Racial and Ethnic Matter - Assignment Example

The case of the Byron Green and Max Holland – both who are about the same age, work for the same company, make the same income, and live in the same neighborhood – shows us how life chances and wealth gap between an African American and White American greatly differ. When it comes to buying house property, the Hollands were able to acquire their house as financial gift from their family with a low-interest government VA loan while the Greens bought a two-story duplex for African Americans with $1,000 down payment and $5500 remaining balance as mortgage.

When it comes to job opportunities, the G.I Bill financed Mr. Holland’s education through college and this enabled him to land a job as a “management trainee” for a big textile firm where he remained to work 15 years. At 13, Max was able to make money through Bar Mitzvah checks and eventually used this savings for his own recreational and educational expenses. On the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Green respectively worked as a lab attendant and domestic help because of limited job opportunities for blacks.

When the manufacturing industry collapsed, they found themselves in great difficulty having to pay higher taxes and additional expenses. As a result, Byron’s scholarship education at an Ivy League school remained to be difficult and financially constrained. Because of the initial inequalities experienced by Byron Green’s African-American family, their finances remain to be volatile having sold their home for only $29,500 after 40 years – an unjustifiable amount which could not provide for his parent’s old age.

This situation is very much in contrast with the Hollands who sold their home for $299,000 – an amount which enabled his parents to retire in Berkshire Mountains. Unlike Byron who still continues to make payments to mortgage his condominium, Max bought his own house in 1985 secure of his finances and solely focused on the future of his children. The case of both families is a classic example of the inequalities experienced by nonwhite families who make less wealth than white families. 2.) How does governmental policies and past discrimination play a role in generating wealth for Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds?

Use examples from the website. Discuss some the policies that were discriminatory. Because of the discriminatory programs and policies on housing and wealth of the federal government, Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds find it difficult to purchase houses and accumulate wealth. In 1935, the policy on Social Security excluded agricultural and domestic workers who are mostly African-American, Mexican, and Asian from getting their pensions because they are low income workers who had the least opportunity to save.

In the same way, the Wagner Act of 1935 excluded nonwhites to join unions – an act which denied them of job security, full employment, and medical care. When it comes to housing programs which the government created in the 1930s and 1940s, the so-called low cost loans were enacted on the basis of a national appraisal system which ties property value and loan eligibility to race. This means that consequently, white families received high ratings and loan benefits while minority families received low ratings and