Sociology Essay Example: Race and the City

Most of the African-Americans find it difficult to survive in the streets of the cities in the United States because racial inequality is prevalent. This issue of racial bias has denied most of this African-American the opportunity to access and enjoy services and amenities as well as institutions because of their skin color. For many years, racism has been addressed, and most leaders have tried to fight this menace but without success. These systems of oppression have persisted since the old days of slave trade where African were treated like animals as they worked for the White man. One reason that people are unwilling to find solutions for these problems is that there is a profound misunderstanding of where the problems stem from in the first place. It is evident that most Americans have a historical notion of progress and equity, refusing to acknowledge systems of oppression that created the inequality that we see today (Rex, 2013).

School segregation is seen in most states across America. These schools have developed the tendency of selecting students according to their race. The African-Americans are segregated from schools that are understood to be of the White class. This is denying the people a right to enjoy education in the school that they like. The schools left for the African-Americans are those that have poor classes, and their services are too low. The teachers that help them in their education are of the lower level compared to those that teach in the schools only meant for the whites. This school segregation has resulted in poor performance for most African-American students because they are motivated by unqualified teachers that have no experience and lack the motivation skill that is required to help the students address education challenges. They are often left alone to study for themselves and end up failing in their exams while others graduate with low marks that cannot lead to successful careers.

In some cities in America, residential segregation has also been enhanced. Some of the residential homes are meant to be occupied by a particular race. This has given the African-Americans a difficult time to find favorable households where they can enjoy life with their families. Most of them occupy houses that are poorly serviced and pay vast amounts of rent yet the homes are not worth that amount of money. Furthermore, there are estates that no African-American can be accommodated because they have no right to possess such houses. Racial segregation has made life difficult for most foreigners and the African-Americans because, in the housing sector, the Whites are given priority to occupy the best residential houses that are correctly built and have the essential services required to keep the house in excellent condition. For the African-Americans, they live in poorly constructed homes that are mostly not worth the vast rent they pay.

The Whites are the majority in the United States. This has, therefore, enhanced the creation of majority-minority schools that segregate the Whites from the rest. The Whites, who are the majority, are given the best schools that have the qualified and experienced teachers and have services that students can use towards the achievement of their educational goals. These students get good grades and lead successful careers helping them to sustain themselves in future. On the other hand, the minority, African-Americans, are segregated to poor schools that do not help them achieve their goals. Most of them end up dropping out and go to the city streets to vandalize peoples property because they need money to sustain themselves Katz & Thomas, 1998). This why statistics show that most of the robbers in the cities of the United States are African-Americans. To help eradicate this, the government requires to discourage the creation of such schools because the minority group fails to achieve their best because of racial segregation.

Residential segregation perpetuates school segregation. This argument can be based on the fact that schools and institutions are created and developed in areas where there are residential homes. This indicates why residential segregation enhances school segregation. Schools will be built in the areas where the minority live, and the classes will not be different from the segregated schools because those that live around are the ones that will go to these schools. African-Americans have survived long struggles because you find that most of them live in a particular area and share the same social amenities that are way too different from those utilized by the majority. The Whites live in residential areas that are conducive, and the schools located there are only for their children because they all live in a particular area. Their classes are, therefore, for Whites only and their services are better helping them to acquire essential skills useful outside the school life. This segregation by race has hindered the development and growth of African-Americans and at the same time has given the Whites an opportunity to become better in the society at the highest class.

History of San Jose

As a global city, San Jose is the largest city in Northern California with a population of over one million people. It was founded in the 1700s by the Californias and became the first capital state after California gained its statehood in the 1800s. The World War II gave the city a substantial financial growth after recording a massive economic boom. The citys first mayor, Josiah Belden lead the city towards invention and innovation. The town turned to industrial manufacturing after an extended period of agricultural activities. City manager Hamann helped the city to annex adjacent localities like Alviso and used the urban sprawl method to aid in dispersed urbanization. He enabled the city to be an ideal place to practice business. After his retirement, the citys progress deteriorated because the city experienced a high population growth rate with poor public services and numerous municipal debts. This pulled the growth and development of the city some steps behind compared to the previous city manager.

The citys anti-growth majority who were in the city council helped Janet Gray Hayes to be elected by the people as mayor of the city. The city had a vigorous mayor who was not afraid to lead the people towards a sustainable future despite being criticized that she had acquired power after a coup had taken place in the era of Norman Mineta. This acted as an inspiration and motivation towards the success of his term. By the 1980s, the city had recorded a high population growth that indicated that indeed the city was growing faster something that was the opposite of the peoples imagination.

The citys technological advancements have significantly helped the city to grow to where it is today. The city is located in a business-friendly environment where its infrastructure matters a lot. The city has managed to improve its support for road networks to communication networks. As the second largest city in the state of California, the city is built and connected by suitable roads that link the city streets making the city a bustling trading center. The city is busy, and its services such as residential housing, gas, and rental buildings are costly compared with the national average. The city is, however, occupied by the Whites who are the majority and most of the other people are random foreigners in the city for business purposes.

After the world war, the city turned to industrial manufacturing from agriculture. This implies that the city needed technology to run the industries they would build. The Ford Motor Company, formerly referred to as the Food Machinery Corporation was established with the aid of the United States War Department. The corporation needed adequate electricity to run because it was created to help in the development of military vehicles that assembled vehicles such as the Bradley and some battle tanks. Whites live in residential areas that are conducive, and the schools located there are only for their children because they all live in a particular area. Their classes are, therefore, for Whites only and their services are better helping them to acquire essential skills useful outside the school life. These types of machinery required the best technology because it was contracted by the defense department of the country. Today, these military platforms are in use by the American Military. The company helped the city to improve its roads because the industry requires adequate and efficient infrastructural services to grow, develop and be successful. The streets became refurbished, and the city became busier than it was before the invention and innovation period (Marchettini et al., 2014).

IBM also took its investments to California after establishing the headquarters of the West Coast in San Jose. They built a development and research facility that was well equipped. This facility played a substantial role in the economic growth of the city because it also created job opportunities for the people living around with qualifications. A team led by Reynold Johnson assisted in the invention of the hard disc as well as RAMAC in the city improving its technological aspect of growth and development. The technical improvements were undertaken by the city planners also played a significant role towards the development of the city. It helped people to adapt to the situations and be updated to fit in the new technological innovations. With the Cisco services available in San Jose, it was easier to adjust to the inventions, and the people turned to digital making the city a dream place (Esser et al., 2015). Today, San Jose has numerous technologically-based facilities that make telecommunication and trade more comfortable in the region. The city has hosted some of Apples Worldwide Developers conferences because the city acts as an exhibition of a digital city that has grown significantly. The city depends on these investments because they are the determinants of the citys economic growth. It is a city that portrays a lot looking at the history of it and the growth period.

Works Cited

Esser, Steve K., et al. "Backpropagation for energy-efficient neuromorphic computing." Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems. 2015.

Katz, Michael B., and Thomas J. Sugrue, eds. WEB Du Bois, Race, and the City:" The Philadelphia Negro" and Its Legacy. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998.

Lipman, Pauline. The new political economy of urban education: Neoliberalism, race, and the right to the city. Taylor & Francis, 2013.

Marchettini, Nadia, et al., eds. The Sustainable City IX: Urban Regeneration and Sustainability (2 Volume Set). Vol. 191. Wit Press, 2014.

Metropolis, Nicholas, ed. History of computing in the twentieth century. Elsevier, 2014.Rex, John. Race, colonialism and the city. Routledge, 2013.