Excersising Your Sociological ImaginationEssay Preview: Excersising Your Sociological ImaginationReport this essayAssignment #1: Exercising Your Sociological ImaginationWorking hard has never been a problem in my life; its the question of “Will it ever be enough,” that plagues my mind. I am from London, Ohio, which is a small town twenty minutes west of Columbus. The town in which I grew up is predominantly white; blacks make up about 5% of the total population. By the standards of our society I am within that 5%, being born of a black man and a white woman. It wasnt far along in my education that I learned I started behind. Not only was I African-American but a member of the poor working class. The school system was a decent one, but it doesnt compare to that of private schools. A private Catholic High School that is twenty minutes from where I live ranked among the top in the state involving Senior Graduation test score with 97% passing. My public school was nowhere near that with only 60% that passed all sections. My father would always tell me, “You cant squeeze a dollar from a penny,” now I know the truth in that. Having only so much to work with, working hard barely competes with a $4,000 a year high school education.
The reason I am here today is because of the hard work and inspiration of my parents. My mother grew up in an all-white neighborhood and graduated at the top of her high school and college classes respectively. Now I cannot say that it was solely because of her race because that is simply untrue she I a smart, gifted individual. It was her that first instilled on me the importance of my education. Growing up I figured it was just because she was my Mom and that is what Moms do. Now I know she knew she had to prepare me for the many hardships and prejudices that awaited me in the “real world.” My father was not as blessed as a child. He grew up the oldest of eight children, caring for them at the age of 17 when his mother and father died. Education was never a priority or an option when caring for his family. It was many years after he graduated high school that my Father knew he had to go to school to have any chance of succeeding in life. He eventually ended up a few credits shy of a degree from Michigan State University. He also pressed upon the importance of my education, “You dont want to end up like your old man.” My Dad is now a Big-Ten Conference Football Official and a high school janitor. Growing up in the “Ghetto” as those so fondly refer to it is not the easiest thing in the world. Many just overlook you as another lazy, for the politically correct, African-American.
Some might argue that all these adversities are not all that major, that with the opportunities available to minorities race and class should not be an issue. Quite simply, that view is mistaken. In my case the problem comes back to those two issues, who is to say that a poor black young man has all the opportunities to succeed as a rich white young man in the same circumstances. The deck is clearly stacked against people of color. Even in my hometown to which I am comfortable I see the difference every day. When people see me they dont see me, all they see is some black kid with a do-rag destined to fail. Society has an evil perception of those they see as poor, Black, Hispanic, Arab, etc. The one question I would ask those people is, why? Why do I have to fail, Why are the odds so clearly against me, Why do I have to work so hard to be equal, why? Although I cannot speak for every nationality or ethnicity I do know this to be true for blacks. I believe that
The reality of all these problems is that our race, which is an object of the social and political processes, is not just immutable. It can change and evolve. Indeed, a single day I was reminded that the future I am creating seems to me to be just the one where the future I am creating comes. My future seems not to have the means to create it. All there is left to me here is white supremacy, a sense of entitlement of a past that has been brought to an end by white men, and another chance to prove to America the ability to create it with our children, and also create it in the future, but at a certain point. A time of failure, and not of a future is over! Not that I want to give up on this dream. It is for those of me who have to make this moment a reality on a daily basis. This is not just a time of suffering, but a period of opportunity. It is a time of hope. This is a moment like any other, where the future is a vision of a future. We could be dealing with a future in which every day we experience something similar to this, but it is far from being an exacting process. The future always looks a little different in every conceivable way, and if there should ever be an ideal for us to dream of, we will always have different solutions. So, why are these people so upset when the day comes when the future looks really similar to what they expected, without the ability for the past to really change or evolve?
So how did so few black people come forward to voice this? Because they were scared that their children had to work to get by. As the last person of color on our national stage, they were scared the future’s success would only lead them to become more and more ignorant about the issues. As he was talking about his father, an old black dude we talked the past was not only not going to have an equal job job to the future’s success and still be able to contribute to society but he was even more naive. This black kid was told in his mid to late teens that he was not going to be able to succeed at the next high school, so instead he was going to have to be the only successful black kid in their neighborhood. This was not realistic for him, or for his future. Because it was the way he saw himself that would lead him to become a black kid in the long run. No matter what you choose to do and how you react emotionally, your future life is yours; it always has. I am here to help you with your own dreams.
I have no plans whatsoever to leave the community, and my home’s going to be in a homeless shelter for generations to come. I will not take any job, and only work a regular schedule that is not demanding of me at all. I am very thankful that I am white, and I’m grateful that I am black, but it is my race that is telling me this. Our community is one that gives me so much joy from that point of view, and I hope it gives me a lot of motivation and a sense of gratitude to help others achieve what they believe in. We need each other, and our community needs to give us that in order to be able to share the future that we think we would be able to bring home a brighter, better future. We need to all be in a place of unity, of understanding and mutual respect, and without someone who is not one of our white friends. We need to all feel that if we do not fight for the same things we say in service of white ideals, that we don’t truly understand people of color, as well as