MLK is one of my childhood heroes. There is no doubt that at that time in history, it was time for everyone who supported equal civil rights to unite and peacefully protest in favor of African Americans attaining equal civil rights.
Not incidentally, America rolled out the most robust social safety net in the nation's history, combined with other programs designed to address the needs of the poor and disproportionately benefit African Americans.
Since that time, America has spent over $22 trillion on the war to end poverty, but after drifting down a few percentage points, the poverty level has stuck for most of the last 50 years. Turns out writing checks does not work.
Among all the races, black poverty has declined by the greatest amount. From over 50% in the 1950s, black poverty is down to around 22%. I suspect that is because the poverty that was a direct result of discrimination has largely ended. An interesting point of reference is that compensation for blacks is nearly the same as for whites with similar backgrounds. A great study done by PayScale that you can find on the internet without much effort, will show nonracial factors account for most of the "racial" pay gap. All good news for my five black grandchildren (the reason this topic is so important to me).
Black and Hispanic poverty rates are almost identical, and Hispanics are white. This has led social economists to study why some black and Hispanic ethnic groups within their respective "race" categories outperform whites, while most of blacks and Hispanics do not. I am sure you can guess the answer... education.
Laws prohibiting discrimination are both moral and effective at reducing the barriers to economic success that barred blacks from integrating economically into mainstream America. But any further gains are going to have to come by addressing education among poor children of all races as well as several other disturbing trends.
We know what does work. A full-time job in the household cuts the poverty rate by 75%! Finishing high school, starting a career, getting married, and then having children almost eliminates poverty in that demographic group. Yet achieving these simple obvious goals has been difficult. Any idea how to improve the academic outcomes of poor children as well as help them make better choices?
My brother was mayor of Jersey City, seeing the failure of the public school system to help poor black children (something he had no control as the schools were run by the state due to corruption by previous black mayors), he started a charter school. Last year 100% of the senior class graduated, 94% were accepted into college, 75% came from homes living below the poverty line, and the vast majority of students were black. The problem with his solution is it only works if parents are committed to education. Any thoughts on what to do, when they are not?
Education funding is the kind of check writing that produces outcomes that will leverage the civil rights success of the 60s and 70s into economic success for inner city black children. But funding is not enough... it simply creates opportunities, but what are your thoughts about how to compel or at least encourage a great number of poor children to pursue that path?
I don't worry so much for my black grandchildren. My children and my wife and I will ensure they get good educations. We will teach them the "economic" ropes of succeeding. They will prosper as have over 75% of African Americans in this country. But the 25% that are being left behind are not the product of racism or you couldn't explain the success of the other 75%, but something else.
So how do you address that something else, that applies not just to black children, but poor children of all races? $22 trillion has not worked and the federal government is already $34 trillion in debt, so I think the clock is running out on federal money. States are strapped, my state is facing $70 billion deficit. So, not only has government spending not worked, but I suspect programs will be curtailed rather than expanded.
The time has come for solutions, not check writing, any ideas that don't involve money, since I don't think the money is going to be there. Poverty in America is the result of bad choices. And it is easy if you are poor to make bad choices... I saw it growing up over and over again.
Every successful black person I know who can trace their roots to slavery has the same story. Either they, their parents or grandparents made the decision to get the education that put them in position to succeed. And every generation after that got the benefit of that person's decision. We know what works... but we are a free country... so how do you persuade people to do what the successful black families I have known did.
