The House We Live In: Post-viewing Activity

After viewing Episode Three: The House We Live In, please respond to the following question:

> Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

25 thoughts on “The House We Live In: Post-viewing Activity

  1. The people defined as white were given privilege and access to opportunities while the non-white were denied citizenship, land, and opportunities. The non-white immigrants happened to work the hardest low paying jobs. Their hard works were not rewarded.

    The long-term denial resulted in having to establish public housing for the minority. The public housing (also referred to later on as the slum) were in terrible condition. In addition the denial resulted in segregation of various groups and how they were characterized/associated. An example is housing and their market value with and without a black family living in the residential suburban area. The value goes down when a black family moves in because people stop looking for house in the area. They associated the black with bringing in bad economic influence meaning they bring the market value of houses in the area down.

    Access to financial resources allow generation after generation of family to live a life of comfort. The house holds value and can be mortgage to help finance a college education debt-free. The minority group does not have access to the same financial resources because they rent out their apartment and there is no equity in renting oppose to owning property.

  2. The notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded has been made difficult for people not defined as white by the social construction of race. Being white comes with certain privileges like citizenship, higher education, and increased equity that people of color don’t tend to get. According to the film, Banks would give out loans to people from white neighborhoods and making it difficult for people from colored neighborhoods to receive loans. This contributed to people of color having 1/8 of the net worth that whites have.The long-term impact of that denial resulted in public houses being destroyed by urban renewal waste. It also resulted in the decrease of market value for homes in white neighborhoods that were starting to become populated with colored families. Access to financial resources would provide better opportunities in life. According to the film the majority of American wealth came from their equity. families would be able send their children away to college without having them worry about accumulating any sort of debt.

  3. Achieving the “American Dream” has been made more difficult for non-white people because being born into a non-white race is already an obstacle in and of itself. An impact of being a race other than white is that it can be harder to get a career when compared to a white person. They are denied things like citizenship, rights, and sometimes an education. Access to money definitely makes an impact in ones life. Someone’s income affects where they live,and the resources they have access to. A black or Hispanic person born into money has more of a chance to achieve the American Dream than someone who does not have access to a lot of money.

  4. Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    I think that today the American dream Is far from reality because even if you work hard there is always the notion that you are at the same standard of living like the day before and you are just trying to catch on. It is difficult for people to progress in a society which technically makes it difficult through laws, but also the laws themselves can be bent against the people. This is why for example lobbying exists today, because it allows people with money to have more influence on others. The long term effect of living in a society with so many laws could lead to crime, and it doesn’t protect the majority of people when it comes to economic equality. For example, most people can buy a house, but in order to buy a house you must have a good credit history. The issue of these bending of laws is what causes the gap between the rich and the poor, and thus; people often look for ways to avoid the law in their favor. From my own experience, I can say that for example; money is an issue because I wouldn’t be able to afford a private college even if I wanted to. Also regular jobs are not enough to cover for these expenses, and People make it harder for you to get a job if you’re black or Hispanic. In the beginning, they are more likely going to label you first. For students for example, it is difficult to pay for college, and getting a part time while being black can be more difficult and it’s twice the punishment. People won’t openly deny you an interview because you are black or Hispanic; simply in many places they will not call you. If you look at a lot of business today this is why it’s a problem, because a lot of regular jobs a stick to their own culture. Consequently; it makes it difficult for someone in a different race to obtain a job and be financially stable. The idea of trust is embedded in many people and thus I believe this is why it affects you financially in many ways. I think that the American dream, it’s like a plane that you are flying and some people are just traveling in the front, often without knowing that all parts of the plane are required for you to fly.

  5. People who are defined as white were given every opportunity to indeed pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In turn their success and ease of opportunity has been inherited by their children. However, the vast majority of nonwhites have passed on the struggle of finding equality in a country that has based its foundations on the concept of equality. I say it is a concept of equality because even the laws are more favorable for whites that non whites. This is the long term impact of this history of this country and its treatment of nonwhite peoples.
    The lack of financial opportunities that nonwhites experience in this country leads the consistent stereotype that nonwhites are lazy when in fact they are just as hardworking if not more so than their white counterparts, This leads to a drastic disadvantage in life opportunities for non whites when it comes to achieving the American dream because it is harder for nonwhites to get mortgages that are fair, better schools for better education and even fair wages is much more difficulty to achieve no matter how qualified or hardworking the individual. There is an inherent stigma attached to being nonwhite in American society.

