Class, Race, and Poverty

In addressing the race versus class issue, I do not think a person can overlook one from the other. In the book it talks about African Americans living in more impoverished areas, and not having as many opportunities. A person could look at this and see more of a class issue, where a person is in the position that they are, is simply because they are poor. But I think a person should also look at the fact, that the reasons that many blacks are in an impoverished state, is because the ways they were treated in the past. If a black family has been impoverished for generations, it could’ve started during a time of discrimination, where they weren’t able to advance themselves. That it has continued through generations, and the current group is impoverished because of cultural issues. Where poverty becomes a way of life to certain groups, where it goes from generation to generation, that causes lacks of incentives.

Either way it is a fact that blacks are overall more poor then whites, and overall make less then whites. Which I do believe in many cases is a race issue. In 2007 a study was done on men who were 25 years or older and worked full time and what degree of education they had. In the study they compared white, black, Hispanic and Asians. No matter the education level of each group, the white group always made more. An example is for education less than 9th grade, whites made $40,000 and blacks made $27,239. Then with a master’s degree, whites made $98,932 and blacks made $65,146. I think this study alone shows that, although we have come a long way when it comes to issues of race, we still have a long way to go. And although everyone is suppose to have equal opportunities, it does not always play out that way.

Cassandra Paternosh Post #8