Society is constructed into a hierarchy of social classes; poverty is what separates the social classes apart. The elite rich are at the top of this hierarchy, at the center are the middle-income families, and at the bottom are the low-income families and homeless. Traditionally the rich exploit the poor for more money while the poor become even more destitute. In the United States, the minorities are typically in the poor low-income level. The essays,Savage Inequalities,?Positive Functions of the Undeserving Poor,? andThe Anatomy of Racially Motivated Violence in New York City,? explore the conditions of minorities lives and offer evidence into how the minorities are written-off by the government and violently treated by society.
             The main theme that is emphasized in the essay entitledSavage Inequalities? is the American ideology of life; that every individual gets an equal opportunity in life. Although this ideology may hold true to some people, there is also a larger group of people attending urban schools who do not get the same treatment and quality of education as their suburban counterparts. The author, Jonathan Kozol, did his study on the educational environment of the schools of New York City. He argues thatwhite schools? get more funding than do the schools that consist of predominately black populations. There are number of school districts in NYC, but Kozol narrowed his research down to district 10 (the Bronx) in particular, because of the two extremes that are located within. At one end of the extremes is public school 24. This school is located in Riverdale, which is a fairly wealthy community and is populated predominately by whites. At the other end are public schools 79 and 261 located south of Riverdale. Its population consists mostly of minorities that live in relatively low-income households. At schools 79 and 261, the author talks about both schools inadequacies. Both schools are extremely overcrowd...