The Dream

 When I read Between The World and Me, one of the biggest issues that stuck out to me was when Coates talked about 'The Dream'. In the United States, we are known for being the land of possibilities and that anyone can achieve the American Dream if they are willing to work for it. . My father was an immigrant from Honduras who was able to achieve upward mobility, but although he did attain the definition of the American Dream I know that it isn’t the reality for most that are in this country. Even though my father did achieve 'the American Dream', he was still subjected to the racial stereotypes that come with men of color having money. Growing up, I can remember people saying my father became successful by selling drugs. Some people couldn't accept the fact that a man of color we're doing better than they were. Growing up in a small town, from an influent family I was never really made aware of my race until I was in an airport in Miami with my father and my brother and I was asked to come into a private room, where a security guard told me they needed to pat me down. I couldn't believe that just because I was Latino, they assumed I was trying to smuggle drugs. At that moment I realized what it means to be a person of color in the United States. In the film Inequality for All showed that is not the reality for most people. The whole idea of the American Dream is that people can get out of poverty and be able to reach upward mobility, but the United States has a high percentage of people staying in poverty. The video revealed that 42% of children born into poverty will stay there. We learned that consumer spending is 70% of United States economy and that most is on middle class spending. We know the issue isn’t wealth but the amount of wealth. Most wealthy people aren’t spending enough to generate the economy and are also saving their money. Now there is the issue of less people at the top and less people in the middle class and paying more to the people at the top and not enough to go around to the people at the bottom. The video displayed the few opinions the middle class came up with to keep spending even while wages were flat. The first was women went to paid work in huge numbers, the second was people worked longer hours, and third people went into debt, particularly in housing. So the current system is set up for only a small percentage of people to achieve upward mobility and keep the wealth to a small percentage of people. The United States government was meant to be a voice of the people but with lobbyists giving millions to politicians it becomes the big money that is the voice of politics. A perfect example of income inequality, as the rich get richer they have more resources to influence policy making, while the working class may not have their issues heard. The video also discussed the issue that the U.S. has a low upward mobility rate compared to other developed countries and how the cost of education has been steadily rising. So if such a high percent of Americans stay in poverty and the cost of getting a higher education is rising how do believe there is equal opportunity for every American to be successful. There is also an issue with the current tax system in the United States. There are many loop holes for the 1% to get different tax breaks. While many make the argument that those who are at the top have earned it and everyone has the same opportunity to make it if they are willing to put in the work just isn’t the case. It seems that the current system in the U.S. is meant to keep the working class working and the rich get richer. The reason I talked about this documentary is it further shows that the American Dream leaves out many Americans.  One question that really impacted me that we talked about in class was what would The American Dream look like without the destruction of African-Americans and Latinos?