How Did Richard Spikes Impact On Society

In the article The Construction of the Ghetto by Massey and Denton, there are several policies and practices that still has its effect on racial structure today. Among the several practices and policies are the Government Issue (GI) Bill for veterans and housing loans. At a political view, the GI Bill for veterans helped them buy houses at a lower price due to their contribution in the war. Since White veterans have the GI Bill, they moved out to the suburbs during 1940-1970, which was during the time of suburbanization. Because Black veterans did not receive the GI Bill, they were unable to move out and buy houses. This effect is still present today, considering that in the statistics, Blacks are less likely than Whites to own houses.

There was unemployment to a certain degree amongst the black community, as over 10% of black people were unemployed. This could be linked to poverty and poor quality of schooling and education Poverty and the condition of living and housing was a major

Racism was a larger issue back in the 1930’s than it is today. During the 1930’s many Black Americans were unable to find jobs. With the Great Depression came the “last hired first fired” mindset. Many African Americans felt that this was targeted towards them (Racial 5). This along with Jim Crow laws kept most blacks in a level of poverty, which added to the discrimination (Racial 7). Throughout this time, all the way up into the 1960’s and 1970’s African Americans were under great segregation. During this thirty years, great strides toward social equality were made, but at the cost of numerous racial driven incidents. Many great African American icons were assassinated during this time. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 because he stood up against racial oppression as well as Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated in 1968. Both of these two men were part of the leading force in the desegregation of America (Rosenberg 1). This movement led to great tension between the African American culture and white culture, which led to many very violent cases between the races. A great

Today we live in a society where it is acceptable for a white and black family to be neighbors, even close friends. This situation has not always been the case. During the 1950’s, the time that the Younger family was living in Chicago, whites and blacks were living completely separate lives and a majority of the blacks were living in poverty. Although there are significant improvements we have made, there are still things that remain the same. Many African Americans in Chicago today are still living in poverty, just like they were over 50 years ago. Two important changes have occurred during these years. Our race relations between whites and blacks have improved tremendously. Today it is completely acceptable for two different colored families to be living next door to each other. The second significant change is not as positive. The homicide rates per 100,000 people have gone up by almost 10 times the amount it was in the 50’s. Many sociologist believe that the cycle of multigenerational poverty causes violence in the mostly black communities, therefore raising the homicide rates. Even though as a city we have improved our race relations there are still problems such as the rising homicide rates and percent of people living in poverty.

Mainstream political leaders gave little or no discussion of inner city challenges. Mainly, in the 1960’s, the United States transitioned from legal segregation to a more racially open society. Literature from the Harlem Renaissance began to bring up issues that were not addressed professionally. People began to express how they felt about the political and social situation of America in violent terms, such as riots. Literature after the 1970’s was mainly influenced by the Civil Rights Movement. Literature from both time periods, The Harlem Renaissance and after the 1970’s, encouraged people to take a stand against what is right. An uproar of social order and political chaos began in American as undertreated African Americans began realizing what the future needs to hold, for them and their

During the Civil Rights Era, many black power movements strived to prevent the New Jim Crow from happening. The black man was being oppressed during segregation and treated like animals. The white supremacy, only visualize African Americans as slaves, people who should not be a part of the United States. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X drove men and women to fight for his or her rights. However, that was not enough to stop the white supremacy from oppressing African Americans. The Civil Rights movement did put an end to public segregation. It did not put not put an end to the laws being made by the government, which is dominated by the white race. In the book, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander discussed how the Civil Rights and black power movements helped African Americans gain their equal rights, but did not help to gain political power. Mass Incarceration is where the African Americans’ lives end because of the social structure created by the government. Blacks are mostly in the lower class because after the Great Depression, Roosevelt only created laws for whites. This allowed the white community to build and move out the cities into better neighborhoods. Leaving the black community behind. The government placed businesses and built big buildings to keep all the blacks in one place. Base on how the black community was viewed as a race and social status, gives this race a higher chance of being behind bars.

African Americans lifestyle did not see much change from before the depression and during the depression in the sense of the capital dollar. They assumed the New Deal brought up by president Roosevelt at the time would bring change to their life, but the white public would not stand to be on equal terms with a person of color. “Unemployment was rampant, and many whites felt that any available jobs belonged to the whites first.”i Many white Americans did not want African Americans to be paid minimum wage, but be paid lower than minimum wage. Industry’s also wanted to pay their employers a different wage depending on the color of their skin. “Negro unskilled labor,

Once Martin Luther King Jr. said “now is the time to rise from the darkand desolate vally of segregation to the sunlightpath of racal justice”. He said this in his speech in the 1960’s, many African Americans were treathed unfairly. Before the speech something happened. In Birmingham, Alabama something happened that would change America.

