Abe’s & Modelo Fighters’ Dream Lives On

Letter to Romans: We’re told “How 5 Americans [Uniquely] Made it to the Middle Class.” But as MILLIONS of poor inner-city folks have achieved suburbia & the American Dream, Lincoln told us 175 years ago it’s done through talent & hard work.

I still recall attending UIC in the 60s studying urban blight & how cynical activists predicted how po’ city folks were doomed to poverty thanks to “institutional racism.” Well, most US minorities now live the Impossible American Dream in suburbia – Latest Census data shows 76% of Black Americans reside in suburbia or exurbs; 80% of Asian Americans; and 83% of Hispanic Americans do so as well. So, the WSJ article strikes an ironic chord when it cited a new study claiming “children born to low-earning parents in 1992 [STILL] had a harder time moving into the middles class than the previous generation.” No kidding. Since when has rising from poverty for ANY family let alone entire ethnic group or race been anything but hard and directly tied to working one’s butt off over time … and usually over generations?

My poor White South Side of Chicago family would be good fit for this article. But it morphs into the usual stories of 5 individuals and bases its conclusions on another Harvard-based institute’s study ostensibly proving the obvious fact of life that it’s not a bowl of cherries. We’re told “Today’s paths to the middle class don’t just run through college or traditional manufacturing work. The Americans who make it are open to change, persistent and jump at unconventional opportunities. Many find openings in hands-on fields such as healthcare, and they lean on short-term credential programs as steppingstones to new careers.” Sounds exactly what me and many of my childhood friends did to make it in life over 50 years ago … and Lincoln and his peers did more than a century before that. As the Modelo beer salesman would now say, “It’s the Mark of a Fighter.”

Davd Soul