"Everyone believes the face of poverty is black. The white poor blend in, the black poor stand out," suggests social activist Bell Hooks (4). At first glance, Hooks's observation seems statistically relevant: 24.7% of African Americans in the United States were living below poverty level in 2008, compared to 11.2% of whites (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and Smith 14). However, this casual analysis fails to compare the size of the two populations, which balloons the seemingly paltry 11.2% up to nearly 27 million, versus 9 million for blacks (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and Smith 14). As SUNY economist Michael Zweig notes, "The fact that minorities are poor in greater numbers than their share of the total population contributes to the misconception that the face of poverty is black or brown, not white" (88). Regardless of the dominant race in poverty demographics in the United States, 13.2% of the entire population remained below poverty level in 2008 (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, and Smith 14). Given the decline of upward mobility throughout the past few decades, escaping poverty presents a significant barrier to today's poor. (Scott and Leonhardt 15). A focus on poverty within one particular race obscures this fact, but any discussion of class in the United States should consider social mobility's association with poverty. Examining universal causes of poverty, and not poverty within a single race, can help to more easily understand and combat poverty.
One such culprit of racial focus is former talk radio host Ken Hamblin. In his essay "The Black Avenger," Hamblin decries the "Myth of the Hobbled Black"—Hamblin's term for the notion that African Americans have been so crippled by systemic racism that they need special assistance to succ...
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DeNavas-Walt, Carmen, Bernadette D. Proctor, and Jessica C. Smith. U.S. Census Bureau. Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008. Washington D.C.: GPO, 2009. Print.
Hamblin, Ken. "The Black Avenger." Rereading America. Ed.Gary Colombo, Robert Cullen, and Bonnie Lisle. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's. 2007. 285-292. Print.
Hooks, Bell. Where We Stand: Class Matters. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Leonhardt, David. "The College Dropout Boom." The New York Times (2005). Rpt. in Class Matters. New York: Times Books, 2005. 87-104. Print.
Scott, Janny, and David Leonhardt. "Shadowy Lines That Still Divide." The New York Times (2005). Rpt. in Class Matters. New York: Times Books, 2005. 1-26. Print.
Zweig, Michael. The Working Class Majority: America's Best Kept Secret. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 2000. Print.
Hooks pointed out that many of his professors insinuated that there were negative stereotypes of being poor. Moreover, that self-esteem is linked to financial wealth; women he met with were on government assistance, but chose to get further in debt to appear to have money, never wanting to be labeled poor. Hooks was raised to believe that morals and values made one rich; that one could have all the money in the world but still be poor because of their attitude. Who’s accountable for why people in our society are poor? It’s seems a vicious circle that is hard for poor kids to escape. Many people with low incomes are “intelligent, critical thinkers struggling to transform their circumstances” (Hooks, p. 488) There are many resources, such as theaters that are empty all day, to pay it forward and help the less fortunate gain skills from college students and professors sharing their knowledge. Barbara Ehrenreich’s “How I Discovered the Truth About Poverty” questions why negative stereotypes of untrustworthiness in poor people. Because of this mistrust, the introduction of drug testing for government aid was passed. Why are those negative connotations associated with poverty? “Poverty is not, after all, a cultural aberration or a character flaw. Poverty is a shortage of money.”
Edelman, Peter. "Poverty in America: Why Can't We End It?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 July 2012. Web. 15 May 2014.
