This does not mean that rich people are free; on the contrary, many are not. However, money is required to live a free and easy life that defines success. Success as the achievement of personal and professional goals depends on having sufficient resources. Both Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Clay are successful. Both race and class played important roles in the article, showing that the two issues are inseparable. The article shows how the two issues are linked and how sociologists must view race and class together. Even if non-white minorities do not conform to the ideologies and practices of the dominant culture, or the "general population," equality is still ensured by law. Race, not class, has impacted the ways many minorities are treated in the United States and in Western Europe. For example, in France and other parts of Europe the large influx of immigrants from northern Africa and Turkey experience overt discrimination....

The same type of discrimination exists in the United States, in which it is not just African-Americans but also Latinos and the people of color from the Middle East and Asia who experience systematic discrimination. Because non-whites have different social and cultural values, they are viewed as being outside of the dominant culture. Discrimination is made worse by the fact that the media perpetuates stereotypes about non-white groups.
Eliminating discrimination and racism is a slow process that may take many more generations. The readings illustrate the multiple ways that race becomes a barrier to the achievement of upward social mobility. The stories of Mr. Hernandez and Mr. Clay, as well as the chapter on the "strange enigma of race" in America demonstrate how prejudice has become too deep-rooted to weed out entirely. Our society must fulfill its covenant of true equality for all citizens.