Class not race

Back in the 50’s there was a best-selling book entitled, “Raison in the Sun”. I read this book with great interest because it was about me. The book was about a black family that moved into a white neighborhood. It was a housing development like many after the war where two and three bedroom houses were built all in a row and sold mostly to young families, many of whom were vets from WWII. In 1959 I bought one of these homes for $10,000. These homes represented a major investment on the way to the American dream of home ownership. The story told of how the value of the home decreased by 20% when the black family moved in and the conclusion was that this was racism. I won’t argue with the book but I will present another possibility. Suppose the value of the homes increased when the black family moved in. Would there have been a different reaction. I say yes. It is possible that the negative reaction toward the black family might have been based on economics as opposed to race. I bring this up at this time because I see something similar in the riots in Baltimore. I believe much of the problem is based on class rather than race or is an economic problem. The leadership in Baltimore is racially balanced based on the community but the riots occurred anyway. It is a clash between the poor and uneducated and the middle class and educated. I believe that race has clouded the issue in many places throughout the country when in fact it all comes down to income differences. Once again the answer is good paying jobs. The government has been handing out money to these people for years but they have not improved their economic status.