Minorities in American Dream Minorities do not Equal Access to the American Dream Teddy Chou Oregon State University In this new world, people who are from all over the world have been moving into America and intending to start and live a better life. Emigrants from Africa, Europe, South America, and Asia, among other regions of the world, have all come in the US hoping for better political, economic and social conditions. They just have one thing in their minds, and that is to achieve the American dream. In addition, the American Dream is just like that life should be better, richer and fuller for every person, with opportunity for each based on his ability or achievement. It is a national spirit that represents the best possible life of the American population. Everyone has an opportunity to be successful, lead a prosperous life, and have the freedom to climb up the economic ladder along with their family and children, without any regard to their origin or social class. Also, the United States usually declared the independence that is the American Dream should let all people are equal and have the freedom to enjoy life, liberty, and happiness. Furthermore, practically, realizing the American dream is to own a house built on a private land. President Bill Clinton emphasized that for one to realize this dream, they have to work hard in order to have a chance for personal development and advancement. Living the American Dream is the principal goal for the majority of American citizens and those that have been fighting to attain American citizenship. However, the realization of this dream has proved to be a nightmare for most Americans because of many reasons (Cullen, 2004, p. 124). And then the American Dream for most American has been rendered unrealistic and impossible to achieve. In 2000, after many years of significant economic development and success, the rate of poverty of both Latino and African American populations was still close to three times higher than that of the white American white population. Even though this difference was alarming, the previous decades had seen worse with higher disparities recorded. When the economy made a slow turn to the worse after 2000, the rate of poverty among the minorities rose significantly higher than that of the whites. They result in a widened poverty gap and make the realization of the American Dream among them even seem impossible (Soyer, 2016). Although the number of Americans living in poverty reduced by over a million between 2004 and 2005, the poverty levels of the minorities heightened. Gender has also been an obstacle for most people to achieve the American Dream. Since ancient times, the men have been viewed by the society as stronger, able and the host of their families. This notion has identified women as a minority gender and made it difficult for them to get ahead of society’s stereotype against them. A majority of them have been trapped in a society that limits ...

1. Minorities in American Dream
Minorities do not Equal Access to the American Dream
Teddy Chou
Oregon State University
In this new world, people who are from all over the world have
been moving into America and intending to start and live a
better life. Emigrants from Africa, Europe, South America, and
Asia, among other regions of the world, have all come in the US
hoping for better political, economic and social conditions.
They just have one thing in their minds, and that is to achieve
the American dream. In addition, the American Dream is just
like that life should be better, richer and fuller for every person,
with opportunity for each based on his ability or achievement. It
is a national spirit that represents the best possible life of the
American population. Everyone has an opportunity to be
successful, lead a prosperous life, and have the freedom to
climb up the economic ladder along with their family and

2. children, without any regard to their origin or social class. Also,
the United States usually declared the independence that is the
American Dream should let all people are equal and have the
freedom to enjoy life, liberty, and happiness. Furthermore,
practically, realizing the American dream is to own a house
built on a private land. President Bill Clinton emphasized that
for one to realize this dream, they have to work hard in order to
have a chance for personal development and advancement.
Living the American Dream is the principal goal for the
majority of American citizens and those that have been fighting
to attain American citizenship. However, the realization of this
dream has proved to be a nightmare for most Americans because
of many reasons (Cullen, 2004, p. 124). And then the American
Dream for most American has been rendered unrealistic and
impossible to achieve.
In 2000, after many years of significant economic development
and success, the rate of poverty of both Latino and African
American populations was still close to three times higher than
that of the white American white population. Even though this
difference was alarming, the previous decades had seen worse
with higher disparities recorded. When the economy made a
slow turn to the worse after 2000, the rate of poverty among the
minorities rose significantly higher than that of the whites.
They result in a widened poverty gap and make the realization
of the American Dream among them even seem impossible
(Soyer, 2016). Although the number of Americans living in
poverty reduced by over a million between 2004 and 2005, the
poverty levels of the minorities heightened.
Gender has also been an obstacle for most people to
achieve the American Dream. Since ancient times, the men have
been viewed by the society as stronger, able and the host of
their families. This notion has identified women as a minority
gender and made it difficult for them to get ahead of society’s
stereotype against them. A majority of them have been trapped
in a society that limits their abilities to cooking, cleaning, and

