affected. It will take regular critical reflection and collective action to undo these deeply embedded inequities in how we think about, understand and serve all older people who have been abused.
Consider the redeployment of resources and energies devoted to addressing abuse at the community level. Promoting social and community cohesion could quite possibly result in recognizing and mitigating the harm and trauma of abuse sooner.
By including issues of disparity and aging in school curricula, by intentionally creating intergenerational connections, we can start to create more community and cohesion that supports all older people.
Inequity and inequality are systemic and kept alive/active by daily and routine choices and actions. We must change this. Where all systemic disparities have been built, it is imperative that we come together to change these systems and create for everyone equity and inclusion.
Consider: Are we representative of who we serve?