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A Broken Social Elevator? How to Promote Social Mobility

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A Broken Social Elevator? How to Promote Social Mobility

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In this editorial, the author discusses Canada's great success in promoting social welfare and mobility. One reason that Canada has succeeded in such a way is their universal health care policy and exceedingly successful education system despite only spending less than 10% of the United States' national education budget. Although everyone would benefit from a universal health care system, many are hesitant to accept the taxation for the betterment of all, especially those leaning a little farther to the right. It's those same right-leaning people that refuse welfare proposals to help the impoverished move up on the social ladder. While all of this is true, there are still some areas in Canada, namely remote parts and Indigenous reserves, that could use some economic stimulus. These same locations in the United States could also use some aid, Native reserves especially.

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This article recounts one student's many encounters with discrimination throughout his school career. This sheds a light on how horribly we have treated the native people of this land. These people can barely leave their poverty stricken, crumbling towns. Drugs, alcoholism, and high infant mortality, higher than any state in the nation, cripple these communities further. All because of some rich white men a few hundred years ago were afraid of these powerful people. Again, fear is the reason. Fear is what is keeping these people down, similarly to Janie, who fears leaving Jody and her abusive relationship.

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FIRST GRADE / My hair was too short and my U.S. Government glasses were horn-rimmed, ugly, and all that first winter in school, the other Indian boys chased me from one corner of

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In this poem, Liam Hughs describes the divide between the classes. He uses phrases like, "They're picking off an empty bone," and, "All your clothes are made of lace," to emphasize this divide. What created this monstrosity is something very trivial and we, as humans, deal with everyday, fear. Harking back to Daryl Davis and his chain of hatred, this fear spirals into a hatred which evolves into violence. This colossal divide between gender, race, and social status is continually growing, and while there are steps being taken to close in that chasm, it will be a long time before we are all truly equal.

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As people hide their evil traits
The darkness in them lies in wait
As rebels aim towards the state
Venom reveals itself as hate
But I do not think that time is late
It's time to listen to what passes

People who rely on proof
To test the things they know as truth
Will always fear the rising youth
The eagles claw the lions tooth
The devils eyes the horses hoof
As they try to break the social classes

While you cannot clear an empty space
You can read it in the daily race
Though fear is written on your face
All your clothes are made of lace
Not content with setting pace
Your world is full farces

But if this world could be seen
As part of an endless dream
You would wake in your beds and scream
How did this world become so mean
When did we tear the weakened seam
And can we repair the broken system

As trembled voices try to scare
All the time you're unaware
There's movement in the crowds that bare
The weight of all you tried to share
As you try to avoid their stare
You know you cannot miss them

While workers work to fill your home
They're picking off an empty bone
But you cannot hear their sickly groan
But you can see they're forced to roam
But while you're sitting on your throne
You can't even say god bless them

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The Social Classes Poem by Liam Hughes - Poem Hunter

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As people hide their evil traits The darkness in them lies in waitAs rebels aim towards the stateVenom reveals itself as hateBut I do not think that time is lateIt's time to listen to what passes People who rely on proofTo test the things they know as truthWill always fear

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A five year study was preformed in four cities during the 1990's to analyze the role of race in the US job market. The study found that blacks were consistently on the bottom in terms of hours worked, capital earned, and generation of job offers. Many of the 3500 employers interviewed stated that, "blacks were more likely to be on welfare, more likely to commit crimes and harder to get along with than other groups." Race is a key factor in social mobility and equality. Before we can all have the same opportunities, we must all be willing to give everyone those same opportunities.

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The popular 70's television show "All in the Family" showcases the uneducated and bigoted Archie Bunker who just can't seem to escape that which he hates. Episode twenty of season four, Lionel Jefferson hosts an engagement party. The Jefferson's are wealthy African-Americans, which plays against the stereotypes of the time. It's sad to say, but while media standards have changed, our outlook on minorities and stereotypes haven't. Social mobility has always been a magnetic force for immigrants and citizens alike, but the stereotypes we enforce, be it conscious or unconscious, hinder that social and economic growth that comes with social mobility.

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The Bunkers, Stivics and Jeffersons attend Lionel's engagement party. His fiancée is a young woman whose father is white and mother is black, much to the chagrin of Archie and (especially) George.

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"All in the Family" Lionel's Engagement (TV Episode 1974)

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Directed by John Rich. With Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner, Sally Struthers. The Bunkers, Stivics and Jeffersons attend Lionel's engagement party. His fiancée is a young woman whose father is white and mother is black, much to the chagrin of Archie and (especially) George.

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As Ta-Nehisi's Coates writes, "The average per capita income of Chicago’s white neighborhoods is almost three times that of its black neighborhoods." This scenario exists in North Lawndale, Chicago. The area was graded "C" by the Federal Housing Administration during a time in it's history when redlining was utilized. This redlining policy prevented black citizens, and those in proximity to them, from being approved for a mortgage. It's these racist practices that hinder the growth of our nation as a whole.

