Poverty in African American Minority Neighborhoods

Child abuse is defined as ways of treating a child that are harmful or morally wrong. (Richards 12) Child abuse is caused by so many things and usually starts with something de-menial or small. Like a snowball, the problem gets bigger as time goes on, if you do not stop it. Child abuse happens everywhere, in every neighborhood, ethnicity/racial, and religion. It is worldwide. One of the main factors of child abuse is where they live. Do they live in poverty or not? Poverty is such a broad term; when most people think of poverty, they think of the kids they see on TV. These children are usually from a third world country where there are programs set up to help feed the starving. Poverty is defined by Charles Booth, in 1886, as “very poor as those whose means were insufficient according to the ‘normal standards’ of life in this country” (Jose 67).

Children who live in poverty are more likely to be in harm’s way. Harm can be considered both physical abuse and mental abuse. When a child is abused it affects them everywhere they go. They cannot hide from their life. When children go to school, their home life follows them. “In 2009-2010, 9 percent of all secondary students attended high-poverty schools: 75% were eligible for free or reduced lunches. 21% of Black and Hispanics attended high-poverty schools, compared to 2 percent of Whites and 7% of Asians” (Rumberger 1). Communities that do not have many resources for the children living in them, are more likely to have a negative influence on the adolescents because they have no rewarding activities to keep them busy after school. Therefore, they search for other things to do, which could result in drugs or becoming a gang member. Many of these students drop out of hi...

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