America’s working-class poor, especially those of color often feel neglected, inadequate, and deprived of hope. Mos Def demonstrates the distress of those living in poverty when he expresses, “ Working class poor: better keep your
Since poverty affects a wide array of people, poverty has evolved into a very complex issue. And even though the government has passed legislature to try to ameliorate the situation, many of these means-tested measures like food stamps, have only been able to help the surface of poverty and fails to rip out the long roots poverty has grown throughout history. Poverty’s deep effects are seen especially in minorities as they struggle much more to leave a current situation that has been created by historical process. Even though government assistance like food stamps do help alleviate some of poverty’s burden, these measures fail to recognize the reality that many of the impoverished minority have undervalued homes or no homes at all and even if they can rent, that rent can be high enough to take up more than fifty-percent of their paychecks. Overall, poverty in America is a vastly complicated issue rooted throughout history. And even though the government has attempted to pass legislature to help provide relief from poverty, America still has yet to provide measures that target the roots of poverty and until then, the government assistance it does provide will only be superficial and fail to provide long-term solutions to a complicated
In The Marrow of Tradition, author Charles W. Chesnutt illustrates examples that signify the thoughts that whites had of and used against blacks, which are still very much prevalent in public opinion and contemporary media. Chesnutt writes, “Confine the negro to that inferior condition for which nature had evidently designed for him (Chesnutt, 533).” Although significant strides have been made toward equality, the media, in many instances, continues to project blacks as inferior to whites through examples observed in television shows, music videos, films and newscasts. According to Poverty & Prejudice: Media and Race, co-authored by Yurii Horton, Raagen Price, and Eric Brown, the media sets the tone for the morals, values, and images of our culture. Many whites in American society, some of whom have never encountered black people, believe that the degrading stereotypes of blacks are based on reality and not fiction....
Race and class are increasingly important in the world today; yet, few sources focus on the similarities of these issues at a regional or global level. Ideologies of race were used to justify colonialism, conquest and annihilation of non-European peoples, slavery, indentured labor, fascism and Nazism. Yet, a common impression among men and women of color is that race and class issues are unique to their own particular community. Still, it is only through awareness of how these issues affect different communities that a common bond and understanding can be developed across racial, ethnic, cultural and class barriers. Both governments and media present the image of an integrated, egalitarian society, which in reality contradicts racial discrimination, and class oppression that is exercised against various minority groups. In each `integrated' and `equal' society, racial and ethnic discrimination is directly related to economic and class issues. Since the period of merchant bankers and the British east India Company, modern capitalist forces have penetrated `developed' and `developing' societies by division and conquest. Capitalist countries and companies pursue profit motives by providing arms, money, patronage and privilege to leaders of some groups, on the one hand, while denying the vast majority of their land and resources, on the other. Each year new reports are published concerning individuals and their levels of income. If one was to look at a list of people ranked solely by yearly earnings in the entertainment industry, the list would surely be topped with such names as Oprah Winfrey, and Michael Jackson, as well as such sports figures as Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan. On the other hand, if...
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2014 African Americans held the highest poverty rate of 26%, with Hispanics holding the second highest rate at 24% (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015). When comparing this to the poverty rates of Whites at 10% and Asians at 12% in 2014, we see that in America, racial and ethnic minorities are more vulnerable to experiencing poverty (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015). In addition, discrimination is seen between genders among those living in poverty. Family households of a single adult are more likely to be headed by women and are also at a greater risk for poverty (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015). In 2014, 30.6% of households headed by a single woman were living below the poverty line compared to 15.7% for households headed by a single male (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor, 2015). Many factors such as poor wages for women, pregnancy associations, and the increase of single-woman parented families have impacted the increase of women in poverty. Children are most harshly affected by poverty because for them the risks are compounded, as they lack the defenses and supports needed to combat the toxicity surrounding them. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 21% of all U.S. children (73.6 million children) under 18 years old lived in poverty in 2014 (DeNavas-Walt & Proctor,
