Using the demographics tool at the National Center for Children in Poverty's website you can select from a list of factors and compare poverty rates among the 50 states.
In EVERY state, half or more of the African-American population lives in poverty. In all but 2 states, half or more of the Hispanic population lives in poverty. Considerably less than half of white people in every state live in poverty. Poverty is not colorblind---maybe it's time that we stop kidding ourselves. Though we celebrate MLK Day each year and have a president of color, we still have a long way to go before Dr. King's Dream becomes a reality.
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| From United for a Fair Economy website (UFE) |
Great post! Exactly! Racism is a systematic problem that operates in a way that prevents people from grabbing hold of their 'bootstraps'. Without access to 'boots', what are their options? Job discrimination is probably the most hurtful factor in racism, and one that has hardly been corrected since the 1960s, especially for black men!
ReplyDeleteChantilly--that is so true. Your comment reminds me of one of my favorite Thurgood Marshall quotes. Everybody is helped at some point in their life:“None of us got where we are solely by pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. We got here because somebody - a parent, a teacher, an Ivy League crony or a few nuns - bent down and helped us pick up our boots.”
ReplyDeleteExactly! Came back to revisit this post today. <3
ReplyDeleteExactly! Came back to revisit this post today. <3
ReplyDelete