When someone thinks Black underclass we all think; ghetto, drugs, welfare, etc. But we never think about how those things became associated with the blacks. The word that Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton believe is the main explanation for this is “segregation”. Massey and Denton seem to focus on the fact that the United States has moved into two societies, one being black and one being white – separate and unequal. Back in the 1950’s and 1960’s blacks lived in separate neighborhood, or for that matter a separate side of town because of all the racism that was going on at that time. Once civil rights moved in, it was not supposed to be segregated any more; everyone was supposed to be set on equal term. But in today’s society we still see some of the same segregated actions; it’s just not as out in the open as it used to be 70 years ago.
In the book it states that the reason segregation is still going on is because, the civil rights laws that were passed in the 1960’s haven’t had enough time to work yet. I agree with this statement because if someone was treating you like crap for 300 some odd years you’re not going to just have changed feeling in a 50 year period, it’s still people alive that remember and went through all the horrible things that happened in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Massey and Denton States that “this extreme racial isolation did not just happen; it was manufactured by whites through a serious of self-conscious actions and purposeful institutional arrangements that continue today”. They also go on to state that the black segregation is unique compared to the other races, because basically it shows no promise to get better.
So because blacks are residentially segregated it undercuts the social and economic superior of blacks in the United States. Segregation is also a big factor in poverty. One can’t improve their life chances, when their primary means are not too great to begin with. Due to the fact that blacks and whites live in different districts that leads to the fact that blacks have different schools, hospitals, and other intuitions. These district lines were made to separate the whites from the blacks. I look around my home town there are three high schools in the city one is predominately black, one is mixed, and one is predominately white. The one that is mixed I looked back at the history of the school and it was considered a white school but as the years went on it became a fairly mixed school. I see that now there are more blacks moving into that area, but on the contrary the whites are moving out. A school that I attended and once was a mixed school is now predominantly black, and the whites are shipping their kids off to better educational institutions. I want to leave you with a passage from the book that I think really sums up how white society is deeply caught up in making of the upholding of black the black underclass. “White institutions created it (the ghetto), white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.”
Sunday, October 18, 2009
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I grew up somewhere near detroit, Southfield. I would say it was primarily a white community but there were blacks and arabics as well. As time went on, whites became the minority and at the same time, more whites were moving out of the area. I left Southfield around the time I was in 6th grade and moved further north to live with my mother in an all white community called Lapeer. I can see there is still this segregation but its not as out there as it used to be. Neighborhoods are most definately segretgated still even though there is supposed to be this "seperation but equal".
ReplyDeleteI would not blame this segregation soley on the white community though. I do not agree with this quote one bit, “White institutions created it (the ghetto), white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it.” What our white ancestors did in the earlier years is not the same cause of the segregation now. People do have every right to live where they want to live; nobody wants to be the minority. Not everyone is used to change but people are typically going to accept change. If a black family moves into an all white community it is going to be a culture shock to both sides but the shock will pass. Blaming segregation on one race is just rediculous.