Paper Example on Rethinking Race, Class, Language, and Gender

Introduction

In the United States, the problem of race and class has been a contentious issue for many years. A social class can be defined as the socioeconomic status an individual held in society. On the other hand, race refers to the ethnic group an individual comes from. However, both race and class can make an individual to be discriminated in place of work, school, or health care, among others. Though both race and class can affect an individual negatively, there are very few white elites who see it as an issue that needs attention. However, they concentrate on the aspect of social class, ignoring the essence of a race at all.

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Nevertheless, the various analyses that have been done in this area have shown that both race and class have similar implication, and hence, they should be addressed together. By discussing the following quote by quote by David Gillborn, ". . . Many White Academics want to emphasize a class-based analysis: they see a class in a way that they don't see racism. Also, a class-based analysis is much more comfortable for White academics because they can assert some direct link to the struggle-a strategy they don't have in terms of race" (Orelus 45), am going to show that both race and class are related and they should be addressed together.

Many white academics usually perceive class as the only aspect that generally leads to discrimination forgetting that both race and class has similar implications. However, there is enough evidence that shows that both race and class can have the same implication. According to Orelus (30), there are countless stories of students and professors such as Delgado who has been targeted in institutions such as universities, colleges, and high schools because of their country of origin, social class, gender or race. It implies that similar discriminations can occur due to the aspect of race as well as class. It means that to end the aspect of discrimination in various aspects of life, all type of discrimination should be dealt with equally.

Race and class is an oppressive and intolerant system where a small wealthy and privileged people oppress the majority poor. In reference to (Orelus 29), this system usually affects the people of color, such as the African Americans as well as poor whites. This group of people is typically exposed to social injustices such as denial to access to education and health care. This system aims to maintain the status quo trough denying the vulnerable people in the society a chance for empowerment that can help them improve their status. For example, education is an integral source of empowerment that can help an individual despite their social status, gender, or race, to improve their status. As such, to ensure that the majority vulnerable people do not gain their status, the wealthy groups who hold political power introduce a system of oppression which ensures that the under-privileged remain where they are to reduce competition.

When it comes to the war against equality, the white academic should address all types of equality. The war against inequality should not be based on a class while ignoring other sources of equality in the society such as racism. According to (Orelus 30), the war against inequality in the United States should be a collective war where all the oppressed whether the poor white or the people of color should join hand to fight for equality. It will end ill will where the privileged usually mislead the poor whites and people of color to kill or be killed for their interests (Orelus 40). The reality is that the poor white and the people of color usually fight a war on the wrong side. They fight and kill each other for nothing due to the insight that comes from the wealthy minority group yet fight against them cannot help them to attain good education or excellent health services.

Even though the essence of racism usually affects the lives of the people of the United States, white is always reluctant to talk about it. In the discussion between Orelus and Gill born, Orelus wanted to know why all the whites, including the poor, are always reluctant to engage themselves in the fight against race. In response to this concern, Gillborn pointed out that all the white usually benefit from being whites in countless ways. It implies that even poor whites often have some benefit just because they are white. However, this does not mean that the poor whites are not discriminated due to their socioeconomic status, but they never acknowledge this due to certain privileges they get just because of being whites (Orelus 40). The thing is that the fact that the poor whites have been undergoing the oppression of class all their lives, they cannot notice realize that they are usually exposed to oppression by the wealthy and the privileged group unless they undergo antiracist education. The implication is that the poor whites are blinded by the aspect of being white to the extent that they do not realize that they too are facing some social injustice though not as much as the people of color. However, professor Derrick confirmed that the effect of racism is very dramatic such that it usually takes a long time for the white student to accept the truth (Orelus 45). It requires a lot of effort to make the whites to link the struggle toward class with race.

Any social injustice, whether based on race or class, is an evil that needs some attention. However, this has not been the case in the United States. Even though both poor whites and the people of color face social injustice, the poor white does not realize this because they experience it since they are born. However, the fight against social injustice should be a collective war for all the underprivileged groups. The whites should be exposed to antiracist education, which will enable them to realize that they should drop the aspect of race and together fight against a system of the minority wealthy oppressing the majority underprivileged.

Works Cited

Orelus, Pierre Wilbert. Rethinking race, class, language, and gender: A dialogue with Noam Chomsky and other leading scholars. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2011.