skip to main | skip to sidebar

Poverty in the African American Community

To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of the hardships.
-W. E. B. Du Bois
The Souls of Black Folk (1903)

"Poverty is slavery"
African Proverb (Somalia)

Roots of Poverty

Slavery in America is the root of inequality and racism in society leading to segregation and the Jim Crow laws that directly caused the high rates of poverty in the African American community.

Enslaved Blacks

Blacks in poverty are often blamed for the situation they are in. This blame can be seen as early as the American colonial period in the a Pennsylvania Act of 1726 that said "Whereas free Negroes are an idle and slothful people and often prove burdensome to the neighborhood..."

Perpetuation of Poverty In the Black Community

African Americans overwhelmingly exist in poverty in comparison to whites due to discrimination that has limited their economic opportunities and has also "kept them confined geographically to urban ghettos...usually densely populated, where they face barriers that are greater than those encountered by other poor people" (Rowman p. 119)

Black Poverty Statistics

24.3% of Blacks lived in poverty in 2004
this is 2x the national percentage
urban.org/uploadedpdf/411654_poverty_facts.pdf.
43% of single parent homes headed by Black women lived in poverty
www.blackdemographics.com/housing_poverty.html
33.9% of Black children lived in poverty in 2007
compared to 10.6% of white children
npc.umich.edu/poverty/

The high concentration of poor Blacks in ghettos is directly linked to red lining and housing discrimination. The legal housing segregation that was practiced until civil rights and fair housing acts were passed is the cause of the high segregation of Blacks and whites today.

Imperial Courts Project Housing, Watts, Ca

Single parent households headed by Black women occupy a large portion of the poor. Due to an alarming rate of Black males in prison many women are raising children without fathers and without a much needed second income.

Followers

No posts.

Home

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Inner City schools are failing the African American communities. A Lack of adequate materials, learning tools, and qualified teachers lend to a high turnout of unprepared young Blacks. The youth leave these failing institutions without the tools needed to compete with their white counterparts when obtaining a higher education. Often they are left to work at minimum wage jobs that keeps them below the poverty line.

High rates of unemployment within the Black community is linked to the inadequate education received in the inner cities. In an economy where jobs are scarce Blacks with low skill levels often find it difficult to find employment. Their is also evidence of employers, having negative images of young Black males, blocking their access to low skill positions (Higham p. 45).

Solutions to End Poverty in the African American Community

End Poverty in Black Communities

Ending poverty in Black communities is a difficult task to take on because it has been apart of us for too long, but it can be done if we all work together and stand up and fight for our right as Americans to have adequate education, jobs, and other resources that will better able us to compete in society with our white counterparts.

One way to continue to lower poverty in the African American community is to demand a better education for our children...We should not accept the education our children are getting especially in comparison to the education of white children in higher classes. Education makes a huge impact on how well one will do in life and without it Black communities will remain in poverty.

Another solution to poverty in the black communities is providing job programs for black men and women. Give them the skills they need to compete in the current job market and not for just low skill positions. Also offer programs that will give the people information about colleges and universities and resources they can access to make it easier to attend these institutions. Black businesses also need to move back into the black communities and train and hire members of the community. A key target for the black business owner should be the black male who was once incarcerated. Giving him a job will benefit his family and can raise them out of poverty.

Working together in all endeavors to pull the African American community out of poverty is definately the only way we can achieve this goal. Unity is a huge concept within the Black community but it seems like it is not practiced enough. Blacks have to band together and demand what we deserve...Demand what the ones who came before us fought for!