The Role of Class (Social and Economic) in American Life?

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1] How does Murray witness and address the role of class (both social and economic) in American life? Consider for the purposes of your answer what impact class identity has in her own life and/or how she approaches and understands class struggle in America
Murray outlined her experience and thoughts on gender, economic and racial inequities that prompted her to get involved in feminism, civil rights activism and fight for economic justice. With regards to class concerns, self- improvement and education attainment are some of the strategies considered to improve social mobility among African Americans. Eliminating systematic disenfranchisements would ensure inclusion and participation in an open democratic process would be possible. The author highlighted limits to freedom for African American women was unique because of their race, gender and low social status. Class struggles matter to activist since the power brokers in the U.S may have deliberately supported structures that exploited the poor. A look at the role of class, class identity and relations with both gender and racial discrimination in America during Pauli Murray’s early life and her activism highlights her experience with classism.
Murray viewed classism as being closely intertwined with sexism and racism as they there were parts of a control system that limited the freedom of colored women, the poor and minorities. This influenced her views on the role of classism in perpetuating discrimination, since the struggle of African American women was associated with multiple disadvantages compared to white women and black men. Murray also reminisces on her childhood stating that the most imposing house in her neighborhood belonged to Great uncle and Aunt, Richard and Sallie Fitzgerald. There were rumors that they acquired the property when aggrieved white person sold the house to them to get back at the white residents and business associates. Achieving social mobility for the colored people was only difficult because of structural barriers, but also the attitudes of the middle class whites who preferred segregation on white only areas.
To highlight that classism was perpetuated out of fears compounded by racism, was an incident where a white doctor failed to examine out of fear she was a member of Roosevelt clubs. The said imaginary movements were thought to advocate for black women working in domestic service to go looking for better-paying jobs, and achieve social equality. Even the white middle-class people were terrified of having an economically empowered black population, that they were seen as a threat. Murray recognized that achieving economic justice would take effort to tackle racism and sexism, even as feminists and civil rights activists faced legal, social and political hurdles. There is a need to consider the cultural and historical contexts when analyzing the interaction of race, gender and class and their relations with economic opportunities.
Classism is also tied to economic discrimination and this has disproportionately affected colored women. Poor black women working in grassroots activists were often excluded from public discourse on human rights and anti –discrimination efforts despite their contributions. Lack of economic power meant that the lower class people had less power to influence changes in the society. Politics and economics are closely intertwined that even government policies to alleviate poverty fail to address sex discrimination that had marginalized women in the past. To further link classism with the family set up is the observation that women headed the majority of Negro families, while women had higher unemployment rates. The implication of this is that the intersectionality of race, gender and class should not be ignored when undertaking economic analysis. In any case, women were more likely to be on welfare, with unemployment figures failing to account for this demographic.
Murray’s experience in law practice in an environment dominated by younger white men placed her in a minority, while she did not have the high credentials like her counterparts when she was first hired to practice commercial law. People who have experienced discrimination may feel inadequate in an environment where they ought to prove their worth. Classism exists even in the social set-up and although Murray felt uncomfortable at times while working on commercial law she could relate to the younger men. Even when African Americans are in the middle class they may feel as though they do not share a sense of belonging for facing discrimination and they may feel as outsiders.
The class based society devalues the people in the lower strata of the society, and this mostly affected minority who had limited economic opportunities. For instance, even the African American middle class is vulnerable to deteriorating economic power compared to whites because of education attainment, low home ownership and income wealth. Murray had no only read law when it was male dominated but she also encountered the professional class who came from vastly different world, with more connections and wealth. Her attempts to fight for economic justice reflected the realization that the middle class and upper class were ignorant to the plight of those who were struggling economically. However, even the white working class families suffered under a system that was intolerant to labor unions, and the economic fate of these families.
Even though, the class struggle in America has mostly focused on poor minorities, and the system of exploitation that had weakened the economic power of the working class regardless of their racial identity. Murray worked for WPA a union and realized that poor whites were denied economic rights by employers who used both legal and illegal practices to keep wages chronically low. This was similar to tactics employed in the south to disenfranchise the colored the people and make it difficult to demand for economic justice and better working conditions. Analysis of classism shou...