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TNC focuses in on North Lawndale, a neighborhood in Chicago, to make his point. But it's a similar story across the country.

North Lawndale is an extreme portrait of the trends that ail black Chicago. Such is the magnitude of these ailments that it can be said that blacks and whites do not inhabit the same city. The average per capita income of Chicago's white neighborhoods is almost three times that of its black neighborhoods. When the Harvard sociologist Robert J. Sampson examined incarceration rates in Chicago in his 2012 book, Great American City, he found that a black neighborhood with one of the highest incarceration rates (West Garfield Park) had a rate more than 40 times as high as the white neighborhood with the highest rate (Clearing). "This is a staggering differential, even for community-level comparisons," Sampson writes. "A difference of kind, not degree." ...

Black people with upper-middle-class incomes do not generally live in upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Sharkey's research shows that black families making $100,000 typically live in the kinds of neighborhoods inhabited by white families making $30,000. "Blacks and whites inhabit such different neighborhoods," Sharkey writes, "that it is not possible to compare the economic outcomes of black and white children."

Even here in California, where sometimes we like to imagine maybe things were different.

A few years ago, I came across an academic project to take the old redlining maps and lay them over the cities as they are today in Google Maps. It was run by an interdisciplinary group out of the University of North Carolina. They created a site called T-RACES, or Testbed for for the Redlining Archives of California's Exclusionary Spaces.

I stared and stared at the map of the East Bay because I could see the marks of this discrimination all over the city. My little neighborhood sits right next to a block of red, in a yellow strip, and near a swath of blue. It was an in-between zone, and it still feels that way. Go a few blocks west (downhill) and the neighborhoods are primarily black. Go a few blocks east (into the hills) and the neighborhoods are almost exclusively white.

T-RACES was meant to be a demonstration project, and it looks that way. The maps are difficult to navigate and just have a clunky feel. When I tweeted about them, a data artist named Josh Begley took it upon himself to recode the maps with new technology. And then-after Google broke the way he was doing it-he recoded the maps again for this post.

There are maps for the Bay, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Sacramento, Fresno and Stockton. I've included Los Angeles here, too, but the rest are available at his site.

The point is: the racist policies TNC explores in Chicago were everywhere.

Here are the codes for the maps:

"Green areas are " hot spots"; they are not yet fully built up. In nearly all instances they are the new well planned sections of the city, and almost synonymous with the areas where good mortgage lenders with available funds are willing to make their maximum loans to be amortized over a 10-15-year period -- perhaps up to 75-80% of the appraisal. They are homogeneous; in demand as residential locations in "good time" or "bad"; hence on the upgrade".

"Blue areas, as a rule, are completely developed. They are like a 1935 automobile still good, but not what the people are buying today who can afford a new one. They are the neighborhoods where good mortgage lenders will have a tendency to hold loan commitments 10-15% under the limit."

"Yellow areas are characterized by age, obsolescence, and change of style; expiring restrictions or lack of them; infiltration of a lower grade population; the presence of influences which increase sales resistance such as inadequate transportation, insufficient utilities, perhaps heavy tax burdens, poor maintenance of homes, etc. "Jerry" built areas are included, as well as neighborhoods lacking homogeneity. Generally, these areas have reached the transition period. Good mortgage lenders are more conservative in the Yellow areas and hold loan commitments under the lending ratio for the Green and Blue areas.

"Red areas represent those neighborhoods in which the things that are now taking place in the Yellow neighborhoods, have already happened. They are characterized by detrimental influences in a pronounced degree, undesirable population or infiltration of it. Low percentage of home ownership, very poor maintenance and often vandalism prevail. Unstable incomes of the people and difficult collections are usually prevalent. The areas are broader than the so-called slum districts. Some mortgage lenders may refuse to make loans in these neighborhoods and other will lend only on a conservative basis."

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The Racist Housing Policy That Made Your Neighborhood

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TNC focuses in on North Lawndale, a neighborhood in Chicago, to make his point. But it's a similar story across the country. North Lawndale is an extreme portrait of the trends that ail black Chicago. Such is the magnitude of these ailments that it can be said that blacks and whites do not inhabit the same city.

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Daryl Davis explains how he became friends with Roger Kelly, Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He discusses the chain of hatred, saying fear of the unknown will evolve into hate-fueled destruction. As Davis states, "We fear that which we do not understand." As a society, Americans haven't yet fully grasped the concept that we are all human and in this struggle together. By acting in fear of the unknown, we further the racial divide and make equality that much farther away.

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Why I, as a black man, attend KKK rallies. | Daryl Davis | TEDxNaperville

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This TED Talk shows that one sided stories can fuel the cycle of hate that Daryl Davis explained in his talk. The limited media we are exposed to as children and even into our adult lives can influence how we view people of certain ethnic or religious groups, often in a negative manner. Education is in part to blame. Year after year we are taught of the famous white men of history and literature. It is these white men of history who paint sub-Saharan Africa as a savage land without law. Today we are faced with a new group of famous white men who tell us these same things about the Middle East and Mexico.

