Is the US highly stratified on the basis of Race?
How do we explain the success of people such as Oprah Winfrey and Condoleezza Rice? It would be ridiculous for me not to include our current President Barack Obama in that question as well. In my opinion, I tend to think location, experience, as well as education and perhaps even who you know plays a role in the success of anyone, not just people of color. It’s all about drive and will and pushing one’s self to overcome obstacles and odds.
Furthermore, society itself has evolved, but not although some people would say that affirmative action may have had a hand in the current successes of some people of color and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that. Also, I think a lot of success has a lot to do with the ever growing fact that we are not so different than one another. This is seen with the fact that we have people of all races in positions of power and different races appointing different races in positions of power. I know in some parts of the country, perhaps more so than most would expect, race is still a very important and critical issue. If you ask me, sometimes I think we should just fast forward a couple thousand years, perhaps by then everyone will be the same color from generations of interracial relationships and race won’t be an issue.
Reference
Marger, Martin N. (2009). Race and Ethnic Relations (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning