The American dream is a fantasy defined by white privilege, purported by a society that ignores disparities that further the racial divide between achievement and ceaseless labor.
Though most Americans believe exercising a meticulous work ethic allows them to reap the benefits of this country’s giving spirit, that reality is only subjected to those who look in the mirror and exemplify the physical characteristics of the U.S. forefathers.
The American dream, defined by a Jan. 20 Investopedia article, is the belief that anyone, regardless of their differences can attain their own version of success, and has always showcased itself for centuries as a marketing ploy to entice foreigners. This is parallelled by the government rejecting guaranteed opportunities for success among minorities residing in the U.S.
Minority communities have unceasingly strived to attain the goals of the American dream by participating in an egalitarian society. But, this society is unfortunately unrealistic and falsely glorified by government elitism as the U.S. continues to suppress minority efforts.
Clearly, the government doesn’t care enough about minority communities as it promotes a history of equality, but turns a blind eye to equity.
Equality provides individuals or groups with similar resources and opportunities. While equity recognizes “different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome,” according to a Nov. 5, 2020 article by George Washington University.
To truly understand the difference, imagine providing a rich and poor person with a single apple and claiming equality, but the poor individual suffers from hunger while the millionaire passes it off as just another snack.
See, equality has been promised throughout U.S. history, but equity has not been guaranteed – a problem that continues to spiral in the 21st century.
The “wealth gap between America’s richest and poorer families more than doubled between 1989 and 2016,” according to a 2018 Pew Research article.
The article described an economic increase for Asian and white individuals, while Black, Latinx and Native American populations saw little to no equitable financial increase.
The U.S. is experiencing a Catch-22 situation, a term coined by author Joseph Heller describing a paradoxical problem without a solution because of contradictory issues. This stems from a divisive history of racism and its lack of acknowledgement.
The enactment of the National Housing Act in 1934 was meant to encourage improvements in housing standards and conditions, according to a May 3, 2017 article by NPR.
However, it actually further segregated efforts by refusing to insure mortgages in Black communities and established the practice of “redlining,” or the refusal of loans within certain living areas, as defined by Britannica.
The destructive nature of the act inherently affects minority communities.
The country eventually started investing in schools that benefited the country’s growth, while forsaking schools in predominantly minority-populated areas.
Members of EdBuild, a nonprofit dedicated to educational funding, conducted research in 2020 regarding financial distribution in U.S. schools depending on racial and ethnic factors.
The research found that “nonwhite districts receive[d] significantly less funding than white districts . . . because [America’s] system relies heavily on community wealth.”
When minority students graduate high school, they’re disproportionately neglected by higher education because of the racial gap that divides them from their white peers, the research also found.
On May 23, 2018, researchers from the Center for American Progress published “The Neglected College Race Gap: Racial Disparities Among College Completers” and identified white students inordinately received their collegiate degrees from both public and private four-year nonprofit institutions.
The research also found “Black and Hispanic completers were much more likely to have graduated from for-profit schools,” an academic system that has received backlash for its lack of accredited education and resources.
Another reason why the American dream is unachievable for minorities is because of community racial-wealth gaps present in the U.S.
A Sept. 28, 2020 article by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System reported that white families have the highest level of median wealth at $188,200, meanwhile Black and Hispanic families have significantly lower incomes at $24,100 and $36,100, respectively.
It’s as though the U.S. government masks its racism with bafflement, when it’s clear our political regime is unabating the persecution of racial minorities.
We live in a country fractured by racial oppression, exacerbated by our government’s ignorance in recognizing the extremely faltering ambitions of the American dream.
The unfortunate reality is that academic perseverance and inexhaustibly working toward a degree will not exuberantly increase the chance of a successful livelihood.
As long as the majority of American politics biasedly and brazenly maintains the efforts of white Americans, people of color will not have an equal playing field for the American dream.
