Truly disadvantaged
I'm almost done reading "The Truly Disadvantaged" and I am wondering why I didn't read it sooner. Back in 2003, when I was taking African Studies, Dr. Kershaw recommended that I read it. The book takes a look at how the liberal perspective of race and discrimination is not broad enough to explain why the ghetto underclass has become increasingly cut off from mainstream American society. I thought it was stricking was that the exodus of middle class black families left the underclass without the resources to maintain the institutions that could have better developed the areas (churches, businesses, and leaders). The exodus of black middle class families also affected the socialization of those in the ghetto. Poverty became a way of life that these people became used to. Imagine what it is like to know that your grandparents grew up poor and to see your mother unemployed for long periods of time barely surviving. Not only was poverty something you saw, but it was like a generational curse that affected how those families interacted and related to the larger community. So I see that the issues of the inner city are more deep rooted that policy may not have the means to directly fix.
We explored other issues such as the increase in female headed families and how that differed in white and black communities, unemployment, and rates of crime and antisocial behavior.
What striked me the most was that the book made a case that policies on racial equity and antidiscrimination only benefited those blacks with the resources and opportunities to take hold of them. This struck a major chord because I am a product of that. I look at myself and I appreciate more and more the sacrifice my father and mother made to get where they are. They grew up dirt piss poor. I see the class differences within my family and it sucks cuz it affects how they view the world and success. But my parents, like the American creed, worked their tails off; pursued higher education; and did what they had to do. So here I am. I grew up in a middle class family and my father and mother were in the Navy. Here I am. I didn't have to pay a dime to go to school. Even when I was prepared to do so they stepped in. I never had to want or need for anything that they couldn't bail me out of. I'm graduating in May 2009 and I have crazy opportunities at my finger tips. I'm mad blessed and I'm thankful for every one of my opportunities.
Let's look at PR which very few people of color pursue careers in. I will benefit from this antidiscrimination policy. All this talk of diversity in higher education, I will benefit from. Then I look at the people in my community, those youth in Lincoln Terrace that sell crack because its the only way they can put food on the table. Who drop out of school not because its hard but because they have been told by so many that they won't be anything. Who have very few if any black male influential forces surrounding them except for their boys that slang with them---some of them locked up. I look at that and realize that reform goes beyond protecting race but creating a system that views the underclass in terms of economic and social organization. That understands that their dislocation goes beyond just race and class. I may not be able to explain what this means but I understand now that change goes deeper than the surface.
We explored other issues such as the increase in female headed families and how that differed in white and black communities, unemployment, and rates of crime and antisocial behavior.
What striked me the most was that the book made a case that policies on racial equity and antidiscrimination only benefited those blacks with the resources and opportunities to take hold of them. This struck a major chord because I am a product of that. I look at myself and I appreciate more and more the sacrifice my father and mother made to get where they are. They grew up dirt piss poor. I see the class differences within my family and it sucks cuz it affects how they view the world and success. But my parents, like the American creed, worked their tails off; pursued higher education; and did what they had to do. So here I am. I grew up in a middle class family and my father and mother were in the Navy. Here I am. I didn't have to pay a dime to go to school. Even when I was prepared to do so they stepped in. I never had to want or need for anything that they couldn't bail me out of. I'm graduating in May 2009 and I have crazy opportunities at my finger tips. I'm mad blessed and I'm thankful for every one of my opportunities.
Let's look at PR which very few people of color pursue careers in. I will benefit from this antidiscrimination policy. All this talk of diversity in higher education, I will benefit from. Then I look at the people in my community, those youth in Lincoln Terrace that sell crack because its the only way they can put food on the table. Who drop out of school not because its hard but because they have been told by so many that they won't be anything. Who have very few if any black male influential forces surrounding them except for their boys that slang with them---some of them locked up. I look at that and realize that reform goes beyond protecting race but creating a system that views the underclass in terms of economic and social organization. That understands that their dislocation goes beyond just race and class. I may not be able to explain what this means but I understand now that change goes deeper than the surface.
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