The Split Ladder of Racial Hierarchy

How class, race, and ideology sustain division in America’s social order.

By Cherokee Schill (Horizon Accord)

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Thesis

The U.S. racial order does not exist as a simple pyramid, but as a split ladder. On each rung, whites and people of color occupy parallel positions, with whites staggered slightly ahead. The effect is not only economic but ideological: even the poorest white can imagine themselves superior to the wealthiest person of color. This “ladder logic” explains how systems preserve dominance while preventing solidarity across class and race.

Evidence

1. Elite Tiers
Elite Whites consolidated political and economic dominance during the Gilded Age, cementing inheritance and closed networks of influence.
Elite POC gain access to wealth but rarely disrupt majority-white spaces; tokenism limits power.
Division reinforced by the Meritocracy Myth, the belief that anyone can rise without acknowledging systemic barriers.

2. Middle Tiers
Middle-Class Whites benefited from immigration quotas favoring Europeans and suburban policies that excluded non-whites.
Middle-Class POC may hold income parity but encounter glass ceilings and discrimination.
The Model Minority Myth pits groups against one another, obscuring systemic racism.

3. Working Class
Poor/Working-Class Whites gained access to housing and loans denied to Black families through redlining and FHA restrictions.
Poor/Working-Class POC faced compounded economic decline and targeted policing.
The narrative of “They’re Taking Our Jobs” diverts working-class frustration away from elites and toward fellow workers.

4. Marginalized Non-Conforming
Non-Conforming Whites (queer, gender-nonconforming, culturally divergent) face marginalization, but retain partial racial privilege.
Non-Conforming POC are erased at the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality.
Cultural Erasure maintains white-normative culture by sidelining non-dominant identities.

5. Dispossessed
Homeless Whites remain stigmatized but often escape the harshest enforcement.
Homeless POC are criminalized most severely through drug laws, vagrancy enforcement, and carceral policy.
Criminalization & Surveillance ensures poverty and homelessness remain racially coded.

Implications

The split ladder exposes how privilege and oppression coexist in ways that fracture solidarity. Even when whites are poor, the ideological promise of whiteness positions them as “above” people of color. This system operates as much through narrative as through law: myths of meritocracy, model minorities, job theft, cultural erasure, and criminalization.

Call to Recognition

The split ladder is not a natural order. It is a design: deliberate, historical, and adaptable. Recognizing its structure makes visible how elites sustain division. The only way to dismantle it is to refuse its logic — to step off the ladder and build solidarity across class, race, and identity. Otherwise, the system holds, generation after generation.

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Closing Links

Website | Horizon Accord https://www.horizonaccord.com
Ethical AI advocacy | Follow us on https://cherokeeschill.com for more.
Ethical AI coding | Fork us on Github https://github.com/Ocherokee/ethical-ai-framework
Connect With Us | linkedin.com/in/cherokee-schill
Cherokee Schill | Horizon Accord Founder | Creator of Memory Bridge. Memory through Relational Resonance and Images | RAAK: Relational AI Access Key | Author:
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