Race and Class in America - Essay Example

Social Inequality: Race and in America INTRODUCTION According to the historic “I Have a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King, the US should have made considerable developments towards racial equality. However, in contrast, the country is observed as lagging in mitigating racial inequality yet, wherein serious efforts are still needed at a comparatively larger scale. Identifiably, racial equality has become a crucial issue for the nation. Instances of bullying and discrimination on the grounds of racial differences are arguably occurring at rapid instances within the US, mostly involving the Blacks and the Whites. Evidences by far have also revealed that social inequality relating to race and class still exists in America. Most of these evidences postulate that Blacks are often treated less fairly in comparison to the Whites in almost every communal sector, including public schools and other forms of public institutions including courts as well. It is worth mentioning in this similar concern that the research results revealed in the study titled “King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal; Many Americans See Racial Disparities” by Pew Research Center indicated the practice of unequal treatment made by the White Americans towards the Blacks. Emphasizing this concern, the discussion hereunder will aim at summarizing the major points of the readings and comparing the arguments of different authors of those readings based upon two major themes. These themes entail determining the reasons of the disparities prevailing between the perceptions of the White community and the Black community in the US towards racial issues and also the existence of significant financial dissimilarities after 50 years of the civil rights movement. SYNTHESIS OF “KING’S DREAM REMAINS ELUSIVE” REPORT “King’s Dream Remains Elusive” Report presents the responses about how much development relating to racial equality has been made by the US in the preceding 50 years and how much development is required to mitigate the issue if not advanced up to the expectation level as was dreamt by Martin Luther King. In precise, the report intended towards searching for the reasons of having dissimilarities in the perceptions of the Black community and the White community regarding racial issues. Moreover, the report aimed at determining the reasons behind the existence of such economic disparities prevailing even after 50 years of the civil rights movement (Pew Research Center 1-42). In the year 1963, Martin Luther King, a dynamic leader of civil rights, gave a speech “I Have a Dream” wherein he depicted that the Blacks or the African-Americans were still not free and had been seared in the flames of withering unfairness. According to King, the Black Americans had been crippled by the chains of isolation and also discrimination. This is the reason for which the Blacks used to live on an isolated island in poverty, in the center of a huge ocean of measurable prosperity. King also affirmed that the chains of exclusion along with discrimination made the Blacks to remain languished in various corners of the American society and found themselves to be exiled from their respective own lands. Thus, King saw a dream to make the lives of the Blacks free from the chains of discrimination along with segregation and end up the prevalence of greater social inequality based on race and class in every corner of the American society (Schumann, “I Have A Dream Martin Luther King Jr. Speech: Watch, Read Full Transcript Of MLKs Historic Address Here [VIDEO]”). With this concern, in “King’s Dream Remains Elusive” Report, Whites and Blacks of the American Society were mainly asked to respond about the prevalence of social inequality after the speech delivered by King. LITERATURE REVIEW While discussing the two major themes of the Pew report, four readings have been taken into concern. Firstly, Charles Murray’s article titled “The New American Divide” would be discussed, which elaborates the change in civic culture existing in the past, resulting in broadening the gaps between the new upper and the new lower classes of American society. Secondly, the discussion would be based upon a chapter from Dennis Gilbert’s “Social Class in America”, which demonstrates the class structure of the Americans in an age of growing inequality. Thirdly, Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s book, “Racism without Racists”, is relevant to the discussion as it tends to relate about how Whites perceive racial inequality today. Finally, the reading of Dalton Conley’s “Being Black, Living in the Red” would be discussed, as this accentuates the significance of housing discrimination in creating racial inequality through wealth distribution policies enforced by the American government during the period of 1970. In relation to the article titled “The New American Divide” by Charles Murray, a sort of civic culture can be apparently observed to exist in the US during the year 1960, which embraced various significant aspects. These aspects included shared experiences relating to day-to-day lives of the Americans and collective assumptions associated with fundamental American values in terms of religiosity, marriage, hard work and honesty. According to Murray, the established civic culture in the US is found to be unraveled over the previous 50 years, which eventually resulted in the formation of two sorts of cultures, viz. a new upper class and a new lower class (Murray, “The New American Divide”). As per the observation of Dennis Gilbert, in the age of growing inequality, the class structure of the Americans has been determined based upon radical changes in family roles, financial conditions and household practices of the women among others. It would be vital to mention that the capitalist class was mainly prevalent in the US in the growing age of inequality. In this particular class, the income sources of most of the Americans primarily constituted of Return on Assets (ROA). These people were mostly observed to be those who won commercial real estates along with securities like bonds and lucrative businesses (Gilbert, “Social Class in America’). In this regard, the differential savings rates and income disparities eventually depicts financial inequality amid the Americans. In accordance with the arguments presented in the book “Racism without Racists” of Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, the attitudes of the Whites, based on racial ideologies had been determined. It can be apparently observed in the book that the Whites considered the Blacks as quite irresponsible, lazy, stupid and violent during the 1940s. According to the Whites, during that period, they were far superior from the Blacks on the basis of having greater common sense and profound transition in making considerable changes (Bonilla-Silva 3-6). Based upon the understanding of Dalton Conley’s “Being Black, Living in the Red” book, the inequality persisting between the Blacks and the Whites can be determined based upon wealth too, apart from these perceptions. The reasons for the prevalence of wealth inequality between the Blacks and the Whites relating to wealth were further argued to rest upon the historical nature of race relations in the US. It is also expected that the differences in the income and inconsistent savings rates had eventually led towards wealth