I maintain that the period during the first half of the 1990s, the period in which rising inequality reached its peak, was a period in which we came very, very close to a demagogic immobilization of racism in this society.
Interpretation
William Julius Wilson reflects on a crucial time in the 1990s when economic inequality and racism were at their peak in society.
This quote highlights the relationship between economic inequality and racism, suggesting that during the early 1990s, America faced a dangerous escalation of racial tensions fueled by rising disparities. Wilson emphasizes that this period was marked by a stagnation in addressing racial issues, potentially leading to a societal crisis if not recognized and remedied.
In practice
This quote can be used in a lecture addressing the intersections of race and economic inequality.
I don't think we should stop emphasizing race because I think, you know, race is still very, very important, and we have to recognize that and continue to introduce programs to address racial inequities. But we have to widen our vision and also address the growing problems of economic class.
During the Great Depression, African Americans were faced with problems that were not unlike those experienced by the most disadvantaged groups in society. The Great Depression had a leveling effect, and all groups really experienced hard times: poor whites, poor blacks.
In order to stand well in the eyes of the community, it is necessary to come up to a certain, somewhat indefinite, conventional standard of wealth.
The prison-industrial complex, poverty, and the school system has more effect on a young black male in America than Jay-Z does, by far. And that's not a diss to Jay-Z. The crime rate in the black community was high before hip hop. Rapping about it is just a reflection of the life a lot of people are living.
The essence of a class system is not that the privileged are conscious of their privileges, but that the deprived are conscious of their deprivations.
Actually, the inability of any society to resist immigration, the inability to find other solutions to the problem of employment at the lower, more physical, and menial levels of the economic process, is a serious weakness, and possibly even a fatal one, in any national society. The fully healthy society would find ways to meet those needs out of its own resources.
I think we have lost our groove as a country. One of the reasons was the attack on 9/11. We got knocked off our game. From a country that always exported hope we went into the business of exporting fear.
The extent to which all people in our society are made to count, and believe that they count, is not just a measure of decency; it makes sound economic sense.
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