The African American Inequality

The social construction of race causes the society to despise the Black population. Sports, education, and learning have all been hampered for African Americans by structural inequity. Despite disparities, successful African Americans’ varied personal experiences demonstrate that poverty and discrimination may be overcome without altering institutional structures. In the documentary Hoop Dreams, the cases of two successful basketball players named Arthur and Gates serve as an illustration. Their way of living reflects the mindset of American society (Joravsky, 1996). The film steers viewers from the usual day to day poor condition of the African American lives to a new view. Although African American inequalities are used to explain the poor background of famous black athletes, the inequalities can be seen a positive influence on the athletes. The structural inequalities create few advantages for African Americans, who being aware of these disadvantages work hard to have a better position.

According to Lewis and Diamond (2015), social imagination takes an intersectional approach to issues in the society. Hoop Dreams portrays the mother’s struggle that results from structural inequalities and not personal short comings. The film shows the how oppression occurs making it easy to connect between the demographics and oppression. The lives and narratives of Gates and Agee provide a space to critically analyze the structural inequalities in the America society. The film shows how race affects class in the workplace, sport and home. The film also shows how race affects one’s class in his or her effort to achieve education. Black women are concentrated in low income jobs. The film portrays the economic reality by showing the prevalence of poverty among the black households instead of anthologizing the black family structure. Despite their economic state, the two families work hard to raise fees for their children to see them succeed.

United States prison institutionalizes racism by enrolling more black people into prisons. In the beginning of Hoop Dreams, Arthur Sr. and Agee live together with each contributing their income to the family. The film’s narrative frame introduces and challenges the unstructured inequality in the justice system in a nonthreatening way. The film shows that Agee lost his husband to the prison system. After becoming a victim of the prison system, she is forced to raise the family alone without her husband. The black men encounter the system while their women confront an unfair social welfare system. Arthur Sr. Later joins the family after being incarcerated but cannot feed his family as he did before. Sheila Ages looks directly into the camera in one scene and speaks to the people about the welfare “I used to get 368 dollars. Now I get 268. And that’s it,” this is a moment in the film where Agee acknowledge the economic reality that black females face because of institutional inequalities (Mills, 2000). However, she is a hard working mother who wants to see her son have a better future.

The quality of education received by the black students impact their socioeconomic status. The film takes place in Chicago where 87% of public schools have black students. Inner city schools have more students with less funding (Banet-Weiser, 1999). Hoop Dreams also challenges the inequality in education. The overwhelming majority of students in public schools are blacks. When Arthur Jr. arrived at St. Joseph’s high school he noticed the amount of white faces and clean hallways in the school. He had a rough time catching up with the rest of the students. Arthur and Gates failed a ninth grade test and were left at mercies of their coach. Gates success in basketball earned him a scholarship at St. Josephs while Arthur lost his scholarship. The situation between the two boys at St. Joseph highlights the way education gap affects blacks in Americans schools. Despite the inequality in education, Arthur sought other means to fund his college tuition to succeed in life. He did not give up his dream because of losing the scholarship.

Learning Institutions are not willing to support African American students unless they have talents that benefit the institutions (Johnson, 2014). It is clear from the Hoop Dreams that Arthur and William Gates were offered the scholarship because of their talents. They were not hired as students but as athletes as though they were free agents in pro ball. Their scholarship is an indication that suburban schools do not need black professionals. When Arthur failed to meet the expectations of the school’s coach, he lost his scholarship. The sponsors are willing to support African Americans with talent. The school refused to release his transcripts claiming that his parents had not cleared his tuition fee. The morality in this scenario is that St. Josephs wanted the two black boys, recruited them and would have sponsored them all if they played to their expectations. However, the white students were able to learn with the help of their parents, who had the money to pay for their fees.

In conclusion, the structural inequalities create few advantages for African Americans, who being aware of these disadvantages work hard to have a better position. Learning institutions are willing to hold the future of African Americans hostage for a debt that the parents cannot pay. In essence, the school recruiters are biased in their sponsorships and take advantage of the economic conditions of the African American families. African American families have worked hard to prove the society wrong. William took advantage of the little opportunity to excel in academics and athletics despite the societal view about blacks. Arthur followed his dream and became a successful basketball player.

References

Banet-Weiser, S. (1999). Hoop Dreams Professional Basketball and the Politics of Race and Gender. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 23(4), 403-420.

Johnson, H. B. (2014). The American dream and the power of wealth: Choosing schools and inheriting inequality in the land of opportunity. Routledge.

Joravsky, B. (1996). Hoop Dreams: True Story of Hardship and Triumph, The. Harper Collins.

Lewis, A. E., & Diamond, J. B. (2015). Despite the best intentions: How racial inequality thrives in good schools. Oxford University Press.

Mills, C. W. (2000). The sociological imagination. Oxford University Press.