Accordingly, this theory takes certain points made by other theories of poverty and puts them in the context of race, making it a more comprehensive explanation of poverty. In examining labor, non-work among black men aged 25-40 without high school degrees has been increasing at a more rapid rate than the rate for non-work among white men in the similar situation since the 1970s. The theory of labor markets in explaining poverty summarizes that those who do not work steady jobs or work regularly are more likely to be poor. If black men are not working as much as they used to, it should explain why poverty among black people is higher than it is for white people. The reason for their non-work can be explained by a number of reasons, including disincentives, labor markets, and culture, but it is best explained by institutional problems and structural
Boser, Ulrich. "The Black Man's Burden." U.S. News & World Report 133.8 (2002): 50. Academic
The United States has a long, brutal history of social inequality, including but not limited to: racism, sexism, and classism dating all the way back to the European colonizers. When we look at America’s past, we start to notice horrendous instances of injustice and the early formations of modern day social stratification. A way to describe social stratification is “the creation of layers of a population who possess an unequal share of scarce resources” (Loder 2015). Since the resources are not equally distributed, there are some people who have a copious amount of resources and others who barely have enough to survive. Thus rendering social stratification as problematic, because it allows little room for those who were assigned to a lower
In The Working Poor: Invisible in America, David K. Shipler tells the story of a handful of people he has interviewed and followed through their struggles with poverty over the course of six years. David Shipler is an accomplished writer and consultant on social issues. His knowledge, experience, and extensive field work is authoritative and trustworthy. Shipler describes a vicious cycle of low paying jobs, health issues, abuse, addiction, and other factors that all combine to create a mountain of adversity that is virtually impossible to overcome. The American dream and promise of prosperity through hard work fails to deliver to the 35 million people in America who make up the working poor. Since there is neither one problem nor one solution to poverty, Shipler connects all of the issues together to show how they escalate each other. Poor children are abused, drugs and gangs run rampant in the poor neighborhoods, low wage dead end jobs, immigrants are exploited, high interest loans and credit cards entice people in times of crisis and unhealthy diets and lack of health care cause a multitude of problems. The only way that we can begin to see positive change is through a community approach joining the poverty stricken individuals, community, businesses, and government to band together to make a commitment to improve all areas that need help.
Wilson, William J. "Jobless Poverty." The Inequality Reader: Contemporary and Foundational Readings in Race, Class, and Gender. Ed. David B. Grusky and Szonja Szelenyi. 2md ed. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2011. 159-69. Print.
A social class that has been highly isolated from rest has been all those who live in poverty. Many people are aware of the issues involving poverty, yet they choose to do nothing expecting the government to solve the problem. What people don’t take into consideration is that his problem affects not only them, but also the country as a whole. According to Ron Smith escaping poverty has become more challenging than in past years due to the lack of employment opportunities and the expenses of family care. Smith also stated that the government has been working to find a solution for poverty or more less trying to find a way to prevent it from increasing. The government working through it with the help of policymakers; the w...
I respect and value your opinions on the subjects asked by the professor this week. While I agree with your first answer, race is the number one issue haunting our society today, I disagree that poverty is a personal issue. Wealth is among the hardest 'things' to obtain in life. Wealth is generational, constant, and the true minority. Only 1% of the U.S population is classified as wealthy, with one in one hundred possessing a third of the money and power in this country (Ingraham, 2015).The "pick yourself up by the bootstraps" position held by many Americans has many flaws, some of which I intend on addressing in this post. This phrase is not only used to refer to those living in poverty, but also individuals that are classified as a minority
Social mobility is the movement of people up and down societies various hierarchy. Patterns of social inequality are structured to endure for very long periods of time. The largest factor of determining social standing is birth. Sometime people overcome economic and social disadvantages to rise in the class system and some born in families of high status may drop despite their advantages. The opportunities presented to move up and down society’s rests basically on the stratification system and called vertical mobility. Stratification systems are either open or closed. Closed societies are the ones where mobility is uncommon and where political and cultural norms dictate against this mobility. In an open society there is greater opportunity to move up and down the social hierarchy. Class systems of stratification provide more opportunity for social mobility. In the open class the chance for mobility is greater constraints still exists. Mobility is present in two forms vertical where people move up or down social hierarchies and horizontal mobility where people move laterally from one position to a similar one. An uncommon idea in America is the fact of the possibility of the downward movement in society. During the Great Depression of the 1930s many people moved downward suffering not only economic losses, but physiological deprivation loses as well. We