The Hidden Cost Of Being African American By Thomas M. Shapiro

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Key arguments The overall main idea in The Hidden Cost of Being African American by Thomas M. Shapiro is that White Americans have a advantage in terms of economic status compare to African Americans because White America not only have “Wealth” but also “Income”. Whereas African Americans only have “Income”. Shapiro uses three key arguments to support this overarching idea. The first one that he examines is how family inheritances adds on to racial discrimination by separating Whites and Blacks in terms of home, school, and job districts. By having this separation, it leads to a huge wage gap for African Americans. The Second argument reveal that wealth creates different starting lines in life. Different starting lines means that different rules for success and different rewards, which all leads up to the idea of inequality. Lastly, Shapiro argues that the way white “ families use head start assets” make it possible for them to not only accumulate even more wealth in the future but also have a better homes, community, and school quality for their …show more content…

Families use asset to create opportunities that others do not have, such as moving to neighborhoods with better schools, providing cultural and social experiences for their children, making career changes, or taking advantage of business opportunities”(12). Wealth creates so much freedom to constantly improve one 's status that it has a long term effect of helping future generations achieve the same freedom by allowing,“Parents [to] tie school reputation to the school’s race and class profile. More often than not, choosing a school district or a specific school within a district is driven by strong need to avoid other schools- particularly urban public schools with minority or poor

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