Income inequality is the extent that income is distributed unevenly among a population; it is the gap between the rich and everyone else. Usually, those at the bottom tiers live a lesser quality of life. The biggest cause of rising inequality from the 1980s – 2000s was the decrease in wages for workers without a college education, which caused higher unemployment, a decline in minimum wages, and globalization (which put jobs out of reach).
In America, the gap has been growing and has led to an increase in the very rich and very poor while shrinking the middle class. From 1971 to 2015, the highest income brackets increased from 14% to 21%, the lowest income grew from 25% to 29%, and the middle income went from 61% to 50%lso, older Americans increased in wealth while those aged 18 – 29 saw the biggest slide (“America’s Explosion”). Despite an economic boom in the 1990s, the wealth was distributed unevenly; the net worth of households in the top 10% jumped 69% while the net worth in the lowest 20% of households only rose 24%. |
In many cultures, women are considered as secondary to men, being thought of as physically and emotionally weaker. Since men have dominated the political and cultural sphere in America, specific roles have been designated to different genders – for example, women as the caregivers and men as the breadwinners. There are multiple instances in Hands on a Hardbody that bring up differences in gender, such as JD’s insistence that Ginny doesn’t take the job at Walmart and Ronald’s question towards Norma of “how come he send a lady to do a man’s work?”. While the oft-quoted "fact" that women make 79 cents to every man's dollar has truth, the situation is a bit more nuanced, due in part to societal expectations regarding the women as caregivers.
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Due to the United States' brutal history regarding Native Americans and the slave trade, through the Japanese internment camps in the 1940s, to the marked difference in the way the justice system treats racial minorities, the country has always had an othering regarding race. White is the accepted, dominant norm, and other races are considered different and, oftentimes, "lesser". Even though it is 2016, there are still extreme attitudes towards race in nearly every part of the country and people of color still find many obstacles in their way, especially when compared to their white counterparts.
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In 1836, Texas fought a war of independence against Mexico but wasn’t annexed into the United States until December 29, 1845, due to joint efforts of ex-President John Tyler and President-elect James Polk. Even though Mexico didn’t declare war, as they had threatened, the border dispute kept relationships extremely tense as there was no agreement on what constituted Texas. On May 13, 1846, the United States declared war on Mexico. During the war, the general opinion held by the Mexican public was that Mexico was a weaker nation and needed to defend itself from the United States territorial and cultural encroachment, but once it became evident that the United States had better chances, they began to favor a negotiated end. It ended on February 2, 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, under which Mexico granted 525,000 square miles (55% of its prewar area) to the US for $15 million dollars and the assumption of $3.25 million in debts owed to the US.
Evidently, the border was an arbitrary line drawn, separating people who had already lived in the area, as had happened before with the Native American population. After the war, Americans were eager to utilize the land, its resources, and sometimes its people. With the juxtaposition of attempted Anglo-domination, Mexican immigration, and economic recessions, the border became an area of cultural and economic conflict, an identity which it maintains today. Here’s an article with images from a current border town. |
Since the drawing of the border, Mexican-Americans have been besieged by discrimination and violence, even by their own people. For example, Latino leaders in border towns in the late 1920s wanted to restrict immigration – due to competition for jobs and housing, a concern still echoed today in anti-immigration politics – and founded the League of United Latin American Citizens on the premise that the only way Latinos could improve their place in American society was to assimilate to American social, educational, and political values. Still, large-scale immigration began in the 1920s and Mexicans were often used a source of cheap labor, especially regarding agriculture. With the Great Depression, the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service) deported 400,000 immigrants; meant to be "voluntary", many were forcibly evicted.. Due to poor work conditions, many unions were either formed or joined by Mexican-Americans (such as the Industrial Workers of the World and the United Farm Workers (led by César Chávez and Dolores Huerta)). There was also institutionalized discrimination against Mexican-American veterans, school children, and even in the court system, where there were often cases of all Anglo jurors involved in cases with Latino defendants. In the 1960s, the Chicano movement, which focused on bringing Mexican American history to light as well as resolving immediate issues, such as unequal opportunities, political disenfranchisement, and police brutality, began to take hold. Also founded in 1968, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund have been working towards similar goals. The movement is still very active today, for as long as there is inequality, there will be movements fighting back.
An extreme, yet unfortunately normal, example of modern-day discrimination is Arizona’s SB-1070, which allows police to determine the immigration status of someone detained when there is reasonable suspicion they are not in the US legally; it has come under fire for promoting racial profiling. Another example is the smattering of positivity towards Donald Trump’s proposed wall. In addition, the ban on Mexican-American Studies in Arizona has been well-recorded for its anti-Chicano and colonial attitudes. |