The Killing Poor White Women

The essay,” What’s Killing Poor White Women” by Monica Potts is found on pages 591 to 609 in “They Say I Say” by Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. The author of this essay Monica Potts is a writer for The American Prospect and also has work featured on The Connecticut Post, Stamford Advocate, and The New York Times. This essay however was featured on The American Prospect on September 3, 2013 and she discusses the story of a 38 year old women named Crystal strange death. Crystal had dropped out of high school in the ninth grade, got married to a man 12 years older than her and had a child who she named Megan. The author believes Crystal and many other poor white women like her die because they cannot get good jobs because

Sociological imagination played a part in this story because the author Wes Moore made connections on how personal experiences relates to public issues. He grew up in poverty and maintained ambition to receive proper education. Thus this tells readers not to let where you came from or your downfalls hinder you from being successful. The Author Wes Moore displayed that education was the key to all future success. He also showed that there should always be a backup plan in case the funding runs out. In the book it wasn’t luck that determined the fates in

Nonetheless, BLM does receive a great number of criticisms. Some people point out that it wouldn 't last. The movement is blamed for its having no coherent structure and no powerful leadership that it will eventually fail. Opponents said that Black Lives Matter actually worsened race relations in America, pointing to the polls that show Americans opinions about race relations being worse in recent years, but BLM supporters asserted just because they have pointed out racism in America doesn 't mean the group was to blame. Republican candidate for President 2016 Chris Christie has turned up his criticism of the Black Lives Matter movement and support the police. He also accused the group of calling for the deaths of police officers. BLM has

The first determinant of one’s fate is their family’s background. Almost none of the children from low-income families made it through college. With the expenses of college today, I’m actually not surprised by that statistic. Of the children from low-income families, only 4 percent had a college degree at age 28, compared to 45 percent of the children from higher-income backgrounds. "That 's a shocking tenfold

Many don’t realize this, but our life is forever indebted in danger. Our life, as in, minorities. This isn’t a dream nor is it long overdue. It has been time and time again when African Americans are placed on the backburner as we watch the members of our communities and societies whom have less melanin than us take what they want believe is rightfully theirs. No one has ever took the time to seek what we deserve for all the horrible endangerment we’ve been put through for years and years to come. I believe that African Americans whom stand together in regards to the Black Lives Matter protest are fighting because we know of the injustice we have had to endure that dates back to so long ago that we just can’t stand on the sidelines

We create this society in which every individual starts off at different points in life due to these social categories based on race and ethnicity, which in turn affects education, social class and our overall lifestyle. After we create these categories and put people there unwillingly, we act as though it is there fault and not ours, so our society is reluctant to help; in this way it would be a “helping hand” rather than a dependency people often associate it with. “Education is a significant factor in poverty” (Wong, Chapter 6); like stated above, different individuals get different starting points in life, therefore affecting where one ends up in life. “A national survey conducted in 1975, found that those living in poverty attributed it to personal failures, such as having a poor work ethic, poor money management skills and low personal moral values” (Martin

For example, when interview, William Cooper at the age of 10 “had no time to go to day school,” (Document 1). Because of the lack of education, Cooper would not have been able to go on to work as a teacher or a doctor in order to support a family or better society. Instead, he can only read, but not write. Because he was illiterate, he couldn’t write resumes, he couldn’t read and understand complex texts, and he couldn’t think thoroughly, which hindered him by keeping him from receiving any higher paying work that could raise him from the working class into the middle class. Moreover, without a decent supply of money, one would have to live in the slum areas, where typical workers would have to live.