  6. White people had more opportunities than someone who did not define as white. Whites were more privileged and had many advantages in life where non-whites did not. Non-whites worked hard and mostly worked extremely dangerous jobs but they were not rewarded for it. This led to them living in poor neighborhoods and slums. It did not matter if a white person and a non-white person had the same job, the white person would get the reward. If you do not have good financial resources you will not be able to have many opportunities. You were more likely to have an advantage over someone if you had more money.

  7. Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    It has been made increasingly difficult for those considered non-white as the people who are white implement policies, while still legal, discriminate against non-whites. A good example of this is the case of the real estate agents buying homes cheap, and selling to people of color high. By telling the white residents that x ethnicity is moving into the neighborhood, and offering to buy them out with cash the real estate agents were essentially pushing the idea that living in a diverse neighborhood was bad and artificially created an increase in the local housing market for sales. Likewise, them selling it high to minorities was unfair as they were often discriminated against for loans to begin with. Those moving into houses in previously white neighborhoods were swindled out of money, then their houses devalued by a rating system that specifically targets minorities as a threat to the monetary value of a house. Because of this and the difference in loans given to people based on the housing location and neighborhood “color spectrum” minorities and other non-whites were unable to amass wealth, either physical or monetary, to pass along to their children. And without wealth moving down the line the gap between whites and non-whites drastically increased, and their life opportunities decreased.

  8. > Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    White supremacy, it has always been that way. It may be subtle in certain ways, but it’s certainly there. That is how and why the non-whites cannot achieve their “American Dream”. For instance, my race, Asians, we are hard workers and our parents brought us here to have the better life. It has became that way because of money, if you have money 20-30 years ago, you can do anything. Now a days, you need money, education, experience, experience, EXPERIENCE, to get into anything in order to make the MONEY. Which leaves us as college students more doomed than ever if you do not have no experience what so ever, and money. We can be taken advantaged of, used, manipulated, and such because we have good intentions, yet that “American Dream” seems so far away here in NYC. How is that the non-whites have to work in such dangerous jobs, while the whites gets all the privileges they want? Getting loans all depends on your credit, and credit all depends on your race, etc, etc.

  9. Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    The notion central to the American Dream that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded is in my opinion is just a myth. History has shown us that how hard you work and how many sacrifices you make, the concept or race and its implications will always be on your way to prevent you from reaching your goals and achieving you highest aspirations if you are a person of color. In the American society, being white is synonym of all the privileges such as advanced education, descent housing and employment while being black put you at a disadvantage, in a situation where you have to struggle to meet even some basic needs like housing, employment and others. The performance gap in all domains: education, housing, access to health, employment between white and non white result from a long history of socioeconomic inequalities. We all know that much of the wealth that American families are enjoying today was generated by our governments. As the impact of this segregation and denial, many non white families remained renters and were not able over time to accumulate wealth, which in turn resulted today in the establishment of public housings with all their negative consequences. Coming to money, I think that access to financial assets does make a real difference in term of opportunities. It enhances your quality of life, gives you comfort and power, and gives you access to quality education, and a number of other privileges.

  10. How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    I believe that the mentality that hard work equals success is very misleading. While individuals that are caucasian might agree with this, however that is not the case for many. People of color are in a very disadvantage and no matter how hard they work they would never be able to be equal to their white counterparts. There has been many obstacles that have been put in place to prevent them from reaching the same potential.The impact of having this mentality is that color and minority people would never be able to reach their ultimate potential because they are constantly being held back. Caucasian might also see that the lack of reaching their potential is that they are not trying as hard. Lack of Financial resources make growth extremely difficult for not only yourself but also for your children, it prevents you from having opportunities that you might have if you had money.

  11. People have long thought of America as the land of opportunity. And in some ways it is. However, the opportunities are not equal for everyone. Some people have more opportunities than others. People who are not white face issues with housing, class, education, and other social necessities. Being white is almost synonymous with prestige and they have almost a free pass or first dibs to anything.