Segregation took a huge toll on African Americans emotionally and ecumenically. Schools where segregated, and black schools where known for being hugely underfunded. So they started off with a bad education, which makes getting jobs harder. This was true even in colleges, which were also segregated. Not only that but because of racism an employer would always hire a white person over a black person. Black people where also generally paid less. Even if a black person got money they where not allowed to live in the same neighborhoods as white people or even go to the same shops. So there was never the possibility of moving up the social later. “He has been a beggar economically, a beggar politically a beggar socially a beggar even when it comes to trying to get some education” (Malcom

The 1960s was a time for change. It promoted on going expectations of equality for all races. This proved to be difficult for minorities. In August of 1965, civil unrest broke out, which lead to six-day revolt called the Watts Riot. Nearly thirty years later another riot broke out which caused even greater damage and left an even greater impact in our history, the Rodney King Riots. Both of these events share similar qualities and devastating damages, however, their meanings are much harder to decipher from one another. These impactful events in our society demonstrate how much there needs to change in our society, especially when dealing with minorities.

"A sense of belonging I had never experienced before." The new deal did nothing to improve black housing and living conditions. Black people were homeless or forced to scramble for housing that was either temporary or gravely filthy. This was because the housing authorities turned down black people for mortgages. The food and water were especially scarce for Black people. While the nation was of course suffering, black people were having even more difficult times because they found it hard at times to feed themselves and their families. Black people were killed for their jobs. Some white people were found unemployed and so they had killed black people just so white people could have a job. Not to mention the number of black people being lynched had risen. Black people were also being hired last. The white people took the "Negro Jobs", the ones they once deemed inferior. There were about 50 percent or more of black people who were unemployed. Black workers were paid less than white

The Great Recession was hard on everybody, but some sectors of the American economy took a greater hit than others. In the same way, as the country has started to recover, not every community has fared as well as others. In many instances, the same groups who were hit the hardest in the recession are also having the most difficulty coming back out of it. One such group is the black business sector. A large reason for the struggle comes down to one word: capital.

“I turn on the news each night and what do I see again and again? African Americans alleged to be killing, raping, mugging, stabbing, gangbanging, looting, rioting, selling drugs, pimping, ho-ing, having to many babies, dropping babies from tenement windows, fatherless, penniless, and Godless” (Moore 59). The media has devoted too much time and space perpetuating these negative views of African Americans and far too little time describing the background problems of African-American communities. “What is not a crisis is not usually reported and what is not or cannot be made visual is often not televised” (Racist America 154). The news media respond quickly and with keen interest to the conflicts and controversies of racial stories. For the most part, “they disregard the problems that seep beneath the surface until they erupt in the hot steam that is the live news story, ‘The suspect is a black male’ we’ve all seen it” (Racist America 154). The media has not studied important events in the African-American community today. Issues such as urbanization, education, and poverty, just to name a few that have and will continue to have a

Blacks were treated with tremendous cruelty in many different ways. Black lives before the civil rights movement were treated cruel and unfair. African Americans did not have the same opportunities that they have today. Before the movement they could not get an education, a good job, or a place to live. These men and women who worked for white landowners were pretty much treated like slaves. They were barely paid anything for the work that they did. Many blacks lived in the streets and did not even have a place to get out of the weather. Due to these factors many blacks lived in poverty and were treated very cruel. A staff Writer wrote, “For black Americans, the pre-Civil Rights era was a time of danger and turmoil, as they set out to claim

I the article Race the Power of an Illusion, Dalton Conley says, “the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s really marks both an opportunity and a new danger in terms of racial relations in America. On the one hand, the Civil Rights era officially ended inequality of opportunity. It officially ended de jure legal inequality, so it was no longer legal for employers, for landlords, or for any public institution or accommodations to discriminate based on race. At the same time, those civil rights triumphs did nothing to address the underlying economic and social inequalities that had already been in place because of hundreds of years of inequality.” (Conley pp 1). What goes on in the American ghetto is not as glamorous as Hollywood makes it out to be now, this film does a great job at depicting what life in the ghetto for black teens is really like. The ghettos in America are full of broken culture that is left behind from centuries of oppression by the white man. Most teens like those in the movie never make it out of their neighborhoods alive. Thousands of kids die every years from gang on gang violence, damaging all chances of them escaping the ghetto and making something of themselves. Death, gangs, and drugs is the more common way that young people are left with to deal with a life of poverty and survival that seems to have no escape.