Considering that school is the foundation on which a person’s future is laid, one can assume that without a solid foundation in education, a person is much more likely to end up on the bottom of the working class earnings scale. Learned persons would agree that

ill experience the public spheres and the workplace discrimination at the same level, because they have both conditions. Another example is the fact that African American women are often forgotten in history textbooks (Strickland & Weems, 2000, p. 72). In addition, even in todays’ news we talk more about the killing of African American men but not the ones of African American women (Ted Woman). From this perspective, other myths will derive such as the Strong Black Women myth (Black & Peacock, 2011). This myth is about a “gender-critical approach” in which African-American women are seen as stronger and responsible for their “health experiences” (Black & Peacock, 2011, 144). A research named Scott with his study sees the myth as forcing African American women to feel like they are self-reliant which will lead them to believe that they need to take care of their family, community, etc. Scott will refer to this idea as the management “warrior mode” (1991).

It is assumed that if you are poor then you will not receive a form of higher education. It is even more realistic that when this is the case lack of education impairs your chances of gaining ground beyond that of poverty. About 34% of unemployed people never got a high school diploma compared to the 6% of unemployed people who have attained a bachelor's degree (U.S. Census Bureau). These unemployed individuals never got the education needed to hold a middle-class worthy job so they live in poverty. This chart below demonstrates how education increases chances of employment, allowing an income that may keep you above poverty level.

In the article “Who Gets to Graduate” by Paul Tough examines a problem about low income students are less likely to graduate from college than students from middle class or wealthier families. In the United States, school systems are not created equally. Middle and upper class students have access to safe and modern schools equipped with everything they possibly need to stay in that high rank because they came from a family who has the money to support their studies. Students from low-income families don’t have a lot of the support, stability, and money from home that higher-income students can take for granted.

In 1931, nine African American boys were accused of raping two white women. The boy’s ages ranged from 12-20 years old. The names of the black boys were Roy Wright 12, Eugene Williams 13, Charlie Weems 16, Ozie Powell 16, Willie Roberson 16, Olen Montgomery 17, Haywood Patterson 18, Andy Wright 19, and Clarence Norris 19. The trial is notoriously known as The Scottsboro Boys Trial. While the trial is considered a key trial in America’s criminal justice system, it showed the injustice in the Jim Crow south legal system.

(1) Education, while not popular for slum residents, was a way to move up the social caste system. This is also seen in developed countries; educated residents are able to enter career paths with more opportunities, higher salaries, and greater prestige. Manju, the daughter of Asha, was attempting to complete her education at a local women’s college. If she completed this education, she could marry someone in a higher social caste and escape the slum. Her mother Asha often discouraged her because it violated the social role of women; women should be married off and serves as servants to their husbands. If Manju were able to complete her education, she would be Annawadi’s first female college graduate. Nevertheless, it is difficult for a person to receive an education when structural conditions do not allow. At one point in the story, Manju has to stop teaching the local children to assist her mother in ripping off a Western nonprofit- Asha was running a fake kindergarten program.

In the article, "What's Killing Poor White Women?", Monica Potts discusses the causes and reasons behind the rising popular issue among poor white women in certain demographic areas of America. As Potts begins by capturing a glimpse on the life of Crystal as an example of a typical white woman, who experienced a death like many of her associates, she then addresses the indeterminate factors that contribute to their demise, and finally persuades a desperate hope to break through this horrible perpetual cycle of life.

Education comes with social benefits as well which can improve the situation of the poor, such as lower fertility and improved health care of children ("Poverty and Education"). "Poor people are often unable to obtain access to an adequate education, and without an adequate education people are often constrained to a life of poverty." - Servaas Van Der Berg. The absolutely poor in developing countries have low education levels. Some may not even have access to primary education or may not have completed their primary education, not realizing that it is important to reduce poverty. Education is often poorly measured, and the impacts do not always show up as statistically significant in cross- country growth regressions (Levine & Renelt, 1992). Africa’s education crisis makes media headlines and analysis by the Brookings Center for Universal Education (CUE) explains why this needs to change. Progress towards universal primary education has come to a halt and learning levels of children who are in school are poor as well. Using a Learning Barometer, CUE estimates that 61 million African children will reach adolescence lacking even the most basic literacy and numeracy skills, this will deprive a whole generation of opportunities to develop and escape poverty ("Poverty, Education, & Opportunity").