There are many Americas and they come in two flavors, rich and poor. Al Sharpton corrected Mr. Edwards’ oft-stated description that there are Two Americas.  Mr. Edwards was pointing to the rich and the poor.  Mr. Sharpton points out the reality of many Americas without the economic correction.

All you need is to make a tour of neighborhoods in most American cities to discover the different peoples and their cultures existing in little enclaves and, in some instances, ghettoes sharply dividing the places where they and “others” live. There is also the tour of the rapidly changing face of cities where “gentrification” tears down old neighborhoods so that “Luxury Homes in the Mid to Upper $800,000’s” replace them while lower to middle income areas act as buffers to the really poor places (the slums) that hardly exist any more.  You can point out the “rust belts”, Appalachia’s and rural desolation where mega-rich enterprises arise where a slower way of life once reigned. Differences in income were once softened by libraries, public schools and civic centers where all met and mingled.

There are many Americas.  There are two classes in America.  The old “Middletown” conception of “upper and lower” divisions in three classes of Upper Class, Middle Class and Lower Class has been simplified to the tiny class of ultra rich and a huge middle class where the managers, small business owners, white- collar workers and pensioners dwell.  You can hardly find blue-collar workers any more. If you want to get fussy, there is a technocrat class that can actually understand recording devices and fix malfunctioning computers. There is a class composed of those who use but cannot understand how these machines work.  Increasingly, you cannot find local mechanics who can tune up your car and fix things that do not work.

The old notion that America is White, Protestant and Anglo-Saxon is no longer true.  “Spanish Culture America” is no longer relegated to southern border-states. There is an increasing Muslim fraction of the population while Fundamentalist Christians are pushing for inclusion of Creationism, side by side with Evolutionary Scientific explanations of why we are here, in the schools.

There are many Americas.  Increasingly there is a reduction of the classes so that the Rich and less rich make economic divisions among us. Multicultural and pluralistic beliefs have replaced the old idea of Mom and Pop living together all their lives with children coming home for the holidays. There is a push to recognize “transgender communities” along with same sex marriages.

There are many Americas. They come in two flavors, the rich and the poor.