Doubly Divided Essay

When Affirmative Action was White written by Ira Katznelson he addresses how throughout history whites and blacks had a extreme gap between them. He demonstrates conclusively that the gap of wealth between black and white americans result not simply from slavery but by benefits for white while excluding blacks over time.

A CLASS DIVIDED Thirty years ago Jane Elliott taught the third grade in the white, Christian community of Riceville, Iowa. The day Martin Luther King Jr. was killed she planned an exercise that wouldn't just show her students what racism is - rather, it would give them first-hand experience of what it felt like to be oppressed for something out of their control. Elliott divided her class by the color of their eyes, marked them with armbands and proceeded to treat one group as if superior in capabilities to the other. The superior students performed better than they ever had before, while the inferior students' performance dropped. The next day, the third graders traded ranks and their performance reversed in accordance to their

One of the many themes in Efren Divided by Ernesto Cisneros is never giving up even when things are hard and this was developed by how no matter how hard things got for Efren such as losing his ama to deportation, having a bunch of school drama going on, and even trying to spread the word of all the unfair deportation going on, but he never gave up and continued staying strong to help bring back his ama and take care of his little siblings. Furthermore, Efren Divided by Ernesto Cisneros is a book about a smart, cheerful, young 12-year-old boy who had his whole world ruined when he lost his “soperwoman” roughly known as his ama due to an ICE raid that happened while she was at work, now Efren has to attempt to bring his ama back with the help

“Still Separate, Still Unequal”, written by Jonathan Kozol, describes the reality of urban public schools and the isolation and segregation the students there face today. Jonathan Kozol illustrates the grim reality of the inequality that African American and Hispanic children face within todays public education system. In this essay, Kozol shows the reader, with alarming statistics and percentages, just how segregated Americas urban schools have become. He also brings light to the fact that suburban schools, with predominantly white students, are given far better funding and a much higher quality education, than the poverty stricken schools of the urban neighborhoods.

Slavery and racism was the plague of the United States. It followed on the heals of government policy and trickled down the social ladder for many years. Racial discrimination is still existent today, though people are afraid to talk about it, for fear of admitting ancestral sin and current stereotypes. Ta-Nehisi Coates expresses these ideas in his article “The Case for Reparations”, and focuses on the issue of home ownership in Chicago. The bottom line of his article is that one must not forget and discard of the past, rather they must acknowledge and own what has happened. With Coates focus on American oppression, one doesn’t glean an exceptional take on the United States, from his perspective. He describes the U.S. as too timid to own its mistakes. In the middle of the 20th century, Chicago, discrimination was rampant. Blacks were targeted by “real-estate speculators” when trying to own a house, they were put “on contract.” In response to the issues brought about by the contracts, the Contract Buyers League was founded. This was an attempt to reverse the damage that was being done. Discrimination still occurs today. Racial discrimination has long plagued the U.S., but it is possible to change.

America has a lengthy history on how it became the powerful country it is today, and although its history can be interrupted in many ways (depending who you ask) one thing that is for certain is that wealth has yet to be distributed equally amongst minorities. According to the article “Income inequality matter; Extreme gap in wealth makes society unstable.” Philip Meyer claims that the wealth gap between whites and minorities has existed since Ronald Reagans’ term of presidency (A9). Although Ronald Reagans’ term ended many years ago the mistakes that caused this imbalance of wealth (and its aftermath) while he was in office remains almost if not exactly the same as when the problem initially began (Meyer A9). The wealth gap continues to target minorities and is affecting our communities at an alarming rate, however, many attempts have been made to reduce its existence but the factors of income inequality, unemployment rates and discrimination before and after our recent 2007 recession prevents our country from eliminating such a toxic problem.

The racial income gap illustrates that the United States is not a meritocracy society. A meritocracy society would be an area where everyone no matter what color or background they are from have the chance to succeed based on their own ability. Although it is certainly appealing and a magnificent way of viewing our society, in reality no society can ever truly function as a meritocracy and therefore having no control at birth and the environment where we grow up, and who we get surrounded with puts major races, especially in the United States in disadvantage, a country that is far from meritocratic compared to other nation.

