A Thought on Class Conflict

As some of the tension and protest in Ferguson and Baltimore recedes (or has it?), many are giving renewed thought to the state of racism in our society today. Numerous conclusions, including this powerful Time magazine cover from earlier this month, have been made draw comparison to the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s. However, another underlying cause to the issue is class.

Whether or not this is the true cause I don’t know but we can all acknowledge a few things. Here are some of the typical associations about African-Americans relative to whites. They’re poorer than whites, more likely to go to prison, more likely to be on welfare, and more likely to be unemployed. Many of these issues have a historical basis, and while the civil rights movement improved liberties and economic situations for many, class didn’t necessary change as radically. When we look at the root of these problems the racism contributes to the history, but the current situation is based more on social class. Combine that with systemic racism from years prior and the situation isn’t promising. When your parents are poor, in jail, unemployed, or on welfare, your economic and educational opportunities in the United States are dramatically reduced. This makes it much more likely that you will repeat the behavior of your parents, and thus determining your social class.

According to the American dream, with a little elbow grease, grit, and work ethic you can create yourself and be as successful as you like. In fact, this very ideology is part of the problem. Just as some wealthier whites display downward classism towards other whites who they consider “rednecks” or “white trash”, they might have similar feelings towards many blacks. They are poorer, and Americans tend to discriminate against poor people because they sometimes blame poor people for staying poor and not climbing out of poverty.

To what extent class is the true cause I am not sure, but with as each new generation comes statistics showing people have greater levels of racial acceptance e.g. more approving of inter-racial marriage, as well as intellectual equality between races. These generational shifts could signify a “less racist” population every decade or so. If a decrease is racism is the case, maybe our feelings as a nation about class need to be further examined as we attempt to sort out the issues stirring this unrest.