    Denying that race does not affect opportunity will only make people more racist. They’ll blame the lack of success on race rather than the outside factors that are holding them back. People will think they’re not working hard enough or they’re slacking or if they tried, they would make it there. But it’s not the case when you have a million obstacles more to overcome than the average white person.

    Having financial resources naturally would give you more opportunities. The rich attract the rich and money attracts money. You would be able to grow up in a better neighborhood, go to better schools, get better jobs, meet more successful people, and have better connections. These are all important things that increases opportunity. You don’t get knowledge if you’re stuck in a poor community. You wouldn’t even know that you could be better, how, or what to do.

  12. The American Dream is subjective, but most of the people that live in America usually have included the fact that hard work will only take them there. Clearly, through institutionalized racism, the American Dream is favored highly in favor of white people that work hard as opposed to people of color who work just as hard. This is not to say that people of color haven’t made their mark on American society, it’s just they have to fight larger battles and deal with consistent denial. Non-white people that achieve their American Dream will almost always tell you that they faced hard racial boundaries. This is a result of the institutionalized racism that runs through America’s veins. The long-term impact of non-white people being denied access to their dreams either makes them do one of two things: give up or keep going. History only remembers those that didn’t give up, even in the face of denial and uncertainty. This determination is an extremely positive boost to the younger generations who also have large dreams and goals that can only be accomplished in America. The differences in access to financial resources is important, but it’s not impossible for me to get money. When it comes to talking money, in this information age, there is no reason for anyone to be ignorant about multiple legal ways of generating income—because they do exist. And they are accessible to all people, no matter your race. It all just comes down to determination and being prepared to fight the battles that you know will happen because of your skin color.

  13. After having seen the video, and as somneone who plays games, white people got what is known as a “new game plus.” In video games, thats when you get to play the game a 2nd time, but with everything you had collected the during your first play of the game. Meaning your second run through the game is now infinitely easier, since you will be well armed and fully itemized. The next generation of minorities were robbed of their “new game plus” due to the devaluation of the housing market through a scheme of fear and racism. Now that house that was supposed to act as a source of value, is worthless, meaning now the next generation has to struggle. For all of the amazing things America can be, it was literally built through the blood and sweat of slaves and manipulation of race to pit us against each other. To quote a Wu Tang song, “Cash Rules Everything Around Me.” It buys the house in the secure neighborhood, it pays for the advanced education, it pays for access to medical care, it secure the peace of mind to reduce the stress on your body. Racism never left, it just came under another pretense.

  14. How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?
    It made more difficult for people that not defined as white is they would have trouble with housing, education, jobs and others stuff. Also they would have low pay jobs unable to find a job that would have high payment. I think the long-term impact denial would they have to live in horrible neighborhood or public housing that they would need to worry things would happen. Also it depend where people live in and depend on what kind of race they are the house value will go down. The difference is that if you have access to financial resource your able to make your family feel safe and have comfort and won’t worry not able to paid stuff.

  15. Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?
    This is very false not everyone that works hard gets rewarded especially based on race. The white supremacy has been around for a long time and it has not gone anywhere. In today’s society if you are white you must have gone to college and have a good job. Unlike if you are black or Hispanic the percentage of this race to go to college and have a good stable job is very low. Even though we see a lot of hard working people work they still do not get rewarded based on their race. I see a lot of Hispanics doing the hard work they do constructions and cleaning or in dirty factory’s. Do they get rewarded of course not society thinks they should stay at that low paid level based on their race and immigration status. Even now in politics the candidates for election most of them want to kick out the Hispanic race especially those who are immigrants in this country. They do not want them to succeed based on their race and immigration status. Yes they say we take most jobs in America but is not because we want to is because we have to feed our family’s at home, pay our child college tuition so they can not stay at an immigrants level with a low income and low paid overwhelmed job. Same with African Americans they are always criticized because of their race. Based on the news they see them doing bad things but people do not see the good ones that are actually trying to make there best to come out of “the hood” because they are tired of being viewed as no life with no education they do have education they just wish they had more opportunities to continue their education if people could stop pointing fingers at them. We should all have the same opportunities not only because your white you have better opportunities. For example was born in Mexico I came to this country when I was two years old I am an immigrant yes I am legal here thanks to the DACA act. But am I given the same opportunities like someone that was born here or someone that is white. No I am not given the same benefits like everyone I have to work and go to college and pay for my own tuition because I am not qualified for financial aid once the DACA act was made the law said students that are immigrants and are under the DACA Act can not receive public help what so ever they must pay for college out of pocket. Also when I try to apply for scholarships I am always denied because I am a DACA student and we do not qualified. It is very upsetting to see that people who are trying to succeed have a lot of bumpy roads and not the same opportunities like other with a different race.

