Advocacy day is huge, especially within the Non-profit world. I was fortunate to go up to Albany, New York to advocate both as a former parent and employee, for additional and continued funding for Head Start programs in New York City.
The Significance of Race and Class
This week’s reading was a phenomenal analysis about race and class within the United States. Although, the civil rights movement rose through the mid 1950’s and 1960’s that made “opportunities” available, Professor William Julius Wilson makes a few notes in his controversial book, The Declining Significance of Race in which he highlights his viewpoint of social changes in society, particularly in dense urban areas. Wilson’s main purpose in his work is to identify social dislocation as it pertains to economics, as well as social connectivity and class realms.
In Wilson’s first chapter he argues that prior to the 1960’s there was a high percentage of black families engaged in a family unit of either two parent household along with a family support system or a divorced or widowed single parent with a family support system. Unfortunately, this was not the scenario post 1960’s this was part of the evidence he provides for social dislocation and it devastating generational effects. In easier terms, social dislocation is the sense of values and purpose that dissipates within a community. Understanding the definition, allows for an understanding of the destruction of family norms, practices and economic stability among black and brown communities who have been faced with new forms of segregation that have been indirectly experienced through structural means of education, employment and residency.
Unfortunately, the vicious cycle of social dislocation has directly caused feelings of isolation, unrest and anger within communities which has also been a direct correlation with the rise of systemic racism. Systemic racism is presented in many facets of today’s society as it did when Wilson published his book in the late 1970’s. We can see what he describes in his book how it correlates with the response of COVID-19 deaths, testing and aid among black and brown communities. Media presented the government as having provided immediate aid and help readily available and distributed, however, the reality was the exact opposite. Analyzing data from several sources such as The Center for Disease Control and Prevention, illustrates clusters, particularly in high need areas such as The Bronx, areas of Queens, which houses large immigrant populations, Brooklyn, and upper Manhattan. Social dislocation reminds us that those who live in generational poverty that remain in such clustered areas without the ability to take advantage of resources like affirmative action-based opportunities are most affected by catastrophic events.
Interesting enough, Wilson indirectly touches on gentrification as it relates to social dislocation. He writes “It is true that the presence of stable working- and middle class- families in the ghetto provides mainstream role models that reinforce mainstream values pertaining to employment, education, and family structure. But, in the final analysis, a far more important effect is the institutional stability that these families are able to provide in their neighborhoods because of their greater economic downturn- periods in which joblessness in poor urban areas tend to substantially increase” (Wilson, 1978. Pg. 144). Creating a functional community in which there are available resources, whether through the means of public assistance or participation or establishing community connections to enhance the well bearing of its residents help prosperity.
On a final note, Wilson expresses his point that is still true today, extended “periods of racial oppression can result in a system of inequality that may persist for indefinite period of time even after racial barriers are removed” (Wilson, 1978, pg. 146), creating for other means of segregation and oppression to continue. Today, in 2021, we see it with schools through their implementation and curriculum models that are greatly affected by family’s choice of residency. It is also visible in employment, with salaries earned at different rates between black and white employees. Lastly, where one lives plays a crucial role in all aspects of life, it is a tale of what schools’ your child will get into, the type of job one is employed by, and access to resources to help overcome the existing adversaries.
References
- Wilson, W. J. (1980). The declining significance of race: Blacks and changing American institutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Working Class Within a Class System
Although all three readings this week were written before 2021, there still lies that lingering division among classes. Today’s, division is as direct as it is indirect. Plain in sight as neighborhood structures to “equal pay” that is not based on gender. Divisions even hide within the same communities just as much as in same states. The upper class live-in spaced-out communities where the closest house is about a block to a mile away while, the lower, working class live piled up one on top of one another. Darwin’s theory of “Survival of the fittest” is evident yet not as blunt due to modern day laws. An unmentioned blind eye still takes place as people are being kept in their repeated cycle of clocking in, wedded to the ideals that keep people in their place.
Engel’s depiction in Great Towns brings to life the urban segregation among residents, illustrating the daunting imagery of financial and spatial destress faced by the working class. He documents the despair of families residing in congested living quarters and the poor and squalor living conditions. Furthermore, the working-class people of the 1840’s lived not only with the uncertainty of employment but also were faced with historically known pandemics such Cholera, smallpox and other devastating diseases that cost a significant number of lives. Similarly, today we have witnessed hundreds of thousands of people die from the Corona Virus pandemic, that although it has calmed still runs rampant among marginalized communities. Such communities have historically been the poor (working class) who are responsible for the mass production of the city’s services, yet not fairly compensated in such a way that allows for financial flexibility or access to resources such as proper and affordable housing. We see that the communities that were hit the hardest are those doubled or quadrupled up in an apartment in a building with poor or lack of managerial attention.
David Harvey, in his work Revolutionary and Counter Revolutionary Theory in Geography and the Problem of Ghetto Formation, takes more of analytical approach within social science to evaluate urban formations. He goes on to mention methodologies in which constitute the continuity of such “ghettos” created among communities who generationally face hardship and despair. The struggle with class and power is still as present as was then with its obvious present day neighborhoods’ settings. We can see it while taking a bus ride on the M2 from Washington Heights to the Village, as the bus passes through neighborhoods, it is evident what class of people are residing. Either you see trash on the floors and corners filled with people sitting on beach chairs talking among themselves or you will find women walking their dog in a clean and freshly lawned park picking up their dogs’ poop, unfortunately, there seems not to be an equal medium.
Marxist and Metropolis, creates a startling accurate depiction of the division among the classes. Significant spatial references are made as well as financial observations which depicts the working class as operational robots, giving into the product, becoming the product. The humans mentioned in the reading are transformed into slaves, slaves of their work, walking and working in unison to achieve tasks not for themselves but for a higher “being. This “being” is metaphorically representative as those looking in, not lifting a finger, placing judgement on the “have nots.” The piece illustrates the city as having to take part in never ending physical and exhausting labor and being brain washed into a mechanized lifestyle. Today’s society seems just so, we are living day to day to achieve goals of someone else other that our own. Breaking our backs and hearts to complete daily missions that are not aligned with our well-being, adding to the existing power struggle.
This week’s reading not only added to a personal need to want to excel and get out of the city but opened my eyes further in that, as workers there is not much respect given, as community members there is a blind eye and as humans we are seen as animals or robots. Not only is it motivating it is equally depressing. The hope for all, is to break the cycle and continue to be educated and empower one another to achieve better and obtain what we are in fact destined for, achieving our own goals, and providing a better, more suitable lifestyle.
Male Involvement Group
Empowering men to be active participates in their child’s education is the goal of this group. As a woman, creating such a bond is the upmost difficult thing establish however, letting them know there is someone there for them without judgement is actually all fathers need.
