The Poverty Of African Americans

Poverty, the state of being extremely poor, exists all over America! There are several different types of poverty, and the causes of poverty. Most people think of poverty as just somebody who is homeless and has no job, somebody who has no money to support the basic needs of life, and wears ragged clothing and lives under a bridge. What people don’t know is there are people living in poverty that have jobs and make money but live so poorly that they are categorized with people that live in absolute poverty.

The article Being Poor, Black and American: The Impact of Political, Economic, and Cultural Forces written by William Julius Wilson is about the struggles and inequalities African Americans living in poverty encounter. Wilson discussed political, economic and cultural forces that have an impact on American impoverished communities. The author suggested the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina brought the media and world attention to poverty in the United States. Prior to Katrina, the author believes Americans did not focus or sympathize with poor communities. This unsympathetic attitude stems from the belief that people are poor because they did not work hard enough, or are not doing anything to get out of that situation. After Katrina, Americans started to notice and care about the impoverished communities because the hurricane was a natural disaster and out of their control. Overall, the author explains how politics, economics and cultures forced many families into poverty, and diminishes the idea that people live in poverty because of their own shortcomings.

Is it racism or economics which hinders many African American communities from progressing economically in the 21st Century? This research proposal will address this question by examining the social and psychological impact caused by racism and the economic impact it’s had on the African American community. This proposal will further investigate whether the emotional scars of slavery continue to hamper African American progress or if racism is actually the cause.

(Newman and Pedulla, 2010). This number is twice as much as whites. Even if they had a job, many African Americans work for the low quality jobs. This means low levels of income relatively whites. And also nearly 50% of the wage differences between blacks and whites result from the racial discrimination. (Greene and Rogers, 1994). So, we can say that discrimination of wages between blacks and whites play a key role to determinate the income status of blacks. Also underemployment is serious as unemployment for many Americans especially for African Americans, because generally they work in that kind of positions. In March, almost 6 percent of workers had worked part time involuntary jobs. (Newman and Pedulla, 2010).

In the U.S., there’s a cycle of poverty and hardship that many Black and Hispanic citizens face. This cycle began when the War on Drugs started. The implementation of mandatory minimums, the predetermined punishments that come with drug crimes, greatly impacted ethnic minorities. The amount of minority single-parent households became more prominent in 1960s, where the War on Drugs was emphasized. Families with a single head are increasingly more likely to be in poverty than those with both parents. In the 60’s, Black families held the highest single-parent household population. Gregory Acs, who has a PhD in social work and specializes in social welfare, found that over 40 percent of single-mother families with children were in poverty. Those who are in poverty are defined as having an annual income lower than $22,000 (Acs, et al). The cycle of poverty ensures that those who are in poverty stay in

Throughout the passage many of the Africans go through a developmental situation which goes onto a very physical and mental note to develop defense mechanisms for survival. Some of the most difficult and most used mechanisms of defense that the Africans were put through was the act of starvation, being a hard-working slave, that was treated terribly and had no breaks, and the living environments and environment exposure. Documents A, B, D, F and G will help further explain the hardships African slaves faced, and how the Africans handled the hardships that they faced throughout.

Racial disparities and inequality dates all the way back to slavery: when whites abused, raped, tortured and killed black people. “Slavery transformed America into an economic power; the exploitation of black people made the south the richest and most politically powerful region in the country” (ABS). Black people did not have any rights, instead they were forced

Margaret Walker once said, “Handicapped as we have been by a racist system of dehumanizing slavery and segregation, our American history of nearly five hundred years reveals that our cultural and spiritual gifts brought from our African past are still intact” (Walker, 1997). African Americans have been oppressed by the institution of slavery and segregation for many years. They have been submitted to cruel and inhumane treatments, yet they are still vibrant. They have remained vibrant with the help of several leaders, faith, and the willingness to change condition in which they were living. To say that African Americans have been treated poorly would be an understatement. African Americans have endured laws and treatments that have tested the

“All Men are created equal” a quote from the United States Constitution. Freedom is what the United States stands for it is what it was rooted from. However, we are into the 21st century and the idea that the United States still discriminates against a certain race is taboo to many. Everyone likes to walk around thinking that everything is alright and equal. Sadly this is not true. The African American, especially those found in the urban setting of Chicago is at a disadvantage. This is due to the erosion of the public education system along with fractured families along with other socioeconomic factors which have contributed to the cycles of poverty and ultimately creates a disadvantaged for African Americans in Chicago. For this research paper I’m going to focus on Chicago for its strong roots in the African American Community, but this isn’t just a one city problem the disadvantages to African Americans are spread out throughout the entire country in every major city in every state and there is no hiding from it.

