Inequality Within a Few Miles

By Antonio Aguirre / Summer 2021

To me and many other Americans, the American promise is being able to live free within a country that is run by the people for the people where everyone is given equal opportunity and treated fairly. Sadly this promise is not always fulfilled for everyone in this country. The first way this promise is not fulfilled is within the social class structure. Those making at or below the livable minimum wage for their respective area have a hard time accessing the opportunities that higher class Americans have. To me the most visible area that is affected by this issue are schools. People who have to work multiple jobs or have low incomes usually live in communities that have other people in similar financial situations. Because of this those school districts are usually pushed to the sidelines and receive less funding. This means that the education opportunities present to children of lower income families are not the same as children from middle and upper class families. This is not an equal or fair opportunity for everyone. I have seen this issue with my family in New York. My uncle owns his own construction company which places his family within the upper middle class. His children attend well equipped schools that offered many academic and extracurricular activities to push students towards success. On the other hand, my aunt is a single mother who works as a housekeeper and can’t afford to live in an area with a good school district. Because of this, her children are not exposed to programs such as AP courses, college preparation counselors, and other extracurriculars. The thing that blows my mind is that my aunt and uncle only live ten minutes from each other which makes this discrepancy between the two different school systems unacceptable. Both districts should be funded the same to allow for all students to get the same opportunities.

Not only does placement within the social class structure affect the fulfillment of the American promise but race, sexual preference, and the color of a persons’ skin all do as well. Sadly instead of judging people based on their actions, there are people who, whether consciously or not, see others that are not white as less than or stereotype them. While I have never be treated a such, I have had close friends of Mexican and Japanese descent be treated differently based on the way they look. While both were born in the United States and spoke English as their first language, they get questions similar to that of Takaki in the cab. While to most these questions seem harmless, they come from a place of misunderstanding of what is an American. This misunderstanding can lead to other unfair treatment and not being treated as equals.

While the American promise does fall short in certain areas, in others it does fulfill its promise. America is a democracy that allows for our leaders to be voted in by the people and hopefully do what is best for the people. If they do not, we have the ability to impeach them from office and replace them with a better suited leader. Sadly this system has been having flaws as of late but I have hope that we the people can get it back on track. As Americans, we are allowed to work in any industry we want and are not confined to a specific job. We have the ability to quit and find a new job if we please. We have the ability to own and sell land and move around within the country. We can start a family and grow it any size we want with the condition that we need to be able to provide for that family. The independence of specific industries from government control, such as the cell phone industry, has allowed for a competitive nature that allows for constant growth within those industries.

Overall, the foundation for a truly free and equal opportunity country is there. To fix the issues we have we need to change the minds of those who hold on to a misunderstanding of what makes a person a true American (in other words being white is not what an American is), and support lower income families to allow them the same opportunities as the rest.