This article is linked to my previous blog post. As the article mentions that the poverty rate of African-American & Latino children is so high partly because of employment status & income levels of their parents, I will expand on it in this blog.
One of the major problems causing this stark differences in poverty & why African-American & Latino kids are poor is because of high levels of discrimination. This discrimination, or racism, not only exists in employment but also perpetuates in society through criminal legal system.
As my previous blog explained that prisoners, who are mostly African-Americans & Latinos, not only are incarcerated at a much higher rate than their Caucasian counterparts, but those incarcerations adversely affect their lives. One mistake, however small it is, stays with them all their lives.
Now, we can say that why those people have to commit crimes in the first place. Right on!! But, the question also arises then that what a parent is supposed to do when he/she is unable to find enough income to feed his/her children properly, save enough to send them to school, & provide them enough to help them live a proper life (housing, clothing etc.) Many commit crimes to help them earn enough income to help them properly raise their kids. So, it's sort of becomes a case of catch-22.
As I explained in my previous blog, governments & other institutions (profit & non-profit alike) are supposed to work together to decrease the exorbitantly high costs of housing & education for the people to thrive. If these two essential things are cheaper, then even poor people will be able to live & educate themselves & their kids. These two things should also be without any gentrification or division based on discrimination that poor people are pushed into dirty, polluted, unhealthy, unsafe living areas & the schools in their areas also suffer in the same way; incompetent teachers with the education system not in favour of poor people. Costs of post-secondary education also needs to be reduced a lot, just so children of poor people are not afraid of going to school because then they will have to take on high levels of debts, which in itself, is a major problem, since non-payment of student debt can land one in prison, which goes back to the incarceration problem I explained above.
Every parent wants the best for their children & will do anything he/she can to see their kids thrive in life. But the laws of the country can heavily affect what that parent can or cannot do, which in turn, could (& usually does) adversely affect their whole generation. That's why, governments have to take proper action to resolve this problem, but the rising poverty rates of children only shows how governments of the Western developed world have forgotten their essential responsibilities.
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A new study found the percentage of American children living in poverty has declined slightly since 2010 as the economy has improved, but the rate for African-American children remains extremely high, at nearly 40%.
More than 45.3 million people are considered to be living in poverty in the US, given a poverty line of $24,000 for a family of four. Some 14.7 million of these, or 20%, are children.
While that figure has declined from 16.3 million in 2010, it still comprises one-fifth of the total number of American children under 18, & one-third of Americans living in poverty, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Census data.
Pew said that for the first time since the US Census starting collecting data in 1974, the number of African-American children living in poverty outnumbers the number of white children. Poverty rates declined for white children from 4.9 million in 2010 to 4.1 million in 2013, but for African-American children it only decreased from 4.4 million in 2010 to 4.2 million in 2013.
While Pew said the difference is not statistically significant, it is still notable since white children outnumber African-American children by three to one, with two out of five African-American children living in families with total income below the poverty line.
There are also stark differences for Latinos. In 2013, one out of three Latino children, or 30.4% of the 18 million Hispanic children in the country, was living in poverty, compared to 1 out of 10 white & Asian children, according to Pew.
The poverty rate for African-American children can be explained, in part, by the employment status & level of income of their parents, according to Mark Hugo Lopez, the director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center. Blacks are more likely to be unemployed & earn less than people of other races.
...
Last month, the Department of Labor said the unemployment rate for African-Americans was 9.5%, compared to 6.6% for Hispanics, 4.6% for whites & 3.8% for Asians.
...
One of the major problems causing this stark differences in poverty & why African-American & Latino kids are poor is because of high levels of discrimination. This discrimination, or racism, not only exists in employment but also perpetuates in society through criminal legal system.
As my previous blog explained that prisoners, who are mostly African-Americans & Latinos, not only are incarcerated at a much higher rate than their Caucasian counterparts, but those incarcerations adversely affect their lives. One mistake, however small it is, stays with them all their lives.
Now, we can say that why those people have to commit crimes in the first place. Right on!! But, the question also arises then that what a parent is supposed to do when he/she is unable to find enough income to feed his/her children properly, save enough to send them to school, & provide them enough to help them live a proper life (housing, clothing etc.) Many commit crimes to help them earn enough income to help them properly raise their kids. So, it's sort of becomes a case of catch-22.
As I explained in my previous blog, governments & other institutions (profit & non-profit alike) are supposed to work together to decrease the exorbitantly high costs of housing & education for the people to thrive. If these two essential things are cheaper, then even poor people will be able to live & educate themselves & their kids. These two things should also be without any gentrification or division based on discrimination that poor people are pushed into dirty, polluted, unhealthy, unsafe living areas & the schools in their areas also suffer in the same way; incompetent teachers with the education system not in favour of poor people. Costs of post-secondary education also needs to be reduced a lot, just so children of poor people are not afraid of going to school because then they will have to take on high levels of debts, which in itself, is a major problem, since non-payment of student debt can land one in prison, which goes back to the incarceration problem I explained above.
Every parent wants the best for their children & will do anything he/she can to see their kids thrive in life. But the laws of the country can heavily affect what that parent can or cannot do, which in turn, could (& usually does) adversely affect their whole generation. That's why, governments have to take proper action to resolve this problem, but the rising poverty rates of children only shows how governments of the Western developed world have forgotten their essential responsibilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new study found the percentage of American children living in poverty has declined slightly since 2010 as the economy has improved, but the rate for African-American children remains extremely high, at nearly 40%.
More than 45.3 million people are considered to be living in poverty in the US, given a poverty line of $24,000 for a family of four. Some 14.7 million of these, or 20%, are children.
While that figure has declined from 16.3 million in 2010, it still comprises one-fifth of the total number of American children under 18, & one-third of Americans living in poverty, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Census data.
Pew said that for the first time since the US Census starting collecting data in 1974, the number of African-American children living in poverty outnumbers the number of white children. Poverty rates declined for white children from 4.9 million in 2010 to 4.1 million in 2013, but for African-American children it only decreased from 4.4 million in 2010 to 4.2 million in 2013.
While Pew said the difference is not statistically significant, it is still notable since white children outnumber African-American children by three to one, with two out of five African-American children living in families with total income below the poverty line.
There are also stark differences for Latinos. In 2013, one out of three Latino children, or 30.4% of the 18 million Hispanic children in the country, was living in poverty, compared to 1 out of 10 white & Asian children, according to Pew.
The poverty rate for African-American children can be explained, in part, by the employment status & level of income of their parents, according to Mark Hugo Lopez, the director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center. Blacks are more likely to be unemployed & earn less than people of other races.
...
Last month, the Department of Labor said the unemployment rate for African-Americans was 9.5%, compared to 6.6% for Hispanics, 4.6% for whites & 3.8% for Asians.
...
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