African_Americans

Race & Ethnicity African-American Written Assignment African-Americans as an ethnic group have endured the most hardships. These hardships began with the involuntary immigration to the United States and has included the racial prejudice and discrimination they have endured since then. Since the abolishment of slavery, the issue of race remains significant when it comes to African-American relations. The significance of race has been an argument amongst sociologists. With sociologists such as William J Wilson, who wrote the article, “The Declining Significance of Race” proclaiming the importance of race is diminishing and an African-American's class is comparatively more important in determining his or her life chances, and Charles Willie's author of "The Inclining Significance of Race" which counteracts Wilson's argument saying the significance of race is increasing likely to heighten, rather than lower the racial awareness of the black middle class. These two arguments have been used as a basis in comparing and contrasting whether a race is declining or inclining in accounting for the poverty status of African-Americans in the cities of the United States. Brian Glimore for EbonyJet.com wrote an article, “The Declining Significance of Race-Version 2.0” which goes in line with Wilson's argument. In his article, Gilmore mentions President Obama as an example that Wilson's assertion was real-as a black man, President Obama holds the highest political power in the United States. His stance on the argument implies poor African Americans don't want to shift the circumstance from race to class because it will send a message that race is no longer issue. Gilmore advocates the shift saying the poor are not benefitting from the racial remedial programs because they are geared toward the middle-class minorities and have little effect on the poverty stricken communities. Slate Magazine also touches on the issue of declining significance of race with an article called “How to Understand the Culture of Poverty” by Sudhir Venkatesh. This article focus on another importance piece that Wilson wrote entitled, “More Than Just Race”. Venkatesh summarizes Wilson's work focusing on inner-city behaviors without the race issue as a factor but the person's environmental circumstance as a consequential factor. He claims Wilson believes that its the lack of opportunities, and programs that don't focus on just poor blacks but rather disadvantaged Americans of every race would be beneficial for everyone. On the other hand, there are those that believe the significance of race is actually increasing as Willie believes. Zoltan L. Hajnal from the University of California-San Diego states as the inner- African-Americans populations are doubling, so is the middle-class African-American population. The differences in economic success has not reduced but reinforced the significance of race. In a paper, “Black Class Exceptionalism: Insights from Direct Democracy on the Race vs Class Debate” Hajnal tests three theories of racial and class politics ad conducts research regarding the differences. The most important conclusion is whether the African-American is poor or middle class, the significance of race does not diminish, it actually strengthens the issues of race. Sean-Shong Hwang, Kevin M. Fitzpatrick and David Helms conducted a similar research project titled- “Class Differences in Racial Attitudes: A Divided Black America'”. Their findings suggest Willie's argument has cause. They found that despite the class differences, African-Americans come together, united, on the perception of race inequalities. While doing my own research, I have heard valid arguments from both sides. When it comes to whether the significance of race is declining or inclining in account for poverty status in African-Americans I would have to agree with Willie's point of view. As pointed out by Hajnal, and Hwang, Fitzpatrick, and Helms, race still remains an issue of importance when it comes to those who have moved up from poverty status to middle class status. With more exposure to predominantly white workplaces, middle-class African-Americans become more aware of the racial inequalities and politically push forward more for African-American causes inclining the significance of race. References: Brian Gilmore, “The Declining Significance of Race -Version 2.0”, Sudhir Venkatesh, “How To Understand the Culture of Poverty”, Zoltan L. Hajnal, University of California San Diego, “Black Class Exceptionalism: Insights from Direct Democracy on the Race vs Class Debate” 0][->1][->2][->3][->4] > Sean-Shong Hwang, Kevin M. Fitzpatrick and David Helms, “Class differences in racial attitudes: a divided black America'” [->0] - http://weber.ucsd.edu/~zhajnal/page1/page3/page5/files/page5_1.doc [->1] - http://weber.ucsd.edu/~zhajnal/page1/page3/page5/files/page5_1.doc [->2] - http://weber.ucsd.edu/~zhajnal/page1/page3/page5/files/page5_1.doc [->3] - http://weber.ucsd.edu/~zhajnal/page1/page3/page5/files/page5_1.doc [->4] - http://weber.ucsd.edu/~zhajnal/page1/page3/page5/files/page5_1.doc