Chapter 1: Our Black and White World
The struggle for rights and equality is something that America has been trying to work on for years now, especially when it comes to the relationship between race and wealth. From the years of slavery and still today African Americans have been dealt with unfairly in economic tense only because of their race. Two things that benefits this cruel activity is the lack of social mobility and unjust people. From the article, The State of America's Widening Wealth Gap, there was a quote that said, “The most well-off whites, for example, are doing substantially better than the most well-off blacks.”
“Social mobility, movement of individuals, families, or groups through a system of social hierarchy or stratification.” Social mobility basically puts person in either high, middle, or low class based on income and history. This system have the power to change what your social class is, including increasing or decreasing it. The following quotes are from Britannica and they explain how social mobility works: “If such mobility involves a change in position, especially in occupation, but no change in social class, it is called “horizontal mobility.” An example would be a person who moves from a managerial position in one company to a similar position in another.” Along with horizontal mobility there is also vertical mobility. “If, however, the move involves a change in social class, it is called “vertical mobility” and involves either “upward mobility” or “downward mobility.” An industrial worker who becomes a wealthy businessman moves upward in the class system; a landed aristocrat who loses everything in a revolution moves downward in the system.”
“Social mobility, movement of individuals, families, or groups through a system of social hierarchy or stratification.” Social mobility basically puts person in either high, middle, or low class based on income and history. This system have the power to change what your social class is, including increasing or decreasing it. The following quotes are from Britannica and they explain how social mobility works: “If such mobility involves a change in position, especially in occupation, but no change in social class, it is called “horizontal mobility.” An example would be a person who moves from a managerial position in one company to a similar position in another.” Along with horizontal mobility there is also vertical mobility. “If, however, the move involves a change in social class, it is called “vertical mobility” and involves either “upward mobility” or “downward mobility.” An industrial worker who becomes a wealthy businessman moves upward in the class system; a landed aristocrat who loses everything in a revolution moves downward in the system.”
“Wealth disparity has worsened.” This quote came from an informative video called The Racial Wealth Gap in America on Youtube that talks about the wealth gap between all race. The racial inequality has grown in the economic tense grammatically. Back during the Great Recession, Hispanics lost 66% of net worth, blacks lost 53%, and whites lost 16% and the reason for this is because whites are more likely to have investments, stocks, bonds, and savings. In a CBS news reading from the topic Great Recession increases race wealth gap it was said that the median household net worth for whites was 7 times the median household net worth for blacks and hispanics put together. African Americans and Latinos now hold only 6 to 7 cents each for every dollar of wealth held by whites. Is racism really over in America?
“Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy.” This was taken from chapter one of The Case of Reparation on The Atlantic. This story was about an African American family trying to get what they’ve been owed to for over two hundred years but they can’t depend on the law to help them out with this issue. “Landowners were supposed to split the profits from the cotton fields with sharecroppers. But bales would often disappear during the count, or the split might be altered on a whim. If cotton was selling for 50 cents a pound, the Ross family might get 15 cents, or only five.” The Ross family was cheated out of the money they deserved not because they did a bad job but because they were considered uneducated blacks that could easily be cheated.
“Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy.” This was taken from chapter one of The Case of Reparation on The Atlantic. This story was about an African American family trying to get what they’ve been owed to for over two hundred years but they can’t depend on the law to help them out with this issue. “Landowners were supposed to split the profits from the cotton fields with sharecroppers. But bales would often disappear during the count, or the split might be altered on a whim. If cotton was selling for 50 cents a pound, the Ross family might get 15 cents, or only five.” The Ross family was cheated out of the money they deserved not because they did a bad job but because they were considered uneducated blacks that could easily be cheated.
“So where are we headed?” This information that’ve been gathered shows that we are not moving in the right direction when it comes to diversity and equality. There are groups of people today that are not given the same opportunities as the whites. But it’s not just African Americans going through this struggle for rights. It’s also Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, and other races. This issue in other world must be demolish, but not only for our sake but also for the next generation. We need to be able to teach our future kids that we know right from wrong and we also know not to take action on a person based on their appearance. “If we want to avoid such a fate, we must give a new generation of aspiring upstarts all the help they can get.” This should be our motivation to change the way we act. We should set a goal to create more equality in America especially with the relationship between race and wealth. People need to inform themselves about this issue and do whatever they can to fix it. It takes only one person to created change. Let’s take, former president, Abraham Lincoln's work to the next level. We need to be a more diverse in this country.