The race/poverty intersection: Will we ever achieve liberty and justice for all?

Abstract

Summary The intersection of race and poverty presents the two most seemingly intractable social problems in the United States today. Despite gains in the recent decades, unacceptable levels of institutional racism and poverty persist. Increasing income and wealth gaps, desegregation of schools, absence of minorities in the highest levels of government and the private sector, and the radicalization of space all are indicators of this failure of democracy. The white majority prefers to imagine a colorblind society, not just as a goal but also as a current reality. The Bush administration's negative attitudes toward affirmative action, as well as former President Clinton's failed Race Initiative, are evidence that “liberty and justice for all” are not to be achieved in the near future.