3. raising children as the men set out to make a name for
themselves and realize their dreams (Maglin, 1986, p. 16 & 17).
This has created an obstacle for women to create a better life
for themselves by achieving success.
A study which is from the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) revealed that the minority
populations have access to minimal information in real estate,
where agents show them a small percentage of available housing
units. When some people buy houses, and they stay away from
living with white people, these people including African
Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos and Arabs. However, this
discrimination against minorities also keep them away from
access to higher quality education, health, and desirable jobs.
Education which has been the most important thing that creates
opportunity and upward mobility, and has not been performing
as like before. A majority of the people who started the pursuit
of better education ended up opting to work instead of
continuing with their education. This is because of the high cost
of education that has burdened many Americans. And because
of America’s continued labor market evolution, it is more
prudent than ever for every citizen to have access to the better
education that provides them with the knowledge and skills.
And they will help them prosper in the economy today and
remain competitive. America is known to have one of the best
learning facilities and a highly technological education system.
Therefore, the government should make plans to give its
citizens a cost-effective education curriculum that enables them
to attain their college degrees successfully. To be more specific,
so far, the top small percentage of the American population has
recorded an increase in the income by over 200%, while the
middle and lower social class population has an increase of only
6%. This is because of a reduced number of startups and the
loss of over seven million mid-level jobs in the result of the
slowed economic rise. These companies have created a
significant number of job opportunities, which means fewer
companies translate to fewer well-paying opportunities. To

4. ensure that people can have more income, the developed start-
up companies will help them increase their revenues and create
meaningful partnerships with locally available assets like
universities, which can facilitate economic development.
Moreover, Owning a home has been held in high regard in the
American culture for a long time, and is considered as the ideal
of the American Dream realization. So if the minorities had the
same opportunities to own a home as the whites, the wealth
disparity would be reduced by over 30%. For example, before
the Recession of 2007, SelfHelp Credit Union assisted over
50,000 low-income Americans and borrowers from the minority
populations to become homeowners throughout America.
Therefore if more stakeholders implement these practices and
initiatives, a lot more Americans will have the opportunity to
create wealth through ownership of their homes, making the
realization of the American Dream easier. Therefore, I think
that education should combine with the jobs which is given by
stakeholder, and let those student also have tickets to realize
American Dream.
Some people might state that minorities have a lot of
difficulties to achieve American Dream, but there are still some
people that have overcome among the many challenges in their
quest. Therefore, it would be incorrect to say that the American
Dream is exclusively for white Americans. The main reason
why minorities have continued to immigrate to America is that
they are in search of an escape from poverty, political turmoil,
poor education and healthcare from where their original homes.
Also, policies set in place by the government have increasingly
become very strict to discourage immigration. Therefore,
successfully and legally attaining American citizenship is an
American Dream come true for many. For example, the
immigrants like the Chinese and the Koreans have developed
their successful businesses and establishments like Chinatown
and Koreatown. Moreover, there is also a substantial increase in
the well paid black population. In the decade between 1990 and

5. 2000, the life expectancy for the African American population
rose from 69.1 years to 72.2 years because of the more
favorable education and job opportunities they have had access
to (Martin, 2018). In addition, the first Black president, Barack
Obama, and Oprah Winfrey, arguably the world’s most powerful
woman, has encouraged many blacks to work even harder to
achieve the American Dream.
In conclusion, the American Dream is a public prospect that
creates a unique person who you are, and distinguishes
American from the rest of the world. It involves the pursuit of
happiness, prosperity, and success by every individual. Just as
President Obama emphasized, “there is neither a liberal
America nor a conservative America, but the United States of
America. Discriminating people which is based on their race has
hindered a majority of Americans from realizing their American
Dream and promoting the prosperity of the country. Moreover,
opportunities should be available for all so that every American
citizen can be successful through their hard work, and let those
people who are not born in high-income families will also have
an equal chance to build their wealth, have reputation for
themselves, and allow their children to accept the best
education. This way the American Dream will not gradually
deteriorate into a simple illusion. Therefore, from past reports
and experiences, the American Dream has numerous hindrance,
which has made many people give it up and declare that it is
unachievable. Nevertheless, it does not mean that is not
attainable. If the government and other relevant companies
could provide favorable conditions for all regardless of their
gender and race, then many people from the minorities can be
able to achieve the American Dream.

6. Reference page
Cullen, J. (2004). The American Dream: A Short History of an
Idea that Shaped a Nation. New York, NY: Oxford University
Press, USA.
Maglin, N. B. (1986). Gender Balancing in the Curriculum:
Women, Minorities, and the "American Dream." Women's
Studies Quarterly, 14(3/4), 16-17. Retrieved from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40003818
Martin, L. L. (2018). Black Community Uplift and the Myth of
the American Dream. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Soyer, M. (2016). A Dream Denied: Incarceration, Recidivism,
and Young Minority Men in America. Oakland, CA: University
of California Press.
2
2