Chapter 7: Still Chasing the Dream: The Possibilities and Limitations of Social Capital in Dismantling Racialized Tracks

Whether consciously or unconsciously, most Americans believe in the American Dream, which posits that through rugged individualism, effort, and determination, individuals can overcome any hurdle they confront to attain success. Even more significantly, many people of color, regardless of socio-economic background, vest interest in this dream (Luhby, 2015). While many African Americans have long bought into this dream and have adopted multiple cultural practices that aim to ensure economic and social benefits, social scientific research paints a different picture. This picture shows huge disparities (Perry, 2011) for African Americans in education (Ladson-Billings, 2006), health (National Center for Health Statistics, 2017), unemployment (Wilson, 2015), incarceration (Alexander, 2010) and wealth (Jones, 2017). In addition, African American neighborhoods are subject to higher rates of exposure to crime (Martin. et al., 2011), violence (Sharkey, 2013), evictions (Desmond, 2016), food deserts (Bower et al., 2014), and liquor stores (Jones-Webb & Karriker-Jaffe, 2013). From this perspective, far too often this dream has become, as Langston Hughes wrote, a dream deferred