Even though black people have descendants who suffered much more inequality issues than they have faced nowadays, they still have to deal with this historical problem in different ways. The wealth gap between whites and blacks is huge, “every extra dollar of income earned by whites generates $5.19 in new wealth over 25 years while another dollar of income for a black family adds a mere 69 cents to its bottom line (Starkman)”. These numbers show us that we still live in a segregated

The United States has a longstanding history of racism and discriminatory policy, stemming from the colonial era. Generally, those who weren’t considered true White Americans faced blatant ethnicity-based discrimination and adversity in matters of education, human rights, immigration, land ownership, and politics. Specific racial institutions, characteristic of the 17th to 20th centuries, included slavery, wars against the Native Americans, exclusion from civil life, and segregation. It wasn’t until the mid-20th century that formal racial discrimination was banned, and majority attitudes began to see racism as socially unacceptable. However, our relatively recent racialized history has left an unfortunate impact on present society. The legacy of historical racism still continues to be echoed through socioeconomic inequality, and racial politics still remain a major phenomenon. Many argue that our government systems have shifted from means of overt racism to more symbolic, covert racism, and that this is reflected in our societal institutions, such as employment, housing, education, economics, and government.

The genocide of the Aboriginal peoples and enslavement of black people resulted in a massive influx of natural resources and cheap labor, greatly profiting the white class and securing an influential position of power in the imposed capitalist structure (Reich, 1974). Such economic stratifications are still visible in contemporary society, and are defended by democratic racism which permits the coexistence of liberal and non-egalitarian beliefs (Tepperman& Curtis, 2009). Through this vein of thought, the free market is excused as providing everyone an indiscriminately equal chance of financial success, illustrating poverty as a consequence of laziness and inadequacy instead of a product of systemic oppression and exclusion of those historically disadvantaged within capitalist society. (Tepperman& Curtis, 2009) Visible minorities, in particular blacks, are stereotyped as a financial burden to society, and are depicted as problematic, untrustworthy, and dishonest, increasing negative attitudes towards visible minorities out of the white class’s fear of losing their own

The reality is that historic, legal efforts long restricted the economic lives of minorities. Restricted the kind of work they could do. Restricted their membership in unions. Restricted their access to education and training. Restricted their opportunity in the private sector world of product sales and client services. Restrictions which most white Americans, if they are even aware of them, do not seem to understand the extent of, the persistence of, or the long-standing consequences of -- at all. And, of course, the economic

For the past 30 years the “gap” in income received by the rich and the lower class has continuously continued to increase, showing no signs of decrease anytime soon. This gap has mostly affected the middle class, which is made up of mostly African Americans and Hispanics, making America less determined to correct such an issue. Given the circumstances African American’s are the focus of this issue due to the fact they make up majority of the middle class. It is known that modern racism exist within today’s society in various ways, one of which happen to be within the economy. For decades the economy has had its downfalls, however, it’s been facing an issue that it has been hiding from the rest of the nation. The gap that everyone speaks has

The racialized nature of social policy is a racist Chicanx experience that was imposed on communities of color, however, the ill nature of these policies did not break their spirit. On the contrary, their volitions to seek liberation was given a greater sense of urgency against the possessive investment of whiteness that dominated mainstream opinions. According to George Lipsitz, in The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, the possessive investment in whiteness reigns in social policy that favors whites and hinders social mobility for minority groups. The Federal Housing Agency’s policy making during the 1950s & 60s denied private loans to people of color and channeled the majority of the loans to white people to buy homes. Resultantly, poor

Today many people believe that we have obtained racial equality. However there are multiple reasons and statistics that contradict those arguments . For decades African Americans has been deprived of basic rights, “If America had racial equality in education and jobs, African Americans would have two million more high school degrees…(Raines)”. There are many drastic racial gaps from education to owning property. Throughout America’s history blacks have been limited, when it comes to education, property, and other things. If people truly believe that after four hundred years of enslavement and limited rights, can be fixed within one generation they are wrong. The African American community has faced

Socialization is the lifelong process of learning rules for adapting to social and cultural normality. Learning to follow societal rules is what allows people to survive, thrive and integrate into groups and communities within society. Through the observation of others, people begin to develop core values, beliefs and morals. This builds bonds and develops a sense of belonging within a given group. In the documentary, A Class Divided, the power of socialization is demonstrated as a third-grade teacher gives her class a hands-on lesson in discrimination and bias by separating her class in to in-groups and out-groups. This lesson not only gives a glimpse into the power of socialization showing how biases can be created, but it also helps