Thread by @mot427, "American Dream" a phrased coined by James Adams in 1931 said it [...]

"American Dream" a phrased coined by James Adams in 1931 said it was "a dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement."

Lets dissect this and talk about what it really means

Adams says "It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately."

Adams understood that those who were in power would have the most impossible time trying to not only share the power but invest in other people so that they could be equal.

The Declaration of Independence (written mostly by Jefferson) states: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, & the pursuit of Happiness"

However at the time these were written
- Slavery was the most profitable asset of the land
- If you didn't own land or a business you didn't matter
- Women couldn't vote (although white women got the right to vote before other BI-POC could. Guess they forgot about their slaves)

Fast forward 170 years later at the end of "legal" slavery (13th still allowed for it):
- Slavery was still the most profitable asset of the land
- If you still didn't own land or a business you didn't matter
- Women still couldn't vote (nor BI-POC)

But what happened during that 170 year gap to help the "American Dream"? Really just 2 things:

1) America won the Revolutionary War
2) The 1790 "Naturalization Act" was passed limited naturalized citizenship to and I quote: "any alien, being a free white person"

This means that ANY immigrant (with a few exception) that was not a white man (this includes white women) could not come and become US citizens (nor their children) UNTIL THE 1866 BILL WAS PASSED (after being veto'd twice by Andrew Johnson the man on the golden dollar & $1M note)

Note: Native Americans didn't receive unbiased naturalization rights until the 1920s.

For nearly a century straight white men had a HUGE "legal" head start in this country despite "all men being created equal"
Even after that bill passed officers would still choose to deny POC

The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 is what FINALLY prohibited white immigration officers from denying citizenship to non-white immigrants.

This country had to pass a law to stop people from being racist to immigrants. There are ppl alive today older than that law.

So why is the gap from 1790 to 1952 important?
Black people (largest minority group of the time) had to "become citizens" after they were freed and there were nearly 4 million alone in 1830, but were routinely denied naturalization citizenship even after the 14th amendment 1868

Here's what also happened durning that gap:
1875 Page Act: Banned Chinese Female Immigrants
1882 Chinese Exclusion Act: Banned all chinese Immigrants
1924 Immigration Act: Banned all Asian immigrants
1920 White women got the right to vote (specifically white women)

Of course these all had exceptions based on class and you can read about how that affected the slave vs asian immigrant "model minority" gap here:
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/04/19/524571669/model-minority-myth-again-used-as-a-racial-wedge-between-asians-and-blacks

#BlackPowerYellowPeril

'Model Minority' Myth Again Used As A Racial Wedge Between Asians And Blacks

The perception of universal success among Asian-Americans is being wielded to downplay racism's role in the persistent struggles of other minority groups — especially black Americans.

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/04/19/524571669/model-minority-myth-again-used-as-a-racial-wedge-between-asians-and-blacks

1896 Separate but Equal Act (aka Plessy vs Ferguson): But all the black people in a box, put all the asians in a box, literally put all the Natives in a box, put all the white people in a box (ethnicity doesnt matter anymore. we're all white. except "red heads") &see what happens

Here's who couldn't get in based on "perverse" acts such as homosexuality, prostitution, sexual deviance, crime of moral turpitude, economic dependency, or "perverse" bodies like hermaphrodites or individuals with abnormal or small body parts(micro penis?).

But something happens: WW 1 and WW 2. For the 1st time since 1860s, US Gov has to force other "citizens" into a draft to fight for the country regardless of race, color, etc.

So now we have a bunch of Americans with no legal rights..."fighting for freedom"

Of course the US has no choice but to grant "some rights" to these citizens when they return but "at home" they still are treated like straight garbage by their white peers and eventually the civil rights movement begins to happen and we see the 1st law pass

So we're at 1952 with the Immigration Act.

- Ended the 150 years of "legal racial discrimination" aka systemic racism against non white male immigrants.
- Ended the ban on Asians, Middle Easterns, Latinx, Natives and Africans who want to become US Citizens

Note: Still cant vote

We've now reached the crutch of the Civil Rights Act of 1964...and finally....anyone can become a citizen and anyone can go to school whereever they want to go, but cant buy property whereever you want tho

OH: STILL CAN'T VOTE

Boom: 1965. Okay Now you can vote (unless convicted of a crime) but still cant buy property in a white neighborhood if the landlord feels like it.

1968: OKAY OKAY NOW You're officially a citizen.

You can become a naturalized citizen
You can go to any school
You can buy any home
You can drink from any water fountain
You can get a business loan

But wait...allow me to introduce:
- Effects of Redlining
- War on Drugs

Here is an excellent article on the effects of redlining (denying loans and business loans to certain "urban" regions) and how it shaped and ruined underdeveloped black, white, asian, and latinx communities for decades: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/redlining-what-is-history-mike-bloomberg-comments/

Redlining's legacy: Maps are gone, but the problem hasn't disappeared

Mike Bloomberg claims the practice ultimately triggered the 2008 housing crash — but where does the term come from?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/redlining-what-is-history-mike-bloomberg-comments/

If you don't know about the War on Drugs&how the Republican&Democratic parties preyed on "white fear" of immigrants/minorities into spending billions of $$ invoking the 13th amendment slavery clause to jail millions of people into working for corporations: https://www.netflix.com/title/80091741

13TH | Netflix Official Site

In this thought-provoking documentary, scholars, activists and politicians analyze the criminalization of African Americans and the U.S. prison boom.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80091741

The past 50-70years (preluded by 170 years of systemic and legal racial discrimination) have been filled with several Americans living the "American Dream" while specifically ignoring:
- Poor and Oppressed
- Natives
- Blacks
- POC
- LGBTQ
- Abused
- Trafficked
- Legally Enslaved

The American Dream isn't:

- Buy a nice home on a hill
- Get a nice wife and have 2.5 kids
- Get a job, and save up enough money to start a business

These are things that only free white men with an exception of a few immigrants with "good moral character" could do

The American Dream is "a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, & be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." -Adams

This thread is randomly catching a little traction (God bless all of you). I want to clarify something. I incorrectly used the word "systemic" at times I should have used "systematic"
A thread on how they are different and defined can be found here: https://twitter.com/mot427/status/1281867045823369217?s=20

https://twitter.com/mot427/status/1281867045823369217?s=20

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