On Class, Wealth and The American Dream Myth
“You silly broke people why aren’t you like me?!” - Wealthy people giving advice
It’s Monday you better be working! And between you and me reading this is doing the work. To determine our goals and strategies for social change we must discuss class.
If we discussed classism and stopped stuffing it under the rug and shoving it into crowded closets when we have dinner parties, then we would change a lot on how we see each other and ourselves. I believe addressing class inequality can change the other inequalities many of us and our neighbors and community members face.
We interact with people from all over, we have cross-cultural experiences and relationships, heck, we’ll talk about race, strip down all of our differences from one another, yet barely have cross-class experiences or discussions. I can admit that I have no friends who work in maintenance, and if I do they haven’t told me, and I have never thought to befriend the maintenance team or janitors at work. We do not spend our time with different people from different classes. It is a major difference between all of us regarding which member of class we belong to or what kind of social class we belong to.
I’m the firstborn American in my family, my father only made it to the 5th grade and my mother taught my dad how to read, let’s just say that financial responsibility fell on my lap pretty early. This put college on hold, I’m in my 30s and back in school now getting my degree. So someone let Kim Kardashian know I’ve worked longer than her. The truth is most of us have. And most of us will never stop working.
How we define work is up to us, and our individual day-to-day, some of us are full-time parents, students, artists, baristas, some of us are disabled. Some of us without educational opportunities. And getting off our ass to work is something we’ve been forced to do to survive.
Our work ethic will never align with what wealthy people believe hard work is.
It’s easy to listen to someone with wealth and power even though their sound advice is; get off your ass and work! If I heard that 8 years ago I would have internalized it. Our term of the day is internalized classism we blame ourselves or blame others and participate in ways that harm our ideas of each other and ourselves. While dreaming and fantasizing about how we too can become rich.
You wonder I must be doing something wrong because I’m working as hard as I can. This internalized classism can happen, especially during economic stress, and unless you’ve been trying to blast off into space (* cough cough* Elon Musk) you should know we are currently in a pandemic.
During the lockdown, rise, and grind Twitter and out-of-touch influencers made posts to express how we should be mustering up ideas or business plans during this time off. When most of us were sick, lost loved ones, and didn’t get to rest because home became our new office. And if you didn’t use that glorious peaceful time to create, shame on you and that is why I’m richer than you I’m more successful than you.
When we see this discourse self-blame approaches us, and some of us forget that there are so many factors that drive inequalities of wealth; U.S. imperialism, war, domestic tax, spending policies, corporate power, etc.
The American Dream, Myth?
What’s the American dream? According to Felice Yeskel, an activist, It’s believing that people in this country can obtain enough income, where they can own their own homes, and provide for their families if they just work hard enough.
Have you heard the saying, pull yourself up from your own bootstraps? Sometimes we say that to people who can’t afford boots.
This perpetuates the class mobility myth, that if you have failed to move up the ladder of success then you haven’t worked hard enough. We put the blame and lack of wealth on individuals instead of systems in place that keep us broke.
This system isn’t random, it has proven there is no reward if you work hard. And although marginalized people who work daily, are the engine to our society functioning smoothly for wealthy people to enjoy, we don’t get a piece of the American pie we’re the ones serving it.
Being unaware of class privilege or being unaware of your internalized classism can provoke harmful language, like ghetto, white trash, trailer trash, low-class etc. This language seeps into how we treat employees and workers, giving them more work to do with less pay.
We have to acknowledge that the segregation of our race and gender is also based on class.
Race and class intersect in America half of all poor people are white yet wealthy people are disproportionately white and poor people are disproportionately Black along with Latino/x and Indigenous people.
Let’s say I made it! Woot Woot! ( insert confetti emoji) The American Dream is now mine. I walked up the ladder. Something just isn’t quite right…
It did take me longer than most to get here.
Wait… I do more work than my white colleagues.
WHAT? It will take me 19 months to get paid the average of what my white male colleagues make in 12 months.
Whoops! Looks like the American Dream only works for those who dont have to dream at all for what they want, because it’s always been accessible, their wants are in arms reach.
Psst! Wealthy people aren’t going to mention this in their new webinar - “ How to be like me in under 5 minutes”
We have to do better by no longer making class our community secret, the invisibility of class adds more harm to our already existing issues of race homophobia, gender inequality, ageism, xenophobia.
Talk about class this week, (and all the time) with your friends, family, discuss if you were embarrassed or ashamed of your home, and where you grew up as a child? Did you want a bigger house? Different neighborhood, were you embarrassed by living in the biggest house on the street? Are you where you are due to your class? Have you experienced class fluidity? (which doesn’t happen often) did you grow up poor now rich? Was it due to positioning yourself in a specific social class? Did you grow up on public assistance? Are you on it now? Are your friends in the same class as you? What was your upbringing like? And has it affected the way you move through the world now? Talk about class, I urge you to dive in with no self-shame or judgment towards yourself or others.
Our little community here, won’t bring equality between classes but we can undo the silence around it, I know what you're thinking; “Christy don’t be a Debbie downer equality can exist between classes” Well no, because an owning class needs a working-class. You cant be a slaveholder without slaves, the idea of class sustains the power. But I do believe we can tackle class issues by being open about class in general.
Anyway listen, Kim Kardashian got one part right, it is true, we don’t want to work, and that’s because we are being forced to work. We are the ones that keep the lights on in America.
With all that said I actually do have to get my ass up and go to work.