  16. Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white?
    It is difficult to say that I am proud to be American Citizen knowing so many people suffered, were treated badly and denied the right to become a citizen even when their children were born in America. The United States is a very big land piece, some places are still undeveloped. It’s sad to see that so many people were denied the right to live on land that they owned. And this land was taken from them. Land and property are things people fight for even among families today. The fight for survival makes some people do very heinous acts. I came to America for a chance to have a better life. But people of different race or color certainly have to work very hard to get a head. The salary for people who are not white is much less so they have to work harder to earn the money needed to buy a house or car. I was surprised that even though there are some races that are very light skin in color like whites were still not classified as white. White was not just about color. Wow! Today there are many whites who did not even finish high school in comparison to other races who have a college degree but the whites are still treated better in some workplaces. When I look at television today, many blacks make money by playing sports and competing.
    What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?
    Some people just give up. Some people stay on welfare and use drugs. Many people are fighting for rent stabilized homes or even to stay in a home they have known for years. Today we have financial aid for school. But some still opt not to go to school or college. Sometimes we are forcibly moved by government if the area is being developed or if it is developed, then the rent becomes too high, so we have to move anyway. It has become difficult to find a good paying job and live in the same area because to get a mortgage or buy house is very expensive.

  17. > Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”

    How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white?

    This has been made more difficult for people not defined as white because non-white are denied citizenship, and opportunities such as land and jobs. Only could pay rent as tenants. Jobs are limited to low-paying and heavy labor. Whites are given privileges, and opportunites. Whites have a higher chance of getting high-paying job and a superior position while non-white don’t.

    What is the long-term impact of that denial?

    The long-term impact of that denial resulted in non-whites committing suicide upon revoking of white status. White and non-white are segregated. Ghettos are constructed as a gathering for poor people in one settlement. Many urban places are destroyed and not replaced. Then the fair housing act was established, non-whites can obtain home-ownership, however whites gradually move out of that community with non-whites coming in.

    What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    In terms of my life opportunities, the access to financial resources make it possible to have a higher-education, more job offers, better health, treatment, and a home to live in.

  18. >Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    American Dream, it truly means the opportunity for success. Non-white people are the victim of the American Dream and define the meaning of success in their perspective. The success cannot be the basis for happiness for them and there is no social justice and equality in American Dream. People who have low incomes, they are less likely to afford a high cost of living. The long-term impact of the denial made people to suffer from poverty. Financial resources would be beneficial to get a higher education, live wealthy.

  19. Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    The American Dream is different for everyone. There are people who aim high and some aim higher. Some people who work twice as hard as the other person and they don’t get more than a regular person. Employment for instance, White people get more opportunities than non-whites so non-whites usually end up with low pay jobs. Also, I feel like white people are given more options comparing to non-whites like some have family support if everything goes south but most non-whites don’t get that kind of luxury. In the long run, non-whites usually end up living in poor areas. Having access to financial resources provides a big advantage. Recently in the news, Donald Trump said “My father gave me a small loan of a million dollars.” One million dollars is not a small number but to him it’s just a small loan. Most people don’t even get that kind of benefit from their family.

  20. Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    The concept of the American Dream seem achievable if you work hard enough but the reality said otherwise. This concept had been made difficult for people not defined as white by the society. This is harder on non-white because their starting point is not the same as non-white. For example, there are multiple difficulty setting in videos. White people who usually get all the opportunity would usually began the game with the easy and non-white who doesn’t have the resources would usually began the game with the hard setting. The long time impact that is had is that it led to poverty and usually become harder to get out of poverty. If non-white people have access to the same resources as the white, then their condition of their life would improve.