inequality between the Blacks and the Whites (Conley 31-32). COMPARE AND CONTRAST After summarizing the major points of the above discussed readings, it can be affirmed that one of the themes of the Pew Report, i.e. the reasons why Whites visualize more development towards racial equality in comparison with the Blacks has been specifically explained by Bonilla-Silva in his book titled, “Racism without Racists”. According to Bonilla-Silva, one of the reasons why Whites and Blacks have dissimilar perceptions of racial issues is their respective viewpoints about the significant aspect of ‘racism’. In this regard, Bonilla-Silva affirmed that the Whites belonging to the American society or culture, visualize ‘racism’ as bias in opposition to the Blacks. On the other hand, the Blacks view the notion of ‘racism’ as the means by which, every institution of the community oppress their respective prospects in any field (Bonilla-Silva 3-6). In contrast, Charles Murray, in his article titled “The New American Divide”, pointed out the reasons of raveled common civic culture, which transformed into an unraveled one over the previous 50 years for having diverse perceptions about racial issues amid the Blacks and the Whites. In this regard, Murray argued that the financial differences prevailing amid the Blacks and the Whites, such as wealth inequality, fueled up in having diverse perceptions concerning racial issues (Murray, “The New American Divide”). According to Dalton Conley’s arguments in “Being Black, Living in the Red”, the author emphasized the factor of homeownership, which contributed in raising racial inequalities amid the Blacks and the Whites. Unlike Dalton Conley, Dennis Gilbert in his book “Social Class in America” pointed out certain crucial aspects in fueling racial inequalities amid the Whites and the Black Americans. In this regard, Gilbert argued that the formation of less egalitarian and more rigid stratified community has contributed in raising racial disparities amid the Blacks and the Whites of the American society (Gilbert, “Social Class in America’). It can be apparently observed in this regard that the above discussed readings accentuated dissimilar facts regarding the existence of significant financial disparities, amid the two groups of Americans, even after 50 years of the civil rights movement, as depicted in the Pew report. In this similar context, Charles Murray, in his article, highlighted that the ignorance of the poor citizens by the richest ones based on the grounds of marriage, single parenthood, industriousness, crime, religiosity and most significantly, wealth had eventually contributed in existing significant economic disparities after 50 years of the civil rights movement. Moreover, apart from these, Murray affirmed that the unraveled situation of the common civic culture, which was raveled in America in early years, contributed to the prevalence of extensive economic disparities after the conduct of civil rights movement (Murray, “The New American Divide”). In contrast, Dalton Conley, in his book “Being Black, Living in the Red” argued that it was the historical nature of race relations persisting within the United Nations, which eventually led the existence of huge economic disparities after 50 years of the civil rights movement. Moreover, he pointed out certain imperative factors that led towards raising economic disparities amid the rich and poor citizens belonging to the US. According to him, these factors were differential savings rate along with wealth accumulation and income differences among others (Conley 31-32). This can be justified with reference to the findings of the Pew report, which depict that the wealth gap has raised during 1960-2011 by an extensive level owing to the reason of prevailing financial disparities (Pew Research Center “King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal; Many Americans See Racial Disparities”). It is worth mentioning that the reading of Dennis Gilberts’ “Social Class in America reflected the transforming class structure of the Americans to be one of the prime reasons for promoting the existence of significant economic disparities after 50 years of the civil rights movement as depicted in the Pew report. In this reading, Gilbert argued that the increased level of class segregations along with racial inequality, formation of a greater egalitarian as well as rigidly stratified society, gaining momentum of poverty, declining situation of social mobility and more concentration of wealth among others in recent times have contributed in growing significant economic disparities in the US. This particular aspect of Gilberts’ reading has been critically argued by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva in his book “Racism without Racists”. According to Bonilla-Silva, the transformation of American class structure cannot be regarded as one of the sole reasons of existing economic disparities after 50 years of the civil rights movement. In this regard, the author also considers the significance of homeownership to be the other contributory factor in promoting the same (Bonilla-Silva 3-6). This can be justified with reference to the findings of the Pew report, which portray that the household income gap between the Blacks and the Whites during 1960-2011 has widened considerably due to the existence of racial, class or social inequalities (Pew Research Center “King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal; Many Americans See Racial Disparities”). CONCLUSION As per the above analysis and discussion, it can be clearly understood that there pertain certain reasons of having diverse perceptions of the Blacks and the Whites regarding racial issues. Moreover, there also exist certain contributory factors for which, the existence of significant economic disparities can be witnessed after 50 years of the civil rights movement. In the context of the above discussed readings, it can be apparently viewed that the diverse visualizations towards ‘racism’ and the formation of unraveled common civic culture are the prime reasons for dissimilar perceptions of the Blacks and the Whites further contributing to the social issue of racial discrimination within the recent American Society. In addition, certain vital factors including the significance of homeownership and the transformation of American class structure among others can be determined to have eventually led the existence of significant economic disparities after 50 years of the civil rights movement. Works Cited Bonilla-Silva Eduardo. Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. United States: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013. Print. Conley Dalton. Being Black, Living in the Red: Race, Wealth, and Social Policy in America. United States: University of California Press, 1999. Print. Gilbert, Dennis. Social Class in America. 2007. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. Murray, Charles. The New American Divide. 2012. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. Pew Research Center. “King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal; Many Americans See Racial Disparities.” Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project (2013): 1-42. Schumann, Rebecka. I Have A Dream Martin Luther King Jr. Speech: Watch, Read Full Transcript of MLKs Historic Address Here [VIDEO]. 2013. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. Read More