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Lauren Yang

Ms. Jorgensen

English 10H

2 December 2018

Opportunity and Success

Inequality is inherent and interwoven into the foundations of society. One group will

always have the upper hand at the expense of the minority. Success, in our modern world, is

often dictated by one’s upbringing and assets as opposed to hard work and strive.

The wealthy, predominantly white beneficiaries of society tend to view the world with

blinders on. As stated in the article “The Failures of Integration, “The 7 percent of the

population of large metropolitan areas that live in affluence, job-rich, predominately white

suburban enclaves are the biggest winners […] Everyone else gets a very different deal; the

black poor get the worst deal, often being relegated to hypersegregated neighborhoods that are

incubators of extreme social distress” (Cashin 1). The fact of the matter is, the top one percent

relishes their status and the feeling of exclusivity. They enjoy their success and “winner” status

without acknowledging the much larger proportion of less endowed, marginalized minorities

who are not privy to the almost exclusively suburban-centered educational and employment

opportunities. Many Americans dismiss these issues as a problem of the past, and much of this

apathy is due to the persistent separation that allows the wealthy white to quickly forget about

blatant inequalities. In reality, as explained by Ta-Nehisi Coates, “As for now, it must be said

that the process of washing the disparate tribes white, the elevation of the belief in being white,

was not achieved through wine tastings and ice cream socials, but rather through the pillaging of

life, liberty, labor…” (8). Success in society was chiefly not self-made, and rather at the expense
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of the vulnerability of others. Meritocracy has no meaning in America’s racially

compartmentalizing and classist society, where success can be predetermined by one’s ethnic

background or economic status.

Judgement and unmerited assumptions, especially of race, often precede depth of

knowledge, leading people to make shallow and unfair assessments. In her TED Talk,

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie explained, “The consequence of the single story is this: It robs

people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how

we are different rather than how we are similar” (“The Danger of a Single Story”). Evaluation

by stereotyping, whether conscious or unconscious, has lead to a significant decrease in

opportunities for African-Americans when compared to white competitors. A study by the

National Bureau of Economic Research showed that, “Job applicants with white names needed

to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to

send around 15 resumes to get one callback” (Francis 1). This is another facet of society’s

predisposed standards that prevent lower-income black families from reaching stable middle- or

upper-class living.

Discrimination in real estate plays a large factor in the success of families and their

children. Limited access to middle-class housing, proper education, and quality public services

can severely hinder progress, and further increase the gap between the rich and the poor. The

novel The Hate U Give explores this concept, in that, ‘"Corporate America don't bring jobs to

our communities, and they sure ain't quick to hire us. Then, even if you do have a high school

diploma, so many of the schools in our neighborhoods don't prepare us well enough”’ (Thomas

169). In addition, although there may be more economic opportunities in more affluent,

predominantly white communities, socially, “The danger black people find in white
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neighborhoods comes both from neighbors and from the government, in the form of people who

harass, schools that label children as problems, public services that seem to diminish as the

proportion of white residents declines” (Smithsimon). Black residents in a white community,

despite equivalent income and status, must work harder than their neighbors to disprove racial

stereotypes, and to not attract negative attention.

Race plays the largest role in one’s proximity to success and how many opportunities are

offered and available to them. Disregarding the uneven playing field of others based on

differentiation of race only helps to increase apathy to everyday injustices.

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Works Cited

Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. “The Danger of a Single Story.” TED, July 2009.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. Between the World and Me. Spiegel and Grau, 2015.

Francis, David. “Employers’ Replies to Racial Names.” The National Bureau of

Economic Research, 2006.

Thomas, Angie. The Hate U Give. Balzer and Bray, 2017.

Turner, Marjory Austin, and Julie Fenderson. “Understanding Diverse Neighborhoods in an Era

of Demographic Change.” The Urban Institute, June 2006.

Smithsimon, Gregory. “Are African American Families More Vulnerable in a Largely White

Neighborhood?” Cause… And How It Doesn’t Always Equal Effect, Melville House, 13

February 2018.