  21. People not defined as white are given a disadvantage from the beginning as they don’t get the same chances as people defined as white. They can work as hard as they want and make as much money as they want, but they are still deemed at a lower level then their white counterparts. The long term impact of this denial is that non white people come to America expecting a fair chance at great opportunities, but sadly they are mistaken and they may never get the chance to even get close to those opportunities.
    In the movie the head of the hospital was more financially kept or stable and in turn was able to afford better quality food, and he didn’t have a job that required him to be at the demands of others which gave him more time to spend exercising and spending time with his family. In America there is a saying that “time is money”, but i also believe it can work the other way around where the more money you have, the more time is available for you to spend. People with less financial stability have to work 2-3 jobs for strenuous hours in environments that cause stress and bring no pleasure, and working these long hours limit their time to partake in any side activities including spending time with their family.

  22. > Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    This is not a reality because they are people who work hard in America for many years and not being able to fulfill the dream. As long as you black you are controlling by the white people everywhere, you are label as different kind of people due to your color, socioeconomic status, even highly educated black to some extent are struggling to fulfill this dream. there was a documentary i was watching on TV for some times ago, It said black loose 20% of their credibility like integrating in society, find opportunities. How much money a black family can save to pay college education for children. You are label as black, minority, means that you should be minor at everything. If we look at the job market, white people have much more chance to hire with a better income even they don’t have the education to do the job compared with black with high level of education. Due to socioeconomic level they are less likely to acquire a college education , likely drop out of school to go to work at early age to help their parents with other siblings or because they are boo-lying by classmates or discriminating from teachers. In the film a household income (both) cannot reach 50,000 and if we want to elaborate what difference can it make. These people work harder than the management level or CEO, not being able to spend time with family. they have lower status more stress because they require to answer a lot of demands to above and the result is bad health outcome. the American dream should include good health , access to health care, able to live with your wealth and have saving to spend time with family or have a vacation plan every year or twice a year to relieve some stress. When we have access to financial resources things will be different, access to health care , less stress, more time with family and vacation and health outcome will be great. We need to acquire higher level of education to fight all social disparities.

  23. The sayings are incorrect hard work didn’t pay off for the immigrants or people that were non-white that worked hard for low pay and were still denied the simplest things like citizenship and the ability to buy houses and live where they pleased. white people described in the film were born privileged and didn’t have to work hard for anything. Not having access to the same financial resources makes a big difference in life opportunities because everything relies on having credit and the ability to manage and maintain finances. It makes it almost impossible to purchase a home and live in decent neighborhoods.

  24. Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    – The concept of “The American Dream” has been made more difficult for people that are not white because those people are not given the same opportunities based on there race and ethnicity. In some cases, if you are not white you are seen as less important or likely for opportunities to better yourself which put people in a hole where they have to struggle. And struggling for long periods of time will eventually cause health complications. If everyone had equal opportunities and equal financial resources, then everyone would be able to live the life they envision for themselves and get a grasp of that ever coveted “American Dream”.

  25. > Central to the concept of the American Dream is the notion that anyone who works hard enough will be rewarded—that anyone can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.” How has this been made more difficult for people not defined as white? What is the long-term impact of that denial? What difference does access to financial resources make in terms of your life opportunities?

    The issue with the notion of the American dream is that people who are not classified as “white” have had difficulty due to other people trying to keep them from being successful. The way this has ben done was through the use of laws and exemptions made to exclude various minorities from being included in certain benefits. One example of this was how African Americans where not allowed to vote for a very long time. The long term impact of things like this is much like what people deal with today. Today you could till occasionally pick up on animosity between racial groups over incidents that did not take place between the individuals, but rather the ancestors o the individuals that currently make up the racial groups today. Finance also had a big role to play in this problem. Most minorities where limited financially through the work they where allowed to do and the difficulty they faced in attempting to “climb the ladder” at work. Their financial limitations carried over to effect them being able to do certain things such as own land.

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