American Dream? The American Dream has been depicted and romanticized as the opportunity for anyone wanting to better their lives, find their ideal jobs, exercise any freedoms they may not have previously had, and achieve a higher economic status. America has been portrayed to the rest of the world as the opportunity of a lifetime for immigrants and those born in a lower socioeconomic status to take advantage of opportunities that will improve their lives. Many foreigners come to America believing in this dream, wanting to better their lives from their country of origin. Unfortunately, the American Dream is far from being an equal opportunity for all sexes, genders, and races. Despite the phrase in America’s own pledge of allegiance that
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The establishment of slavery in the United States was used to boost the economy, the wealth of white Americans, and capitalize off of the free profit from the forced free labor of African slaves. When slavery was abolished after the civil war in 1865, America continued to oppress Black Americans through the limiting of socioeconomic opportunities to improve, the mass incarceration of Black men through the fabricated war on drugs, and the crippling conditions created to halt the advancement of the poor. With the premise of the American Dream being that anyone can come to America and take advantage of the opportunities to advance themselves, Black people in America have lived a completely different story. Black Americans, who did not choose to come to America, purposely have been socially, economically, and politically oppressed for as long as they have been in this country. As Black Americans were trying to increase their wealth, socioeconomic statuses, and educate themselves after being enslaved for years, the white America that oppressed them used discrimination as a tactic to prevent the majority of Black Americans from reaching the same level of success and socioeconomic stability. Not only were Black people enslaved for years, but they then were forced to fight for the same freedoms that America claimed existed for everyone. After this racism and oppression …show more content…
The oppression of homosexual people in the United States is another clear example of the lack of truth to the American Dream. Despite America claiming to allow everyone an equal opportunity to be successful, take ownership of what they want, and exercise certain freedoms, homophobia has run rampant in the social, economic, and political systems in America. Many gay people have faced discrimination in the workplace, politics, hate crimes, violence, health services, restaurants, and home ownership. The FBI reported that 14% of all hate crimes in the United States were committed toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals in the United States (Civil Rights Conference, 2017). Gay couples were not allowed to marry or to be benefactors of their deceased love ones until 2015. Any gay people from foreign countries looking to escape the persecution faced in their own countries would have come here to find that there is not much of a difference in treatment. Many gay men especially face great psychological, physical, and emotional abuse from the outside world. There is very little room for the American dream to become a reality for homosexual people when they have clearly faced discrimination in all aspects of what the American dream has
The establishment of slavery in the United States was used to boost the economy, the wealth of white Americans, and capitalize off of the free profit from the forced free labor of African slaves. When slavery was abolished after the civil war in 1865, America continued to oppress Black Americans through the limiting of socioeconomic opportunities to improve, the mass incarceration of Black men through the fabricated war on drugs, and the crippling conditions created to halt the advancement of the poor. With the premise of the American Dream being that anyone can come to America and take advantage of the opportunities to advance themselves, Black people in America have lived a completely different story. Black Americans, who did not choose to come to America, purposely have been socially, economically, and politically oppressed for as long as they have been in this country. As Black Americans were trying to increase their wealth, socioeconomic statuses, and educate themselves after being enslaved for years, the white America that oppressed them used discrimination as a tactic to prevent the majority of Black Americans from reaching the same level of success and socioeconomic stability. Not only were Black people enslaved for years, but they then were forced to fight for the same freedoms that America claimed existed for everyone. After this racism and oppression …show more content…
The oppression of homosexual people in the United States is another clear example of the lack of truth to the American Dream. Despite America claiming to allow everyone an equal opportunity to be successful, take ownership of what they want, and exercise certain freedoms, homophobia has run rampant in the social, economic, and political systems in America. Many gay people have faced discrimination in the workplace, politics, hate crimes, violence, health services, restaurants, and home ownership. The FBI reported that 14% of all hate crimes in the United States were committed toward gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals in the United States (Civil Rights Conference, 2017). Gay couples were not allowed to marry or to be benefactors of their deceased love ones until 2015. Any gay people from foreign countries looking to escape the persecution faced in their own countries would have come here to find that there is not much of a difference in treatment. Many gay men especially face great psychological, physical, and emotional abuse from the outside world. There is very little room for the American dream to become a reality for homosexual people when they have clearly faced discrimination in all aspects of what the American dream has