I wanted to comment on what Frank wrote in his post regarding Marger talking about inadequate resources being given to the minority groups. I have to disagree with the statement,
"I agree that someone born into a certain economic class has fewer resources with which to better him or herself, but I don’t think that this is limited to race. that the distribution of resources is never limited to race. I feel that a black person in the middle class has just as much a chance to better himself or herself as a white person."
Racism is often subtle and covert. African Americans in the middle class deal with this reality on a day to day basis. There have been many books and many studies on the discrimination that many middle class blacks face. There is prejudice that exist against black renters and homebuyers by white landlords, real estate agents, and homeowners. The hidden nature of this type of racism is very troublesome. This is what keeps middle class blacks from having the same oppourtunities as middle class whites.
I have heard the stories from members of my own family who are considered to be middle class about discrimination in job salary, evaluations, and promotions.
In order to understand why this is not true you have to think about wealth in this country who has control of it and how racism effects the distribution of wealth in relation to minorities in all classes. Wealth whether it is home equity, money in a savings account, pension or investments is used to tap into opportunities build more wealth.
Wealth passes down from generation to generation. Many African Americans inherited less wealth from their parents than today's whites did. There is an older generation of African Americans who accumulated less wealth because discrimination in their day kept most of them poor and denied them opportunities other Americans enjoyed.
The disparity in wealth persists. Without inherited wealth, emergencies have a bigger effect, and people who have no money saved have less opportunities to take advantage of. Because of the wealth deficit, African Americans find themselves more vulnerable to emergencies and less able to capitalize on breaks than whites with the same income. This means that the next generation inherits less thus keeping a gap in wealth between whites and minorities.
These things all contribute into why blacks don't have the same chance to better themselves that many white people have regardless of class. I am pretty sure that the book we read called white priviledge will touch on some of these things.
Chris I appreciate your point and understand the truth behind what your saying. I was aware of the subtle racism that exists. But my point is suggesting that what your saying is generalizing.Its just not true that all Black people have it worse off then whites; which is what I was trying to say. I would argue that the same white landlord who discriminates against a black family would also discriminate against a poor white family. Therefore class discrimination is implied rather than racist mentality.
ReplyDeleteDoes finding exceptions to the rules of the ethnic stratification system change the fact that as a whole Africans Americans tend to be clustered towards the bottom of the ethnic hierarchy? Are generalizations always bad or inaccurate, or sometimes can they be useful and true? Given the ideology of racism that stands as a justification to the U.S.'s ethnic stratification system can we accurately say that whites and blacks have the same privileges and access to resources despite the fact that they may be of similar class positions?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, Chris, we will discuss many of these issues in greater detail when we read the White Privilege anthology!