In fact , a similar anger exists within segments of the white community . Most working - and middle - class white Americans don ´ t feel that they have been particularly privileged by their race . Their experience is the immigrant experience - as far as they ´ re concerned , no one ´ s handed them anything , they ´ ve built it from scratch . They ´ ve worked hard all their lives , many times only to see their jobs shipped overseas or their pension dumped after a lifetime of labor . They are anxious about their futures , and feel their dreams slipping away ; in an era of stagnant wages and global competition , opportunity comes to be seen as a zero sum game , in which your dreams come at my expense . So when they are told to bus their children to a school across town ; when they hear that an African - American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed ; when they ´ re told that their fears about crime in urban neighborhoods are somehow prejudiced , resentment builds over time .