Introduction

According to the article, “The Making of Ferguson: Public Policies at the Root of Its Troubles” by Rothstein I would modify the definition of the racial segregation in United States to mean individuals in the society who have been denied their social rights in the society through: social zoning, segregated public housing, restrictive covenants and subsidization of the suburban development by the whites. I reinforce that most of the blacks in America remains poor because they are denied access to some of the economic property by the government policies in favor of the white (Rothstein, 2015). In addition, they are disadvantaged in joining the appropriate schools as a result of discrimination and segregation by the whites.  As a result they end up being unemployed hence making them remain under the vicious circle of poverty.

Structural and cultural forces in the economy

According to William structural factors are more likely to influence the black economic status than the cultural factors. I tend to amend this because there are only few families in United States which end up being poor for cultural reasons such as attending poor schools (Mitchell-Dix, 2015). Nonetheless, structural factors such as: government policies in support of the whites segregation, racial zoning, restrictive covenants and subsidization of the white are some of the major factors which encourage the whites to stigmatize the blacks in the society.

I tend to reinforce the belief that the structural forces are the most striking forces affecting the underclass pattern of schooling and hence the future level of unemployment and poverty among the underclass black community in United States. Even in the modern times, the structural forces continue to influence the public schools because they encourage them to maintain structural inequalities between the white and the black students (Wilson, 2009). I would modify the argument that the school district administrators have the power to eliminate the inequalities existing in these because I believe that government is the one responsible for coming up with the policies which eliminate cases of racism, oppression, segregation and discrimination of the children of the underclass families in the public schools.

The process of offering sponsorships and scholarships to only bright underclass should be removed from the argument. I tend to believe that in order for the relevant organizations especially the schools to eliminate poverty and increase employment for the underclass community, sponsorships should be offers to all students despite whether they have succeed or not. I tend to reinforce the argument that the school based sponsorships and scholarships programs are some of the appropriate ways of countering segregation of the underclass in the American economy (Mitchell-Dix, 2015). In addition, the government should be in the forefront to eliminate the racial zoning which might be in existence, both the underclass and the working class groups should be given equal opportunities while acquiring properties and restrictive covenants should be eliminated in the economy.

Conclusion

Despite the restrictive covenants, segregation in public housing acquisition policy, subsidization of the whites by the government and racial zoning policies, oppressive and discriminative policies in schools between the underclass and the whites have contributed to blacks being poor in the economy.

 

References

Rothstein, R. (2015). The Making of Ferguson Public Policies at the Root of its Troubles. Economic policy institute resource.

Mitchell-Dix, S. (2015). “More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City.” Retrieved from: http://William Julius Wilson.

Wilson, W. J. (2009). Toward a Framework for Understanding Forces that Contribute to or Reinforce Racial Inequality. New York: W.W. Norton.