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Please [contact us](https://www.ted.com/contact) and let us know what happened.

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After the attacks of 9/11, feelings of xenophobia and racism particularly towards middle-eastern peoples grew tremendously. The "patriots" who took their aggression out on Sikhs, Arabs, and Muslims, of which all were completely unrelated to the attack, have undermined our national progress towards equality.

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After the attacks of September 11, 2001, patriotism took on many masks and many faces. For some it meant planting flags in their front yards and cherishing the rights we enjoy in this country. For others it took on a flawed and dangerous form. Violence against South Asian, Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, and Arab Americans skyrocketed in the weeks and months after 9/11. New government policies painted our communities with suspicion and guilt. The notion that patriotism and racism are synonymous was used against us after 9/11, and the horror has lasted 16 years, flowing and ebbing under Presidents Bush and Obama. That notion has only increased in fury under the Trump administration.

I was in New York on 9/11, working downtown not too far from the attacks. In the days that followed I feared for my safety for the first time in my life: not from planes nose-diving from the sky, but from assaults on the subway or on the street. These fears were not misplaced. The first shots fired after the attacks were on September 15 in Mesa, Arizona, when Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh gas station owner, was killed by Frank Silva Roque, a racist gunman who wanted to "go out and shoot some towel-heads." During his arrest Roque screamed, "I am a patriot! I stand for America all the way!" This is how he pledged allegiance to our flag.

Our communities experienced many ensuing acts of hate. In the first week after 9/11, 645 bias incidents nationwide were reported by media organizations. In the months that followed, our houses of worship were surveilled by the NYPD and other law-enforcement agencies, our rights were violated and our dignity stripped at airports, and our children were bullied in school and harassed on the Internet. Government policies such as the Patriot Act and the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System were implemented, the latter of which opened cases against 83,000 Muslims entering or living in the United States. The result of this vast ethnic profiling? Zero terrorism-related convictions.

Meanwhile, the body count in our communities has mounted. In 2012, a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, was attacked by a gunman who killed six people and wounded four others before taking his own life. In 2015, three young Arab students in North Carolina were murdered in their homes by their white-supremacist neighbor. In 2016, a Lebanese-American man was shot and killed on his own porch by a racist neighbor who had a documented history of anti-Arab hate. Related Article

In 2017, our communities are facing hate violence at levels that rival the aftermath of 9/11. The Trump administration-which is now implementing policies that mirror his bigoted rhetoric on the campaign trail-continues to roll out anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant policies that embolden hate groups to attack our communities. President Trump has test-fired several versions of the "Muslim ban," rescinded Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and strongly supported the RAISE Act that seeks to slash immigration by 50 percent in a decade, as well as implementing other destructive policies. Since the presidential election, South Asian Americans Leading Together has documented over 150 incidents of violence against those who identify or are perceived as Muslim, Sikh, Hindu, South Asian, Middle Eastern, or Arab American, already surpassing totals from the year leading up to the 2016 election. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, anti-Muslim hate groups grew by 197 percent in 2016, and, according to the FBI, anti-Muslim hate crimes increased by 67 percent in 2015.

In February two Indian-Americans were shot by a gunman screaming, "Get out of my country." Days later a Sikh man was shot on his driveway in Washington State by an assailant screaming, "Go back to your country." In August a Minnesota mosque was firebombed in what the governor rightly declared an "act of terrorism." In May, Jeremy Joseph Christian, a known white supremacist, harassed a Muslim passenger on a commuter train in Portland. When three men tried to intervene, Christian stabbed two of them to death. Reminiscent of Roque's racism in 2001, Christian proclaimed at his arraignment, "You call it terrorism; I call it patriotism!"

After these attacks, the president remains silent. His silence is a clear signal to the Roques and the Christians of the world that white supremacy and Islamophobia are not only admirable, they are patriotic.

Our communities know that the highest form of patriotism is dissent: We have lived it for 16 years. We've spoken out when we've seen injustice, and we've crowded airports to protest an unlawful "Muslim ban." We've stood united with those from all faiths, colors, and backgrounds, against racism and division in Charlottesville, Boston, Berkeley, and beyond. We've stared down ACT for America-the nation's largest anti-Muslim hate group-and forced them to cancel nationwide Islamophobic rallies originally scheduled for September 9.

The toxic patriotism that hate groups have practiced for 16 years has brought our diverse communities together, anchored in a patriotism of love, not fear. This September 11, I will remember that this is the true patriotism-working with our communities to protect each other, and in doing so, to form a more perfect union.

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Too Many Americans Think Patriotism Means Racism and Xenophobia

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After the attacks of September 11, 2001, patriotism took on many masks and many faces. For some it meant planting flags in their front yards and cherishing the rights we enjoy in this country. For others it took on a flawed and dangerous form.

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This piece mentions a study regarding 1,500 bus drivers in Brisbane, Australia. It said that, without money for fair, only 36% of blacks were allowed on, whereas 72% of whites were. This statistic exists because of past laws and the racial bias created by them.

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Recognizing white privilege begins with truly understanding the term itself.