American Dream

It was a sunny day in the city. Blue skies, a mild breeze and no sign of rain, which had berated San Francisco for a couple of weeks. Energized and well fed, I left my apartment and headed for the bus. I was meeting a friend downtown and we planned to hike up to Coit Tower. The bus ride was surprisingly quick but it was noon on a Monday, after all. I got off at O’Farrell and Leavenworth and began to head towards Market St. We were meeting at the Civic Center Bart station.

As I stepped of the bus and began walking south toward Market, I remembered that I was passing through the Tenderloin, an economically depressed, largely black neighborhood. I wish that I could say that I wasn’t nervous- but I was. As a white woman, I’ve been trained to fear poor black people (and men in particular). But despite my “progressive” education, those five blocks between O’Farrell and Market were nerve-wracking. I felt a bit paranoid but realistically I knew that I had to be wary.

I arrived at Civic Center Plaza without incident but that short walk left me uneasy. I get to walk away from the smells, sights and sounds of the neighborhood but for others it’s daily life. Drug abuse, prostitution, hunger, homelessness, mental illness…

While waiting for my friend to arrive, I watched the small crowd of locals moving about the plaza. A middle aged white woman, poor, offers some of the bread that she was eating to another young transient woman, who gratefully accepted. A small Asian woman sitting nearby changed hats, from a knit cap to a wide-brimmed wicker hat- perfect for a sunny day. Some folks had congregated around the sprawling fountain, resting, maybe waiting, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the gentle kiss of the wind. 

My friend finally arrived and as we headed off a black man approached us with copies of the Street Sheet- a publication by homeless people and advocates that provides an alternative to panhandling and also serves to educate the community about housing and poverty issues. I gave the man a couple of dollars for a copy and before walking away he implored us to treasure and hang onto good friends. Advice that is worth far more than a couple of dollars… We thanked him and continued on our way but the events of the past half hour stayed with me. There is still much to be done to combat racism and poverty.

According to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control” (Article 25, section 1).

We are failing to assure these rights for many people, right here at home. And it is unacceptable. In a commencement speech at Yale in 1962, John F. Kennedy stated that, “the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie--deliberate, contrived and dishonest--but the myth--persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”

One very important myth that pervades our society is that of the American Dream. It exclaims that anyone who works hard enough can achieve great success and climb the invisible social ladder. Underlying this is the assumption that “all men are created equal”, those famous five words from the Declaration of Independence, which proved to be applied selectively over the course of United States history. As long as social programs continue to be cut, there will continue to be no such thing as equal opportunity in this country.