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Doug Rickard, #104.573110, Lovington, NM (2008), from A New American Picture, 2009, archival pigment print, courtesy of the artist and Stephen Wirtz Gallery
Photographer Doug Rickard (b. 1968) creates images of some of the nation's poorest cities and towns. In his series A New American Picture, Rickard employs images from Google Street View to create a portrait of Great Recession-era America. Rickard carefully selected the images in this series to bring to light the American landscape and its economic segregation. Motivated by the histories of race and class in the United States, Rickard used Street View to survey significant cities and locations in the history of the Civil Rights Movement, such as Selma and Birmingham, Alabama. As the series developed, he deliberately chose places identified by realtors' websites as "bad neighborhoods," "areas to avoid," and other codes for places inhabited by the poor and underclass.
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CLASS
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"HE STILL DREAMS THAT HIS CHILDREN WILL SOMEDAY JOIN THE MILLIONS WHO HAVE LOST THEIR ACCENTS, GOTTEN GOOD EDUCATIONS, AND FIRMLY ACHIEVED THE AMERICAN DREAM."
Anthony DePalma, "Fifteen Years on the Bottom Rung," in Class Matters, ed. Bill Keller (New York: Times Books, 2005), 144.
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I was pretty successful in high school, in terms of being a good student; but because we were an immigrant family, we had no idea about how to get me into good colleges. We were living in California, so it seemed as though the UC system would be fine for me. If we were more savvy, I'm sure that I could've attended a small liberal arts college like Skidmore; but that just seemed like a fantasy for rich people, at the time that I was in high school.
Classless Society Stories Project
I think about people who come to America, come to the United States, who still place great faith in the opportunity to work and to save and to kind of look toward a better life for a future generation. And I end up, as I get older, just feeling a great deal of sadness that what seems to have happened is that we've found a way to exploit that dream, as opposed to enabling it.
Classless Society Stories Project
I WAS PRETTY SUCCESSFUL IN HIGH SCHOOL, IN TERMS OF BEING A GOOD STUDENT...
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I THINK ABOUT PEOPLE WHO COME TO AMERICA...
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I DO BELIEVE THAT AMERICA IS ONE
OF THE FEW COUNTRIES WHERE YOU CAN CHANGE CLASSES...
(1:04 min)
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I THINK THE CLASS ISSUE IS COMPLICATED BY THE FACT THAT I MYSELF AM AN IMMIGRANT...
(0:35 min)
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I HAVE BENEFITTED FROM A RACIST AND A COLONIAL AND IMPERIALISTIC SOCIETY...
(0:53 min)
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STATUS MATTERS
The question of one's national status - immigrant or native-born? - has crucial implications for class standing in the United States. While news media report on wealthy foreigners snapping up multimillion-dollar condominiums in Manhattan, those entering the U. S. from abroad more likely come from the lower classes, whether refugees of war or people seeking a higher standard of living. Once they arrive here, immigrants often suffer exploitation by employers seeking a pool of cheap labor, notably in the agriculture and service industries, including restaurant work. Low wages constrain their housing choices, forcing them into poor, crowded ethnic enclaves, especially in cities; they enjoy few or no healthcare options and no quality childcare, and language barriers exacerbate already tenuous living conditions. The many undocumented workers cannot improve their circumstances, and their inability to naturalize consigns them permanently to second-class status.
Yet the concept of the United States as a haven for outsiders continues to entice immigrants to cross our borders. "Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," reads Emma Lazarus's sonnet, inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, and those searching for social and economic freedom continue to see this country as a land of promise and plenty. The paradigm of the American Dream - the notion that prosperity will reward anyone willing to work hard for it, regardless of origin - has long guided the aspirations of immigrants and native-born alike, and is arguably the central tenet of American culture.
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ATTAINING THE DREAM
Since virtually all native-born Americans can trace their roots to immigrants (except, of course, Native Americans, who preceded the first European settlers, and African Americans, who must grapple with the legacy of slavery), many of our most comfortable citizens fervently subscribe to the concept of the American Dream: only a generation or two removed from their own immigrant forebears, perhaps, they have achieved new levels of class privilege. Statistically, however, we know that class mobility in the U. S. is something of a mirage, since the likelihood of raising oneself from poverty is actually quite low, especially in the current economic climate. The American Dream continues to be just that - a dream - for millions without economic security. Native-born Americans, at least, may enjoy the fruits of various government programs designed to help the economically disadvantaged, while immigrants, whether awaiting citizenship or entirely undocumented, have no such support.
