The Role Of Social Inequality In The United States

Improved Essays
It is a fact that the United States has come a long way since the days of Jim Crow. Nevertheless, we are still fighting with a system and a sector of our culture that insists on holding on to old prejudices and stereotypes. The idea that we are all created equal and have the same rights under the law still needs to be realized for a good portion of minorities. Racial discrimination and inequality certainly need to be something in our distant past; it should only be seen in our history books with the purpose of ensuring that future generations do not commit the same social injustice. With the intention to contribute to the conversation about eradicating racial discrimination and inequality, the Executive Director of the "Opportunity Agenda",

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Since the birth of the United States of America, there have always been issues that have split the country. These hot-topics have changed over time, in the recent years we’ve seen the repercussions of the divide over gay marriage. Currently, we face racial inequalities that many believe to need a reformation. These racial inequities have existed for much longer, however. In 1791, we saw this inequality in slavery; one of the most disgusting things this country has ever faced.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Welcome to America: Home of the Oppressed Many people in society today believe one can excel in life simply because of the color of their skin. While some people, whites, excel in life, there are is an opposite group who are suppressed, blacks. Since the beginning of American history, white individuals have suppressed the black race by slavery, segregation, and even mass incarceration. Even though the addition of the Civil Rights amendments guaranteed equal rights for blacks in the United States, a new method of racial segregation in the United States exists. The author of The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander, believes blacks are still suppressed in today’s society.…

    • 1497 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    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.…

    • 1005 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Inequalities In America

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages

    America is equal and America is free: is a saying I have heard many times throughout my life as a student. In elementary school, we learned about the American Revolution and the fight for freedom and equality against the British. We learned about the Civil War and the freedom of slaves. We learned about the Industrial Revolution and how people immigrated over to America from Europe and found a better life. We learned about the Civil Rights movement and how the abolishment or Jim Crow lead to the equality of black and white people.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    America Income Inequality

    • 2281 Words
    • 10 Pages

    The United States is a country founded on ideals and unfulfilled aspirations of a perfect nation in which all are equal and no one group of people has too much power. Our history is filled with the constant struggle between fulfilling those ideals and maintaining status quo and allowing the nation to stagnate or regress allowing inequality to reign and certain groups to control the country. While our nation has struggled on this point it bears to ask whether real political and social change is actually possible in the United States, or if throughout our history and in our future we simply continue as we have since our nation was founded? While change has never come quietly and it often feels as though the journey is a constant one step forward…

    • 2281 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Racial inequality persists in every facet of life today. Its nature takes many forms from micro-aggressions to the complex systems of oppression instituted by those who hold power. Whether it is implicit racial assumptions that people make or hate filled campaigns, inequality entrenches itself deep within our nation’s history and still clouds the minds of those in present day. Inequality affects day to day interactions. Inequality barrages job opportunities.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After the Civil War, America worked on rebuilding itself and fixing its major flaws. Soon after came the rise of capitalism. America would face lots of corruption and experience numerous scandals. This rise of capitalism and big businesses would permanently transform America from its previous agrarian lifestyle, to an industrial powerhouse. As always, this would bring along Social, political, and economic problems the nation would have to face.…

    • 159 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I think inequality becomes a problem when people no longer have a realistic chance of achieving upwards mobility. The idea of a capitalist society is that we all have a chance to thrive and live a life of plenty if we work hard. I think inequality is a problem in the U.S. today firstly because of the lack of opprotunity for upwards mobility that I just mentioned. There are other clear signs that inequality is a problem.…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    “The rich become richer while the poor become poorer” this is a laymen analogy for economic inequality. The U.S is the leader in inequality between other democratic societies. The article “making a mockery of the American dreams” highlights a lot of the factual evidence that leads us to believe America is plagued by inequality. First fact noted in the article is that while productivity has been on a constant rise, pay has remained the same. At the same time, the top 1% percent of Americans share of the national income has risen from 11% to 23% in 2013.…

    • 232 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Inequality In America

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages

    In the business world of today the CEOs and members of Wall Street seem to keep going up and up and the workers of Main Street seem to be staying the same or going down. The distribution of wealth keeps growing as CEOs are coming home with bigger and bigger paychecks. President Obama gave a speech in December of 2013, which centered on economic mobility to shed light on the debate over wealth distribution. The workers of America struggling to be able to pay the bills, be prepared for retirement and make sure that they children have it better than they did. The president, along with the workers of America, want to make sure that our economy works and functions efficiently for everyone as well as effectively creating programs like Race to the Top to help control economic mobility.…

    • 1328 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    America has made the decision to stay colorblind and form an unequal society for African Americans and other minorities. There is presence of racial inequality and discrimination in America’s educational institutions, environment, workforce, law enforcement, and criminal justice system. In order for America to progress from its racist past, white Americans must acknowledge and accept the fact that racism still reigns sovereign in every area of the United…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Introduction It is disheartening to know that over the past 25 years, Americans are still fighting for equality. Disheartening are many measures of the opportunities and difficulties faced by African Americans and, to a lesser extent, White Americans (cite). Social inequality continues to be characterized by unequal opportunities within different social groups. Being a white person in America you are automatically distinguished as “normal,” privileged, and the dominant group. For example, as an African American woman, I am targeted and perceived as oppressed because I identify as black and a woman.…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Among the broad range of inequality issues in America, racial inequality is currently one of the biggest issues faced today. Since America’s initial forming stages, whites have had a superiority over other races. As time went on, America began to form a foundation for its cultural racism as a result of slavery. Believing that whites were the superior race upon any other minority was socially accepted. Racial inequality since America’s slavery era plays a crucial role in today’s significantly different achievements across races.…

    • 1613 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In a capitalistic based economy such as the United States, it creates incomes that are small and large. Having an unequal amount of large or low incomes is called income inequality. Income inequality has become a major problem in the United States, increasing 24% from 1968 to 2012” (Cochran). The gap between the rich and the poor is growing at an ever increasing rate. In the United States the gap is measured by relative poverty, or “being below one-half the nations income” (Cochran).…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We are in the twenty-first century but still we discriminate people based on color. From the time of slavery till today, the race is the major factor which determines the opportunity for individuals of African descent. America is known as “Land of Opportunities” offering equal right and prospects to all, but still that is not truly implemented within our society. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, “the poverty rate for white Americans in 2010 was 13.0 percent. But it was substantially higher for people of color—27.4 percent for blacks and 26.6 percent for Hispanics.”…

    • 659 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays