In his essay, he talks about racist policies and racial inequity to later explain the negative effects they had on minorities. He specifically gives examples of significant symbols, references events from American history, and quotes notable people. He sets the differences between the situations of white families and all other families of different races to show that the two groups are not equal. The non-white families have lagged in being able to achieve their full potential compared to white families. Kendi, indirectly, demonstrates that white families can achieve the best of what American life offers, whereas non-white families face obstacles that should be eliminated. I believe that The American Dream in context to lbram Kendi's essay is that racism prevents all races and backgrounds living in the United States of America from obtaining equal standing and opportunity as the other races and ethnicities living in the United States of America, despite the promise that hard work will bring success.
Ibram Kendi begins with his claim about the importance of establishing a clear definition of racist and anti-racist ideas to develop the consciousness and manifest the root of the lack of progress in the American Dream so that with that knowledge, it can allude to the progression in fighting against restrictive, racist policies established in the country. Kendi explains that there are only racist or anti-racist ideas and policies where racist ideas are the belief that one group is inferior to another (Kendi par. 11). Racist ideas are linked to racist policies when politicians in power with racist beliefs create restrictive policies. Racist policies are not laws to promote racial discrimination like what the United States experienced until the Civil Rights Movement. He also questions whether it is racist to have racial discrimination producing inequity (par, 7). Kendi's goal is to persuade the reader into stopping racist policies from taking effect and to have his audience be self-aware and examine themselves to see how to be anti-racist. He stresses that there is no such thing as non-racist ideas and hopes the audience to instead use the term use racist or anti-racist to determine whether a policy falls under that category. With this he suggests that for all groups to be on the same page, or an equal foot, some groups would have to be treated differently which I believe means that some groups would have to receive more resources than others to make it attainable for all groups to achieve the American dream which would be considered anti-racist, but many would believe it is reverse discrimination.
Another term he differentiates is discrimination to the word racist to describe how American society, with or without knowing, can favor one race over another which creates another obstacle for minorities. He blames Americans that have the power to execute laws to perpetuate racism saying, "The racist champions of racist discrimination engineered to maintain racial inequities before the 1960s are now the racist opponents of antiracist discrimination engineered to dismantle those racial inequities" (par. 9). Government officials who were racist purposely created obstacles to prevent non-whites to achieve what American Dream promised, making it hard to reach success. According to Kendi's definitions, Americans today who are against taking measures to decrease the inequities, such as a radical action of reverse discrimination, would actually be the racist ones for stopping a possible way to achieve equity. Earlier, Kendi explains that due to these racist policies, people would take advantage of the policy in a way to start discriminating against people of different races (par. 6). These policies are the cause and the perpetuation of discrimination because the policies limit the freedoms and make it more dangerous for minorities to live because there is lack of protection from the law. These policies were created to specifically target minorities which in return made it hard to achieve the American Dream.
Throughout his essay, he indirectly reveals that the lack of equity in marginalized groups compared to white families is the opposite of what the American Dream preaches. Using statistics, he shows how racial inequity is prevalent in many parts of the country revealing that "71 percent of White families lived in owner-occupied homes in 21914, compared to 45 percent of Latinx families and 41 percent of Black families" (par. 3). It is worth noting that he mentions the statistics in home ownership to demonstrate that home ownership is an essential part of American life and the result of success. It is clear that the lack of equity due to racist policies throughout the years is a big concern for Kendi. Ta-Nehisi Coates, writer of the essay "A Case for Reparations", shares a similar concern regarding the lack of home ownership explaining "...there was no financing for people like Clyde Ross. From the 19319s through the 19619s, black people across the country were largely cut out of the legitimate home-mortgage market through means both legal and extralegal" (Coates par. 18). Coates indirectly blames mortgage lenders, who were powerful white people, as the cause for the creation of inequity for Black families. These policies were created because the same powerful government officials allowed it to happen and in return would only receive minor repercussions. These families worked hard to obtain the basic necessities but were later cheated off a system that promised to grant them their possessions.
Due to the lack of equity, Kendi declares that we must treat people differently in order to achieve the equality needed to chase the American Dream. He starts to develop this idea after supporting his claim on defining what is racist. Despite having advanced into a time where racism isn't like before the civil rights era, Americans should start to do something to make up for the damage. But to achieve this, Affirmative Action could be a solution that would give more attention and aid towards the marginalized races. However, many Americans think that the idea is racist but in actuality, those Americans are racist because they do not think about the hardships that these marginalized races have been through, and thus are against racial equity (Kendi par. 119). These families worked hard and were not able to succeed despite following the promises of the American Dream. So Kendi's idea could allow those who had worked hard, to obtain their deserved possessions of the American Dream after all those years. But for those who had not worked hard but were born into inequity, would be receiving those benefits too and anger white Americans for the reverse discrimination. So, I understand why Affirmative Action such as the argument for reparations is controversial.
In modern days, talks about a well-deserved aid to those who have been stopped in attaining the American Dream have been controversial. To support Kendi's claim, I believe that a racist policy found today could be the censorship of reparations for minorities, especially for black families. Over the years, there had been talks and debates about whether reparations should be considered after all the racist policies that negatively affected black people since the creation of the United States. In Ta-Nehisi Coates' essay on the cause for Reparations, he tries to convince an audience that reparations could be the only way in which racial equality can occur after Blacks were forced out of their homes and their possessions that they worked hard for. Of course, this involves giving special treatments to specific racial groups, just like Kendi's claim that we must treat people differently to bring them to an equal level with the rest of the people who are better off today. Kendi wants us to recognize that there is an issue with the way the United States is run, which is with people in power and their policies. I believe that the American Dream partly consists of owning a house or at least some possessions but many minority and immigrant communities don't have access to such resources which supports Kendi's worries about the lack of equity.
We live in a time where talking about how to get anyone to achieve the American Dream is a bittersweet journey when other groups have also stayed behind. For many years, the media have informed us about the influx in immigration from around other countries in the world, especially Latin America. In a nation where we receive many immigrants, we still struggle to provide them the necessities to achieve the American Dream. We are shown that these immigrants have been displaced by disastrous policies that also negatively affect minorities from those countries and hope to immigrate to achieve the American Dream as they are left with no other choice. Later in his essay, Kendi informs the audience about the rest of the world today and how they are affected negatively by racist policies. He explains that due to climate change, many people's habitats are being destroyed and food is running scarce just because our nation, for example, does not take responsibility for the disastrous policies (par. 15). This forces immigrants to move to other parts of the world to escape from the destruction of their habitats which can also bring financial problems. Several of these immigrants must work even harder for attaining their American Dream.
I believe that Kendi's and Coates' picture of the American dream is similar to my interpretation of it. My interpretation of the American dream is the belief and attitude of any citizen who lives in the United States can pursue happiness through hard work to win a better life full of opportunities every day and live more comfortably than any other place in the world, a banal belief that although repeated over and over, may not be completely true. I trace this belief back in elementary school where we were taught about the pilgrims sailing the Mayflower for a new life. I connected the significance of when European settlers came to North America to have a new and better life to my parent's journey. My parents are immigrants who have told me that they immigrated from Mexico to have a better life with better paying jobs therefore I had always thought that the American dream had to deal with prosperity and opportunity. I thought that the American Dream allowed everyone the right to reach prosperity despite the socioeconomic background of the person.
However, this has not been the case for many other immigrant families, and I am aware that my family is luckier than others. Finally, Kendi mentions that Americans must be self-aware, fight through what is already in place to clear the path to the American Dream. Despite non-white groups being in different places and we are all far behind in pursuing the benefits of the American Dream, we must act against the underlying causes for the misfortunes of minorities. Kendi wants us to understand that anti-racist ideas will open the underlying issue in attaining the American Dream, even if history has shown that policies will still be in place that unknowingly puts obstacles in front of many non white families (par. 2lSI). It does not mean that marginalized groups who are far behind in inequity due to racism cannot reach their own American Dream, it simply means that knowing how to be anti-racist will push our minds into creating a way in which everyone can succeed to obtain the rewards of the American Dream.
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