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Victoria Vazquez

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

children's education. In the article, Helping Low-Income Children Succeed, the

author NancyFolbrestates, Diverging incomes among families lead to diverging destinies

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

and they will not even get their diploma.

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

times the rate of Whites.

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

reason for inequality in the workenvironmentand it is not fair that favoritismgoingon.

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,

there are still African Americans that succeed.

David R. Williams is a well known public health sociologist. In the TED

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

and more important issues they should be concerned about.

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