Poverty vs Solutions

introspection one day...

Poverty: A Domestic Issue That Can't Be Overlooked
By Dr. Sinclair N. Grey III (Here's an article I wrote that was recently published.)


No rational person wants to see anyone go hungry. Let’s face it – everyday poverty affects many people in one way, shape, or form. We cannot ignore it because poverty isn't just a community problem or a state problem, it’s a global problem. Anytime men and women, boys and girls have to face economic hardship, housing misfortune, food deficiency, and medical deprivation, we have a crisis. For too long, people have looked over poverty with a policy here and a policy there, but failed to do anything of substance.

In a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau, it was declared in 2010 that “15.1% of the general population lived in poverty.” A breakdown is as follows: “9.9% of all White persons, 12.1% of all Asian persons, 26.6% of all Hispanic persons (of any race), 28.4% of all Black persons. About half of those living in poverty are non-Hispanic White (19.6 million in 2010), but poverty rates are much higher for Blacks and Hispanics. Non-Hispanic White children comprised 57% of all poor rural children.” These statistics are troublesome for a country that has resources but wishes to place many of those resources in other countries to help build up their infrastructure while the people at home suffer.

Whenever cities/communities are struck with high unemployment, business divestment, and government inefficacy, the likelihood that a family will avoid poverty is very slim. If you look at cities and individuals hit hard with poverty, you’ll find private property abandonment which not only depletes a neighborhood, but also adds a criminal element to the fact.

Professor Mark Flowers, the author of Three-Handed Economist suggests a few ways in which we can alleviate domestic poverty by doing the following:

• Treating underdeveloped areas as disaster areas by bringing in community organizers
• Incentivizing businesses to invest and making it business friendly
• Using government revenues for public works projects which will give jobs and income to those most in need to be spent in the local community thereby creating a need for new business development which in turn creates new jobs.

Poverty is a problem that all of us must deal with on a regular basis. Even though statistics may show it affects certain ethnic groups more than others, the fact of the matter is that poverty is a human problem whereby humans need to address and solve the problem. I’m challenging our country to make dealing with poverty within the U.S. a top priority. This is by no means discrediting the problems/issues happening in other parts of the world, however, when we overlook the concerns of the people in our own backyard, how can we justify spending money in other countries in humanitarian aid and effort, when the very people who are hurting and suffering in the U.S. can’t afford to live. It’s time that we, as a country, stop being politically correct with other countries and learn to be more empathetic and compassionate with the cares and needs of our own citizens. — 8.21.14

Black woman in her messy room