The African American Elderly
African Americans Key Issues
Although the proportion of African Americans in the country is one of the largest compared to other minority groups, an exact figure has not been arrived at. However, it is approximated that the African American population is around 12.5, indicating that the group is the largest among minority groups in the country. African Americans reside mostly in states founds in the south of the country, and most can be found in cities and other urban areas. African Americans have never had a real taste of affluence as is with most other ethnic groups in the country. The group has always lagged behind in matters of economic development, and the group represents one of the least affluent in the country. In fact, poverty, disease, natural disasters, and illiteracy have become almost synonymous with this group (Belgrave, 2009).
Matters critical to social life like security have also been greatly affected among members of African American communities, with the highest proportion of reported incidences of violent crime, armed conflicts, domestic violence, drug abuse, and drug trafficking associated with black or African Americans people. The group, however, has had issues that range from cultural differences and even racial discrimination. These have greatly affected the way the people go about their daily lives. The elderly African Americans have had their share of historical injustices too. As the oldest surviving members of the group, some of the elderly have a real vivid memory of what they have experienced or what their parents before them went through in the past (Cantor, 2000).
The most common historical event for most is the encounter with racism. The elderly still find it hard to believe that the American society has changed so much to such a level where a black or colored person could be the president. Racist ideologies still cloud the minds of many, while others are grappling with rapid cultural shifts. The days of slavery that marked the migration of most of the current elderly people from other native homelands mostly in Africa are also still affecting some to this day because it has shaped the way they relate to others and perceive issues in life. On a general scope, African Americans are perceived as a cultural group that is associated with negative social issues, and who are less likely to make it in life as far as development is concerned (David, 2006).
Oral Interview a Reflection of the Entire Group
The untold story of the elderly among the wider African American ethnic group provided a deeper insight into the real life people of this group in general and the elderly in particular experience. The first thing needed to find out from the interviewee whom I called up was what the most memorable event in her life was. In response, the lady, who identified herself as Mercy, almost chocked over the line but with more encouragement from me, she managed to give me a detailed story of her encounter with racism after having found her way into the country in the late 1940s in the company of her family. As a very young child of about eight, she can still recall how it was like having to move from her native home in Ivory Coast together with her farther and mother only to come face to face with slavery and racism. She could stop from time to time amid her agonizing narrative to sob, and had I not been on the other side of the line I would have been tempted to join her. This pointed to her painful experience then.
After prodding her on, she went on to explain how her father had just come from the War, and was now hoping for a better life abroad. They were made to work under conditions which no-one even in Africa could agree to do. They received harsher treatment than dogs, and their lives were pathetic. As a young child, she had to do domestic chores to supplement their meager income. Daily, her father would tell her never to despair, but to remain focused. However, her mother could not endure the mistreatment from her boss. The tragic moment that changed the interviewees life forever was the day when her mothers mistress set her dogs on her mother for touching the mistresss white baby boys playing toy. The dogs tore her to pieces in the full view of Mercy who could do nothing to help. By the time the dogs were done, Mercys mother lay helpless on the floor and at the point of death. When an ambulance was called in by another Black worker, the medical staff in it refused to take her to hospital because she was black.
On family matters, Mercy pointed out to me that her family was close-knit, except for occasional fallouts concerning petty issues which she described as normal. In fact, she added, it was the very nature of their oneness as a family that they had managed to steer through hard times. Although she has been in the country for over half a century now, she still maintains close ties with her extended family back in Ivory Coast. The family in the United States comprises her five children and two distant cousins. They also stay with two of their grandchildren who lost their parents. They relate well with other African Americans, having gone as far as establishing welfare groups, worship services, and other social events which they hold and take part in together. Mercy said that although she loves her African culture, she has been somewhat taken aback by some of the practices some Africans still engage in. She differs with them on matters such as remarriage, herself having refused to remarry after the death of her husband. However, she believes most African Americans are going too far in letting go of their cultural practices as they hastily emulate Western ways.
