Breaking The Gap
...f they consider hiring them. Individuals of color are often thought of as ignorant and dumb. In history people of color were not allowed to read and write now put them in a position to catch up with other races. They have to work and study harder than Caucasians so they will be on the same educational level. The civil rights movement was initiated to promote economical and social opportunities for African Americans. The Civil Rights Act of 1965 was great accomplishments African American lives, but we continue to get behind many other groups by measures of socioeconomic status. Lagging achievement is not due to a lack of aspirations, because we work hard and cherish anything that we have. African American youth actually has higher educational and occupational aspirations than white youth. They often do not have the proper resources needed to learn material. African Americans are hardly given the information needed to receive higher learning. There are grants offered to assist them with more education but, getting the information is difficult. There have been studies that Africa Americans are segregated in the United States public schools. They perform poorer because they are not provided with the motivation to excel by teachers. Many teachers do not focus on making sure that their students make progress and learn the necessary materials for that subject. The teachers move on and do not encourage the students to get tutoring, instead they sit and watch them fail and fall behind. There were numerous reforms in education to help alleviate some of the problems but, they continue to exist. People of color are trapped in poverty or in occupations that offer little prestige or hope for advancement. The positions of African Americans have improved since the 1960s. The number of blacks enrolled in college has increased six times since the 1960s, whereas enrollment of whites has only tripled. The professional roles and occupations have increased at a fast rate amongst people of color. People of color are often accused of crimes when there is no evidence. Discrimination is a major factor of how and why this happens. When someone commits a crime and they are a person color their picture is shown on the news or in the newspaper. When the individual is not a person of color their picture is almost never shown. If there are a group of African Americans in a place together they are accused of attempting to do something wrong or against the law. Many of the neighborhoods were predominantly white and when African Americans moved into the neighborhoods, the whites moved out leaving the neighborhoods predominantly black. They move...