I would go as far as to say the racial divide has become worse since the times of redlining and urban renewal. Yes, there are more equal opportunities for all now and much less blatant racism, however there is still a present divide amongst people of different classes and races. Notable, the African American race has been the less wealthy race, which brings about more racial stereotypes from both ends and ties money into an already tense issue. This is a problem that, as it seems, is very hard to solve. When I was younger and attending my primarily black school, I thought that the best way to deal with racism was to simply not talk about it; I realized that the majority of racism, whether it be based on the color of your skin or how much money you have, had been passed down through generations and that the parents of my fellow students were often just as racist as the kids themselves. However after watching the film and reading over the statistics, I realized that the best way to deal with racism is to create a dialogue amongst different people and try to find a common ground for everyone. ETHS is a great start to that, placing literally every race and economic class in Evanston into one place. As I said earlier, people there still tend to stick with people like them, but at least getting them together and possibly creating some common experiences will be helpful. The government's role in this seems to be a murky one, for the damage that has been done is hard to undo. Hopefully the race of our president will help create this dialogue, however there is always the possibility that it will simply reinforce racial stereotypes. Despite these factors, I do think that this is an issue that will take work and several years to even get us to a place where these problems are not so obviously within American society.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Race/Ethnicity and Socioeconomics
The film brought up an interesting fact that this racial divide has been occurring for several years with no real progress. In my own town of Evanston, there obviously is still a clean cut racial divide amongst people, which is mostly based on your location. Although everyone in Evanston attending a public high school is all at the same location, their homes and grade schools play a major part in who they will be become friends with and ultimately what they do later on in life. I spent my grade school experience for the most part as a minority in a primarily African American school and I can say that that integration is not only daunting, but not very effective. This shows that maybe integration in schools is not the best way to bury racial barriers, which was also present back in the mid 1900s when a small amount of black students were brought into a primarily white school. Obviously, my school experience was nothing like this, but racism was still present there.
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I agree with Peter that the racial divide has become worse since redlining/urban renewal. For one, each new generation basically takes up the same beliefs (without majority of people realizing that they are). So with each new generation, the split becomes worse.
ReplyDeleteAnother way that it has become worse is that it is not so obvious. This is more my opinion of what 'worse' is, but I would rather discrimination or hatred/dislike to be more in my face than behind my back.
I also agree with Peter's point that racism is generally passed down from generation to generation. It gets to the point where the new generation may not understand why the older generations dislike something so much, but still hold on to the belief.
I also believe that racist ideals are passed down to younger generations, but i disagree that younger generations still hold on to these beliefs. Clearly some do, but overtime i believe that the amount of racism in america has decreased; however, the economic divide between races has increased. It is easier to start from wealthy parents and continue to be wealthy, but it is a lot harder to come from a low-class family and become rich. The whole issue of redlining and division of races started this trend. Whites were given more opportunity and used this to become wealthy. Meanwhile, blacks were not given the same opportunities and remained poor. Today, i believe that blacks are still segregated from white communities, but it seems that more opportunities have risen. I believe that hard work and perseverance will help rid the country of racism, as well as help from other races throughout this process.
ReplyDeleteThis process would be shortened by rebuilding the public school system. Schools in more run down areas should be given more funding and students from these bad neighborhoods should be offered spots at the top public schools, usually found in suburbs. The system right now is increasing the divide and it must be changed.
It is clear that when someone brings up the issue of racism, it is simply black vs. white. Historically, the most racism has been between blacks and whites. Still, there is much more racism in america that needs to be combatted. Whether it is caused by ethnicity, religion, gender, economic status, or skin color. Realisticlly, i do not see an end of racism or inequalities in the near future. As long as one class is in power, which there will always be, there will be inequalities. Still, the impact of these inequalities can be decreased. Which can be done by offering equal opportunities to all various groups, educating young people about differences, and making it aware to students why these inequalities are present. Furthermore, groups that feel that society limits their opportunities must have a direct stand on the issue, they can not sit back and wait. My grandpa wanted to stop being poor in america, so when his father died when he was twelve my grandpa took over the family grocery store. Because of his hatred of poverty, hard work, and dedication, his family was no longer poor. It was probably easier to do because he was white, but there was still discrimination against immigrants at this time. On account of his dedication, he was able to overcome society's restrictions even at such an early age.
Though I see Peter's arguments, I believe that the more serious issue is that of the unacknowledged racism that occurs everyday, most specifically with socio-economic statuses. Very little has been done to try to make people equal socially, not just legally.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I believe that integration could only ever be a positive step. It wasn't to try to gain absolute acceptance, it was to gain equality, something that was clearly lacking in the education system of African-Americans at the time.
Finally, I don't think that each generation holds the same beliefs as previous generations. If this were true, the Civil Movement never would have occurred; more so, progress in general would never have occurred. In the past few generations, acceptance has grown considerably.
Clearly, there is a link between race and socio-economic class and access to privilege, wealth, and power in our country. Communities of color tend to be worse off economically and statistically a disproportionate percentage of people of color live in poverty compared to the white population. Several policies have contributed to this racial divide including the redlining, urban renewal, and blockbusting of the mid 1900s. Racism was present in communities like Levittown and because of that it has contributed to today’s demographics. I agree with Peter that racism is passed down from generation to generation. A person isn’t born racist; he or she is taught to be racist or prejudiced. Racial divide has grown and racist ideals have been institutionalized and it is going to take a lot of work to eradicate them. I also agree that racism must be addressed and discussed, not ignored. Racism and discrimination are not going to just go away; we have to work towards eliminating them. Racism definitely has contributed to ethnic segregation, but I also believe de fact segregation plays a role in society. I live in a white community, but I don’t think that I necessarily live in a racist or discriminatory community. People tend to live where they’re comfortable and with those they are comfortable with and oftentimes people are most comfortable living among those they are similar to. This leads to segregated communities, schools, etc. Just because an area or a school is predominantly one race, religion, etc that does not make it prejudiced. However, it is undeniable that racism has made an enormous contribution to today’s demographics and socioeconomics and we must work towards making a change. If we go on as we are, the racial divide will only increase. I agree with Bette that the poorer get poorer and the richer get richer. Unfortunately, the poorer tend to be minorities because of the way things were handled when areas were first being developed and the racism that has existed for centuries.
ReplyDeleteI agree wtih Bette's that the more serious issue is unacknowledged racism and this is occuring everyday within socio-economic class. I think the past has definitely had an affect on how race does affect the inequality in socio-economics. People's ideas about racism does come from how they are raised, if someone grows up with the teachings of racism then those ideas stick with them and the ideas just keeping spreading. i don't think when people live in an all white community are discriminating against blacks it just so happened that it is where they happened to like to live. Racism has been around for a very long time and I think we need to work hard to end it because there are those that will keep trying to spread it and this will affect our country economically and in the way we see equality.
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