What Is Equality In Malcolm Gladwell's Black Like Them?

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When growing up in the United States many have heard throughout their childhood that “society here is equal”. This, however, is untrue in many ways. For one, America didn’t become close to equal until women achieved their rights a couple of decades back. The United States shows how unequal it actually is towards its people, the land of supposed freedom to obtain success. Malcolm Gladwell informs in his article, “Black Like Them”, how there is an aspiration for a better future due to the people looking past racism, however it can’t be achieved due to there always having to be a scapegoat in society. In the article “Horatio Alger” where Harlon L. Dalton states that people cannot become successful just for their hard work due to the judgmental …show more content…
Showcasing that race and gender does play a role in influencing one’s success because of new racism, opportunities in the workplace, and the contradictions society gives on the supposed “equality”.

“New Racism” is racism in disguise. According to Malcolm Gladwell, “America might be have been home. But it is not” (6) explains how many immigrants believe that there is a better living in America, but come over to see that it isn’t due to this form of racism that came to be in America. To describe in depth there are subunits of what “new racism” actually is. As stated before ‘new racism’ is racism that is hidden, in fact it is the hybrid form of racism that has developed over the years. Within ‘new racism’ there is positive discrimination, stereotyping, victim blaming, and the supposed ‘good’ vs. ‘bad’. Positive discrimination is the act of giving advantage to groups that are often treated unfairly, an example of this would be that all Asians are smart. This is still racism but because people are saying something positive about the group, it doesn’t seem as harsh as straight out racism. Stereotyping is an idea used to describe a particular type of person or thing, still using the example from before follows through since there is a certain idea used to describe a group of
…show more content…
According to Harlon L. Dalton, there is a thing he calls the Horatio Alger myth in other words is that “each of us is judged solely on her or his merits; (2) we each have a fair opportunity to develop those merits; and (3) ultimately, merit will out” (3). Dalton states that these components make up the myth that people are able to become successful in society because it has no judgement, can be obtained through hard work, and such. Dalton’s main point about the Horatio Alger myth is that not everything is attainable through hard work. Thus showing that in society has more hardships than what Horatio Alger makes it seem, alluding to how society can be extremely judgemental. Making hard work go down the drain when striving for success, if there are people who will critique others before even giving them a chance in the workforce. Dalton states this in the article “Horatio Alger” on page 3, “Black folk certainly know what it is like to be favored, disfavored, scrutinized, and ignored all on the basis of our race.” Shedding light on how society can be cruel to people in how they look other than how they work. This cruelty is also shown in Slyvia Plath’s article, “I Won. I’m Sorry.”, with women athletes since they are to be seen as both “vulnerable” and “beautiful”. Which brought forth the “femininity game”, a game in which women who are strong and capable

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