At Least We Gave You a Shot

Say you have two kids both equally smart and fast. You have them participate in a race. One starts ten feet away from the finish line and the other starts 100 feet from the finish line while carrying ankle weights. Every time the second child takes a step another weight is added.

This is a simple breakdown of how our country has created such a huge wage gap while still being able to say, “If you work hard in this country you can make it.”

Of course the child starting closest to the line won and no one was surprised, but, as we like to point out, the child starting further away was still given a chance. The system of economic success in this country states that in this model the second child should have tried harder. It was their own fault for losing. Maybe the first kid was just simply better.

Let’s take a look at what factors lead up to race. Why was one kid starting so close and one starting so far away? A few simple but huge factors that go into this are race, what class you are already starting in, and gender. The child who won was a white boy coming from an upper class family. He went to private school his whole life, studied for standardized tests since freshmen year in high school, was encouraged to attend college, graduated college without debt, had family connections to high paying jobs, and when he applied for those jobs he came in unprofiled and got paid maximum salary for that job. He has a good chance of making it into the top 20%, where 84% of the overall income in the United States is concentrated.

The second child, a girl, was a minority with a family from a lower income background. A weight and distance was added for each of those factors. She had to keep two jobs on top of going to high school, didn’t have a lot of chances at higher education, and will be paid less for any job based on her race and gender. Somehow, according to our society, this is fair because she had the opportunity to participate in the race. When someone of a minority group or an oppressed gender or someone coming from a lower economic background makes into a higher income bracket, people can nod and say, “See, they made it? Everyone had a chance. The system is not unbalanced and everyone has an equal shot. People who fall behind are simply not running fast enough.”

In a dual study done between Yale and Stanford, females applying for the same job with the same experience and education were considered less qualified and offered $4,000 less in their yearly salary. A job was open and students made a fake application and labeled one with the name John and one with the name Jennifer. John was considered an amazing candidate with a lot to offer while Jennifer was thought to just be someone who could probably do the job. (Yale Law School)

The same basic principle applies for race. Coming in with a “black-sounding” name like Jamal means you get paid less and are less likely to get the job than a candidate with a white-sounding name. Even if you are a minority with a white-sounding name and background, you are paid less and perceived to be less qualified. (The Hidden Brain)

How can the world change this imbalance? How could be start with moving everyone closer to the finish line and the ankle weights dropped? We can start with raising the minimum wage by creating higher taxes for the wealthy. We can change where our tax dollars go. 3% of U.S. tax dollars are going to public education while 15% of it is going to defense. (National Federal Tax Spending Website)

These set of idea and possible solutions aren’t going to fix everything. There is still the collective subconscious and rich men aren’t going to give up their power easily. It will take time to make change.