Emerging Trends
What is revealed in this interview is essentially what the other members of the group experience, feel, and aspire for. Most African Americans have been witnesses to slavery and racism, and this has made many to often to have a tendency to seek the comfort of one another. They live almost as though they were a family, and maintain close ties with their extended families, friends, and other Africans in the country and elsewhere. They are wary of other ethnic groups, especially the whites who enslaved their forefathers (Cantor, 2000). Many changes are indeed taking place in the African American community. As people usually wont to adhering strictly to their cultural ways, many African Americans are now turning to Western culture and generally embracing modernity. They are realizing that some cultural practices are not beneficial at all, and are fast letting go of them. As modernity catches up with the group, they are likely to take on habits like use of hard drugs and excessive drinking (Cantor, 2000).
To add to these, general social delinquency is likely to increase. That aside, there are trends that are likely to emerge, although others have already been witnessed. Although in the past discrimination has hampered the access of most Africa Americans to basic services like education, healthcare, and employment, the trend now is that a lot more African Americans are getting advanced education, and some are even performing better than their white counterparts (Cantor, 2000). More people from this group, both men and women, are playing a more substantial role in the political process. Rights movements have come to have a lot more participation from African Americas. Most African Americans are adopting western religious practices, with Protestants comprising the largest proportion of the group. Employment opportunities for African Americans have become more readily available as racial and sexual discrimination has ended and the cause of the black person given more attention. Generally, African Americans are finding easier access to better facilities just like any other American (Dorrien, 2003).
Future Implications to the Elderly
Given such changes, the elderly in the coming days are likely to grapple with matters of pension and healthcare insurance which are not so much of a concern presently. In the future, more African Americans will be retiring from jobs, and many will be having access to healthcare insurance. The elderly will also have to develop the culture of saving for their own future because pension schemes are becoming more readily available to them. With more young people adopting Western ways of life, the elderly will have increased instances of family conflict and tumultuous relations that ever before (Cantor, 2000).
Implications for Service Delivery to the Elderly
With increased educational opportunities, more African Americans will be in a position to get education. Even he elderly will not be hindered or limited. Medically, the increased economic welfare of the elderly due to increased incomes from pensions and part-time work will enable them to have access to better health facilities and better services. Socially, all African Americans have been known to be a close-knit group, preferring to live together with each other and working together for the benefit of the entire group (Zastrow, 2009). With the emerging trends, however, service delivery is going to be affected. With these present and anticipated changes in the way of life of African Americans, the elderly will need to find ways to rely a lot more on themselves and on their own efforts and not on help from family members. They will have to find part time work even after retirement to augment what social security offers them. The care for the elderly is likely to reduce drastically or end altogether as those who traditionally care for them find themselves with other more important matters to attend to. Today, the elderly are learning how to care for and rely more on themselves (Zastrow, 2009).
Political Implications
Politically, the place of the elderly African American has for a long time been that of sitting by and watching events unfold, having no power to take part in active politics. Elderly African American women have especially experienced a lot of discrimination in matters of politics in the past. For many years, African Americans could not as much as take part in an electoral process even after the historical amendments to the US constitution in 1965 to allow every American to take part in local, national, and state elections. This trend, however, is changing and most elderly African Americans are seeking election to high offices, and some have secured them (Zastrow, 2009).
In recent times, the elderly members of the group have worked jointly to seek better rights for their people, and in the recent past great achievements have been realized. With the new order of life, the elderly are expected to take part in more political advocating than ever before. They are to participate in election processes and actively participate in elections at all levels. Coalition building is more likely to expand considering that the African American elderly have such an ability to bind people together in a community system. As their participation in the political process is enhanced, they are to cause enhanced coalition building. As the largest minority group in the country, African Americans are bound to benefit politically from such political coalitions with other ethnic groups (Zastrow, 2009).
Conclusion
The elderly among the African American communities, regardless of how advanced in years they might be, have been a part of the social fabric and their value can never be assumed or guessed. Just like any other age group or in the society, the elderly need to be made to feel they belong not as a result of proxy or compulsion but from freewill. Over the years, this group of people has been faced with different issues that have made their life both favorable and difficult. For such people, it would have been expected that all in society would treat them well and ensure their peaceful existence as their sunset days drag by. The elderly have been affected with emerging trends and changes in the way of life. They have had to grapple with healthcare insurance maters, pensions, and cultural shifts. On the whole, the African American elderly have been impacted greatly by events both in history and those that caretaking place now. Future trends are also expected to have such impacts.
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