Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Professor Olivas
English 101
16 May 2017
Inequality
America is considered the land of opportunity in which its citizens are treated equal;
however, there is still inequality between the wealthy and Africans Americans. The income gap
between rich and poor Americans is the highest it has been in nearly 100 years, but the racial
inequality gap is even wider. From high school graduates to graduate degree holders, black men
and women today continue to earn less than similarly skilled white men and women. Yet missing
from this conversation is a full understanding of the historical forces that have constrained
African American earning power.In the short story The Lesson, by Toni Cade
Bambara,exposes the social inequality and lack of education for African Americans. Sylvia is
around ten years old and lives in Harlem in the 1960s. She's African American and angry, but
does not quite understand why she is angry or its connection to being African American. But that
is not to say she is not intelligent. On the contrary, she is rather sharp, as shown throughout the
story. Sylvia discovers what she learns during an important day in her life.
There are several things separating races and giving some of the races superior
satisfaction. One of the main things affecting low income families is an unfair tax system.
Inequality is a problem for middle-class and low-income workers, it affects the lower class and
helps the upper class. In the article, "Inequality Is a Problem for Middle-Class and Low-Income
Workers", the author SeanMcElweestates, Therise of income inequality and wealth inequality
are intimately connected, and cause all sorts of problems over the long term (SeanMcElwee).
The middle class suffers the most; the poor don't pay much because theycantand the rich dont
pay much because they know how to get around it. Also, the apparatus is usually set up to tax
less kind of income they usually make. The upper class have enough to live off while the lower
class do not have enough money to save. A simple way to fix this issue, the government need to
increase the taxes in the wealthy. But the rich will not let it happen.
Another issue separating the wealthy from lower income families is their
among children, undermining the promise of equal opportunity (NancyFolbre). Many middle
and low income class parentscannotafford to send the children to a private school so their only
option is a public school. Private schools do have the advantage over public schools. First off,
their parents spend money on extracurricular activities, tutors, home-learning materials, while the
lower class cannot afford it. Many families would rather home school their children instead of
sending them to a public school. Folbre also mentions, About ten percent of the students overall
only go to private or secondary schools, so the others have no other choice and will attend a
public school (Folbre). Out of those students a lot of them will not even make it to high school
About one in every three elementary children and four out of every ten highschool
studentswere not where there should have been in reading, according to the article, The No
Child Left Behind Act is Improving Education by Mary E Williams. Mary states, It is
important to recognize that pouring money into systems that do not teach and refuse to change
will not help our children (Mary E Williams).Communities must make sure to endow their
children with education properly.Some of the teaching in public schools are teaching the
childrenthe rightinformationand this is causing the children not to learn. Another disadvantage
low income students are affecting by are where they come from and how they are raised. For
example, Sylvia knew she was poor and came from a poor city neighborhood, this affected the
way she viewed life. Poverty affects their student performance. Mary mentions, With less
adequatehousing, they rarely have quiet places to study and may move more frequently,
changing schools and teachers (Williams). It affects students taking school serious and causes
them to put their efforts into everywhere else besides school. With fewer opportunities for
after-school and summer activities, their background knowledge and organizational skills are less
developed.
White Americans do get treated more fair than the other such races such as Hispanics
and African Americans. African Americans are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of
whites. There are now around 2.3millionAmericans incarcerated and out of those 2.3 million
there are around 1 million African Americans incarcerated. They have the highest rate of crime.
