People from around the world flock to America for the promise of the “American Dream,” the notion that a person born into the bottom economic rung can rise to the top. The “American Dream” is more myth as the same Pew study showed that just 4 percent born into the lowest-earning 20 percent of United States families rise to the top 20 percent.[i]
The situation only becomes more pressing when we consider how income inequality affects Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic and Latino Americans. While the United States has seen massive strides in civil rights, education, and history-making achievement for Black Americans since 1970, median Black household income as a percentage of white household income has only increased 5 percent—from 56 percent to 61 percent, with Hispanic and Latino Americans earning only slightly more.[ii]
We need to face the reality that the American Dream is more suitably titled the “American Myth.” Or, in the words of writer and social critic Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The American Dream is a lie."[iii]
With this symposium the Social Innovations Journal hopes to provide policymakers, social services practitioners, community organizers, and most crucially average Americans insight into the problems of income inequality, social mobility, and the role of institutional and social racism. Moreover, we hope to share solutions and shed light on bright-spots where organizations and individuals are overcoming society’s limitations and achieving social mobility, despite the odds. We also will share policy suggestions and case studies, to encourage lobbyists and policymakers to enact broad changes to make it easier for Americans to achieve the dream we have all been promised.
[i] The Pew Charitable Trusts. (2012). Pursuing the American dream: Economic mobility across generations. https://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/reports/economic_mobility/pursuingamericandreampdf.pdf
[ii] Schaeffer, K. (2020). 6 facts about economic inequality in the U.S. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/07/6-facts-about-economic-inequality-in-the-u-s
[iii] Coates, T. (2015). Between the world and me. Spiegel & Grau.
AGENDA
- WELCOME: Nicholas Torres, Co-Founder, Social Innovations Journal
- ECONOMIC INEQUALITY, SOCIAL MOBILITY, AND INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM FRAMING: April Kaplowitz, Social Justice Curator, Social Innovations Journal
- KEYNOTE: Jeanette Wilson, Student and Activist
- MEET THE AUTHORS: Article Authors
- BREAKOUT GROUPS: All Participants
- LARGE GROUP DISCUSSION: All Participants
- KEY POINTS AND CLOSING REMARKS: April Kaplowitz