(Rogers 407) Since 2012 more African Americans are attending college to work toward a higher education to at least help them out of poverty. There is also an increase in older college students in their late thirties to fifties that also returned to school for a higher education. (Ebony Magazine, 2012. Women of African American seem to have a much harder time, than other race of people, in poverty and are even harder for them in older age. “The term triple jeopardy has been used to describe “female ethnic-minority elderly.” Members of this particular group face discrimination in three ways-being a women, elderly, and a member of an ethnic minority group-putting them even more at risk for poverty than other adults”.(Rogers 407). People who live in poverty often have other problems such as stress, prolonged illness and disability, reduced access to health care, poor living conditions and malnutrition problems. The formal support system for African Americans who experience living in poverty can get help from: Tax Credits (Snap), subsidies programs – Section 8 program, Habitat for Humanity’s and free school lunches for children. The problem with some of these programs is that many people do not qualify for these services even as they struggle with poverty. Some ways of helping themselves is to help at home and lower the electric and gas bills by turning off lights when not needed. When taking shorter baths,

Poverty is not just about income, but it is about the health of people, their feelings, relationships and the environment, and society (Sutherland, 2013). According to the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) (2016), the highest poverty rate is among African Americans, which make up 27.4 percent. In addition, children under the age of 18, which is about 21 percent of about 15.3 million, live in poverty. The concern related to this population is the chances of adolescent getting HIV. According to McKay, Alicea, Elwyn, McClain, Parker, Small, and Mellins (2014), 50 percent of adolescents and young adults are infected with HIV each year. In addition, due to the fact that some adolescent

I never really thought of Latino problems in depth, I only used to think of the hardships that African Americans have to face on a day to day basis. After reading this excerpt, I understand that African Americans are not the only race that feel like they are being oppressed. Just like the black community, latinos are set up by the government to live a certain life. They grow up in these areas where they are set up to be gangsters, or at least not to succeed in society. In these colored communities, there is not as many resources, such as books, to keep their kids academically occupied. They have to resort to putting their kids in front of the TV to keep them busy, which is not helping them grow at all. One of the reasons they do not have these

Today, as well as throughout its past, America has been viewed as one of the most productive and wealthiest nations in the civilized world. While this status is a result of many different factors, there is one undeniable component to this reputation; slavery. Other than slavery, there have various examples of blacks being systematically denied opportunities for gaining wealth and upward mobility. These examples include racist economic policies at the hands of the government, predatory mortgage agreements by white entrepreneurs, and violent anti-black demonstrations by white mobs.

Throughout America’s past, racial inequality has been a reoccurring theme in our society. Ever since the Europeans invaded America the white man has been superior compared to all ethnicities. No more than two hundred years ago, African Americans were slaves and only counted as three fifths of a person. Within the past hundred years African Americans have managed to obtain more equality in some situations, but in other cases racial inequality has become worse than it was when segregation took place. The gaps between the quality of education of white and black students receive appears to be growing instead of shrinking. The lack of quality education blacks receive has contributed to significant health differences between

People are often criticized by where their residency is, their race, their income, what type of car they drive and so on; these things are also taken into consideration when a community is placing someone into a societal class in their minds. According to CNN, in 2015 the percentage of Americans living under the poverty level was 13.5%. In this same year, the percentage of African Americans living under the poverty level was 24.7 %, almost twice the national level. Since there are more African Americans in poverty stricken places, there is a greater feeling of superiority amongst some people over the African Americans. These statistics also may cause people to generalize all African Americans as “poor” since the number is so high. This is because they are automatically placed into a lower class in other’s minds, giving upper-class people the habit of treating all African Americans like they are inferior. Liberty1995, an author from CNN, also reveals, “In a study done at the University of Michigan it was found that all minorities are viewed negatively by whites in terms of potential for violence.” It was also found, through the same study, that 45% of whites think blacks are lazy and incompetent; 29% think blacks are unintelligent; less than one in five think blacks are hardworking, and 56% of whites feel that blacks would rather live on welfare than get an education and work. These statistics show how much impact someone’s social or