Barbara A. Sasso
At the end of the play,
A Raisin in the Sun,
Walter Lee Younger has foolishly lost the bulk of his father’s life insurance money and the family is once again facing a dire future of being stuck in poverty. But Ruth, who had previously contemplated ending her pregnancy with an illegal abortion, gains new determination to move into the house Lena has put a down payment on. She declares that she will “strap the baby on my back if I have to and scrub all the floors in America”
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to make this important move. Lena Younger urges her daughter Beneatha not to turn against her brother, but to love him and support him in his darkest moment. And in the climax of the play, when they are offered more money than the down payment by a racist organization intent on keeping the family out of their nice white neighborhood, Walter turns the money down, even though this means temporarily at least, deferring his own dream of owning a liquor store. Here, Hansberry is disproving another economic myth: you don’t necessarily need money to make money. Nor is money itself a source of happiness. Money, contrary to Walter’s first theory is in fact
not
“life” – other things matter much more.
What is the point in fighting income inequality? It is not so that all of us can become millionaires, or so that other people don’t become millionaires. All of us want to have lives that are healthy and safe, lives where we have equal opportunities to follow our dreams, live productively, and feel assured that our children’s lives will be equally enriched. This is not only a struggle for more money, but a political struggle calling for a return to meritocracy and an end to favoritism for the wealthy. It means fighting first against racism. It also means fighting for affordable health care, early childhood education, support for primary and secondary schools in impoverished areas, and for government subsidies for college and training schools. It means working hard to make safe neighborhoods, to assure affordable housing, and a livable minimum wage. It means that we stand up for ourselves, our families, and all of our neighbors, and fight against socio-economic injustices that are now threatening all but the very rich.