Group: More Black Kids in Extreme Poverty

The New York Times ^ | April 30, 2003 | AP

[LurkedLongEnough]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The number of black children living in extreme poverty has risen sharply since 1999, according to a report released Wednesday by a children's advocacy group.

About 932,000 black children under 18 lived in extremely poor conditions, up almost 50 percent from 1999 and about 25 percent since 2000, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by the Children's Defense Fund. The number is at its highest level since 1979, the earliest figures available.

The group defined ``extreme poverty'' as kids living in families with after-tax income below half the poverty line. Poverty thresholds differ according to the size of a family. In 2001, half the poverty line for a family of three was $7,064 a year.

The increase came even though Census Bureau data released last September showed roughly 3.4 million black kids living in poverty in 2001, a steady decline steadily since 1993. That figure would include those considered to be in extreme poverty.

Safety nets for the worst-off families are being eroded by the Bush administration, causing fewer extremely poor kids to receive public assistance, said Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund.

``In the first year of the economic downturn, much progress made by families was wiped out,'' said the group's president, Marian Wright Edelman. ``We need welfare policies that work in tough times as well as good times.''

More than 8 percent of black children lived in extremely poor conditions in 2001, double the percentage for all races.

[LurkedLongEnough]

I just saw another post titled "Income rises, poverty falls for black families in '90s". What is the truth? To quote from sweet_sunflower29's post: "Despite the economic downturn, black families nationwide are better off than they were in the mid-1990s, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Census Bureau."

[wideawake]

Extreme Poverty = having to wear last year's Air Jordans

[Hugin]

Could it have anything to do with over 2/3 of black babies being born out of wedlock? Whatdya think?

[onyx]

LOL

Seriously, Marian Wright Edelman is an anarchist and a documented liar. Next pitty party please.....

[jonathanmo]

I fixed the first line to accurately reflect the true direction of the piece...

The number of black children living in extreme poverty has risen sharply since 1999 the election of the vicious, racist Republican President George W. Bush, according to a report released Wednesday by a children's advocacy group.

[joesnuffy]

Extreme poverty is in The Sudan, ...

[pgyanke]

The problem with this post is the selective statistics. Fine, there are lots of black kids in extreme poverty. I will bet money that the percentage is down over this time period. I will also bet that the statistics of white kids in same predicament for the same period will be similar to those for the black population.

[Leisler]

You left out "dog puke ugly" too.

[Chi-Town Lady]

Why would you insult dog puke this way?

[Catalonia]

Seriously, Marian Wright Edelman is an anarchist and a documented liar. Next pitty party please.....

I was wondering what her political indoctrination entailed. If you're correct, and if she's like most 'anarchists' her age, she has actually progressed through Marxism or a Marxist-derivative ideology to reach her anarchist prespective. To her, blacks=proletariat, an exploited class. Therefore, her political religion requires income redistribution as restitution.

That is the extent of her thinking. She will delve no further. She will latch onto every statistical anomaly and shriek that the sky is falling. This is the same woman who predicted that 5+ million kids would immediately be added to the ranks of poverty if the welfare reform legislation was passed in the mid-1990s. Of course, the opposite happened, but intellectually she marches on, undeterred.

She is passionate, but she is also a bit of a dummy and most assuredly disengenuous.

Thanks for listening.

[Jimmyclyde]

Extreme Poverty = having to wear last year's Air Jordans

Or only having basic cable and 5 X-Box games.

[Mr. Bird]

So we have around 300,000 more "African American" youngsters living in extreme poverty than we did 4 years ago. That works out to about 1500 additions per state, per year. It's a shame, but it's not a crisis. Edelman and her ilk ought to be discouraging the "extremely impoverished" from having kids in the first place. Poverty need not be a static condition. Encourage the poorest to strive for a better economic reality before dragging kids into it.

[TexanAmerican]

Extreme Poverty = having to wear last year's Air Jordans
Or only having basic cable and 5 X-Box games.
\\\

Actually it's not having enough Malt Licka an weed to get tru da week on!

[onyx]

Agreed!

[Between the Lines]

From the National Center for Children in Poverty:

White children experienced the highest increase in child poverty from 2000–2003.

2 of 5 children in poverty are non-white. White children are the largest single ethnic group living in poverty.

[Catalonia]

Extreme Poverty = having to wear last year's Air Jordans

Or only having basic cable and 5 X-Box games.

Or having to worry about being fat. The United States is the first society in the history of the world where our poor people are having a problem with obesity, with eating too much.

That's not to diminish the problems of poverty, but the sky is most definitely not falling, as this woman implies ....

[zarf]

Yo YO!! Dem bitches like to get boned by dem ganstas and be habbin babies!!! MTV cool man!!!

[UCFRoadWarrior]

Sounds like another of those "white people suck" diatribes from the Childrens Defense Fund

[Revolting cat!]

Extreme poverty = not being obese!

[Verginius Rufus]

Is Bill Clinton's son Danny one of those in "extreme poverty"?