Thats a very ignorant thing to say.
25% of minorities live under poverty, what do you think that number was before 1965, was it their fault then?
Why don't you try something; go to an inner city school and try to blame that on minorities.
I believe we have very different definitions of poverty, and that was the point of my previous post.
I've spent plenty of time in the 3rd world. I've been places where "middle class" meant you had a dirt floor, one room "house" and maybe electricity sometimes. I've seen entire families living in appliance boxes, with some plastic sheeting on top to keep the rain out.
Go to that same inner city school, and try to find a single student who lives in a household without an automobile, electricity, running water, and a color TV.
We are so wealthy as a society that we have a skewed view of what poverty is. The truly poor people I've met all around the world would *love* to live in American "poverty."
I wanna tell ya something,newcomer...I,unlike most folks in this country (and in the West,for that matter) have walked the streets of Delhi,Dar Es Salaam and Lusaka and have traveled the rural roads ("roads" being used generously here) of Tanzania,Zambia and Malawi.
I have also seen a lot of "inner city" Boston,parts of Harlem and the Bronx as well as other "inner city" areas.
I have,as well,worked in the Emergency Room of a major Boston hospital that serves the "inner city" for 20 years...and I'm here to tell ya that very,very few (if any) people in this country know *real* poverty (as in Tanzania/India) through no fault of their own.
In more than a few parts of the world,"poverty" means black kids with red hair,swollen bellies and little stick legs (I've personally come within a few feet of such a kid) whereas,in this country,"poverty" means taking the bus because you can't afford a car.
When kids attend school sporadically because their parents don't get them up and out of the house in time to catch free transportation who is to blame?
When they don't come in with a writing implement, but have a cell phone and the teacher has already distributed boxes of pens she bought herself, who is to blame?
When kids are tired at school because they are staying up too late who is to blame?
When teachers can't convince parents to come in for a conference about their kids' progress, who is to blame?
Friends who teach in the inner city amaze me with stories of how some parents just have a problem with getting their kids to school every day. And if a parent is unable to do this because they are drunk or ignorant, just who is to blame????
And this is not the case with every minority student. Plenty of "minority" students have no problems and do quite well in inner city schools.
Being poor, or living in a crappy neighborhood isn't the problem. Its the mindset of the underclass. My friend, a building maintenance man, asked a mother why her kids weren't in school and were lounging on the couch watching tv. She said, "They got up too late for the bus." Just who is to blame?
Hmmmmmm.
Most of the 'poor' I have met were in rural areas.
The ones who were worst off usually had a drinking problem.
Aside from that, they just didn't make much money, but they worked, whether it be for a wage or to feed the wood stove all winter, grow a garden, pick berries, can preserves and vegetables, whatever.
They got by without goverment relief. That was charity, and they 'didn't need none of that'.
When the day was done, they had rough hands, sore backs, a roof over their heads, a warm house, a good meal, and a lot of self-respect.
Been there, done that, could do it again if I had to.