According to the article, "Criminal Justice Fact Sheet" by NAACP, it explains "African
American does a drug offense they will get around fifty-seven months in prison but if a white
American does a violent offense they will around sixty-one months"(NAACP ). There is only
afour-monthgap difference between those two offenses and a drug offense is not as bad as
aviolentbut this still causes them to serve the same time. Five times as many whites are using
drugs asAfrican Americans, yet African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10
Even with a college degree we still see many gaps, African Americans and Whites are
still viewed very different. In the article, 5 Key Takeaways About Views of race
and Inequality in America"by Renee Stepler, it explains the day-to-day experience between
African Americans and Whites. It also explains the race and inequality in America. African
Americans in the United States continue to lag far behind whites in key areas of economic well-
being like wealth, income and homeownership. For example Steplerstates, 64% of black adults
say blacks are treated less fairly than whites in the workplace, compared with 22% of whites who
say the same a 42-percentage-pointgap (Stepler). Blacks are also more likely to have
experienced unfair treatment because of their race or ethnicity in the past year. Stapler mentions,
"Blacks are also more likely than whites to say they have been unfairly stopped by police (18%
vs. 3%) and that they have been treated unfairly in hiring, pay or a job promotion (21% vs. 4%)
in the last year (Stepler). People of color aremore likely to work in low wage jobs and they are
also more likely to get paid less than their white counterparts in many industries. This is another
Bryan Stevenson's is a well known public interest lawyer. In the TED talk, he argues how
America is still biased, whether it is straight out or hidden. He discusses how the opposite of
poverty is not wealth, but justice. The lower class gets treated unequally, they get treated with
injustice. Stevenson explains, "America can not be full evolved human beings until we care
about civil rights" (Bryan Stevenson), which is true because having bias or prejudice against a
group of people will inhibit personal and communal growth. It will block being able to fully
succeed in life, for that persons is worrying about that group of people when they could worry
about their own future. Stevenson uses statistics and personal stories to show injustice and how it
affects certain people. One of his stories was how he hasn't had a drink in his life so far, that
people should focus on their identity, how they are overall viewed. Not for how "their people"
act, but for how they hold themselves, if they are respectable, honest, hardworking. He explains
how politics is corrupt, how there is a form of error in death row also. He discusses how people
shouldn't talk about whether that person should die, but whether the prison deserve to kill those
people. It is a different form of injustice where it is a choice that has a huge effect on people.
Someone killing another man or woman who might have killed others, kind of a backwards
game. Stevenson has a different view on this than others would have, because of his experiences,
his ethnicity.
Some people have the opportunity to have a better life and do not take advantage. For
example in the article, Blacks Still Far Behind Whites In Wealth And Income, the author
Tanzina Vega states, Homes owned by blacks also tend toappreciate less in valuethan those
owned by whites, particularly if they are in black communities that experienced high rates of
foreclosure (TanzinaVega). She believes they do not take care of their homes as they should.
Another reason few African Americans lack is their work ethic. African Americans crime rates
have thehighest percent. Because they lack motivation and education, this causes them to have
highest unemployment, twice as much as white Americans. African Americans do not put their
effort into work so they will put it on other such as crime and drugs. Many people would say
they do not have the work ethic as white Americans do. White Americans go to college and do
the work to get a good job and that is why they have the lowest unemployment rates. However,
talk, David believes racism is a rigged system. He does not enjoy the way people view races and
see them different. One of the main thing the way see races is because of poverty and
discriminatory. William mentions "When poverty is discriminatory, then markets are not
working correctly and the virtues that we believe should be rewarded such as education,
intelligence, skill, effort, work ethic" (David R Williams). So, people need looking at each
other races and start focusing on helping each other out. He believes there is an advantage to
coming from poverty. He grew up from a unsafe neighborhood but changed his future because he
wanted better. In the story the lesson, Sylvia had a teacher Ms. Moore take the students out on a
field trip and have them an opportunity to see another world. They saw what life was with money
and they were very shocked, they would see the price tags on what the stores were selling and be
shocked. Sylvia saw this other world and wanted that life.
Wealthhasmany advantages that lower class will never even have but the value of
education for children end up outweighing the obstacles these children must face, when growing
up inpoverty.Manykids live in poverty and have the disadvantage, however, they have lived in
poverty so they want a better future for themselves. They see they want better and their
background causes them to succeed. Sylvia knew who was and where she camefrom and
realized she wanted so much more.Miss Moore gave the children many opportunities for the
children to take advantage of the best gift being given to them, education. They go from being
close minded about some issues regarding poverty and their own statuses, to realizing the bigger