Since the beginning of the our course, I knew that there were always at least two different American Dreams. One that is based on materialistic ideas and another based on belief in abstract concepts such as peace, love, and togetherness. Reading Walter Fisher helped me realized that that type of American Dream is called the moralistic type. However upon doing research for the current project, I’ve come to realize that not everyone gets the option to choose which dream they want to pursue because of segregation.
I know when most of us hear or think of the word segregation, we think of history and how that term is supposed to be ancient, outdated, and terminated. However many would find it shocking to believe that it still exists today right in front of our very faces. It is happening to minority groups, but more specifically the African American and Hispanic communities. I am focusing my essay on how segregation in society today affects the pursuit of the American Dream for minority groups.
So what exactly does segregation in modern society look like today? A prime example of this would be in residential communities. Historian and sociologist James Loewen discusses segregation in residential communities and how it shapes the American Dream for blacks and whites in his article “Dreaming in Black and White”. Blacks are grouped into one neighborhood, whites are grouped into another neighborhood and that is the area with the better resources and services. One of Loewen’s claims include that it is more likely that African Americans receive inferior public services such as education and health care as a result of residential segregation (68). Because of the lack of resources given to African Americans in these substandard neighborhoods, they are not being provided with the necessary resources to achieve their dreams such as for starters good health and better education and are forced to live this mediocre lifestyle.
Loewen adds that racism is still present in society and is in fact a “a central part of it” (71). He concludes that as a result, African American families pursuing the American Dream will face “special obstacles” (68). Law professor Sheryll Cashin supports Loewen’s claims by adding to the claim that segregation is everywhere in society. Cashin weighs in on segregation with children. She writes that typically blacks and hispanics are placed into high-poverty and white students are “becoming more and more isolated” as a result of suburbanization. Black and hispanic children are receiving inferior education and therefore not receiving the same if not better opportunities white children are receiving.
Of course this is not referring to the entire black, hispanic, and white population but numbers speak truth. According to the US Census Bureau, nearly 50% of the poverty comes from a combination of blacks and Hispanics. In every state, blacks and Hispanics have the highest poverty rating with white populations falling below 10%. I believe for the most part this is a result of discrimination, racism, and segregation.
In all, the lack of resources and services given to minority groups are a result of segregation in our current society. Because of this, minority groups are not able to reach their highest potential and have to settle with what's given to them. Research done by professors like Loewen and Cashin has concluded that rooted and present day racism is a prominent drive for modern day segregation and that it’s only getting worse. I’ve concluded that segregation is clearly not preventable. It happened in the early twentieth century and was thought to be abolished but it still persists in the twenty first century. However, I believe having more diversity in the local, state, and national government is imperative and could possibly lead to segregation being terminated.
