I Have Lived One Year In My Cities Poorest Neighborhood; This is what I have seen

There are good reasons why groceries cost more there, its not just because they feel like charging more. Running a business in a bad neighborhood incurs more costs; the need for more security. I imagine the same goes for the banks, why have a branch open that is subject to constant robbery? You don't seem to understand that prices are not an arbitrary number set by the "rich, white suburban dwellers". If it were more profitable to lower prices, they would, it would be stupid not to. People simply don't make decisions to satisfy some bigoted world view, they do what will make the most money. If a black man will be more productive for an employer, the employer will hire him over a less productive candidate, if he is less productive, he won't get the job. Businesses can't afford to turn away good employees or customers because of their color or creed.

Yes and even if he wasn't going to, he's a success story and will not be living off of people who work and/or taking drugs/selling drugs/living in poverty and hopelessness. He will be doing what he chose to do ans was educated to do.

Rational Sociology wrote:

The OP is horribly mistaken. Schooling doesn't make a person intelligent, ambitious, responsible, or even functionally literate. The primary cause of poverty is stupidity, i.e. low intelligence, and this cannot be improved by schooling. People usually end up in poverty because they are stupid and poor areas are just areas with high concentrations of stupid people. No amount of throwing money down the educational toilet will fix the problem.

THIS is the answer. Excellent post. Liberals can frame poverty, crime rates, drug rates, etc. any way they want. In the end, it all comes down intelligence...and race.

Pop quiz: name one majority black city, county, region, or even COUNTRY that isn't full of poverty, crime, disease, and political corruption.

I still ask, if you want these people to find better jobs, who's going to clean the bathrooms?

First off, I would love to learn more about welfare. I'm not even sure completely how it works, let alone how it has impacted the African American community. Anyone have more insight?

Second, I keep getting called Liberal . . . in all honesty, I'm not sure what this term means. Like I mentioned, I am AGAINST programs and handouts, aren't liberals FOR these things? I am active NON-voter (I seek to escape the political system as much as I can, this is why I intentionally make little enough money that I don't have to pay federal taxes, am squatting in an abandoned house, etc). For me, in this lifestyle, its about what can I do to help people here and how can try to replace the role of government in their lives (Yes, a bigger task than just me, but it has to start with someone). So I don't understand the liberal label. I am not political. I point to governmental organizations to show how they have failed the people. My dream is to make a difference MYSELF. Not try to vote people into office that will do it for me, or give money to a Non-profit that will do it. I want to do it.

Perhaps this is true in other places, but this is ABSOLUTELY not true in my neighborhood. I have sources and research to back this up. It's actually very, very cheap to run a business in my neighborhood. You can buy a whole building for $10,000. They probably do have more costs in terms of losses, safety precautions and insurance, but with the cheap cost of operating a business, it's cheaper to run a business in my neighborhood than it is to run the same business outside of my neighborhood. Now, factor in that a grocery store has a monopoly in my neighborhood because of inability for people to get transportation elsewhere, the higher prices become price gouging and people have to pay it. Not just people, but EVERYONE in the neighborhood. And yes, here, rich, white, suburban dwellers run them.

I spent time on a Native American reservation and saw the same exact thing. I think these business owners are the scum of the earth.

I'm no savior wrote:

PROGRAMS DO NOT WORK. I'm done working at food shelters and clothing closets. I've seen way to many Mercedes, BMW's and Hummers pull up and have us load there cars full of free handouts. I've also delivered way to many dinners to homes that have plasma screen TV's and rooms full of stuff. I was someone who was all about serving and charity . . . not anymore, I feel it is just enabling people to live the lives they are.

Wow I consider myself fairly conservative and am skeptical of many welfare programs but support charity. I'm shocked by your description. Truly shocked people would do that.

First of all if an expensive car pulls up, I would just say, "Sorry buddy you're not getting any." I guess no one wants to offend anyone anymore.

Back to a bigger picture your post made me take a different view.

The Education may suck, but I think the key ingredient is attitude. I saw a documentary on Katrina. The woman in the 9th Ward filmed the movie. It was incredible. You saw how the government screwed some things up and how this woman despite no education and poor grammar was clearly "smart". Yet the impression I got from the movie was not that the government needs to do more. Perhaps in some ways it needs to do less to bring about a change of attitude. At the end of the movie, the woman and others in her community were saying "the government needs to fix this, fix that, ie fix our problems."

That will NEVER happen. The government can do a lot of things to make stuff better. But it will never solve someone's problems. If this woman's school got all new ibooks, the problems would not go away. She needs to know this.

I never thought about the consequences of welfare until this film. But it sets up the mentality that someone else has to solve our problems. And that is a horrible mentality to have.

The Jesse Jacksons of the world shouting racism at every corner I don't think help any more. Sure they did 40 years ago but a lot has changed. Yes there are still a lot of racist f***s out there but if you believe you are a victim you'll never get anywhere in life. Indian reservations preach a victim hood mentality as well. I think they are the worst places in America in terms of poverty.

If one's attitude is, "life is unfair" and "someone else must solve my problems" the cycle will continue.

Booker T Washington needs to make a comeback.

You can find a better job by training to be a professional runner. So since this website really just focuses on running-related topics, how did you get your tempo runs in when you were living among these people? Are you one of those people who just believes in long and easy runs until the season is a few weeks away? Did you enjoy paying 3 times what you should have for Gatorade at these grocery stores in the middle of these poor neighborhoods? Their commercials insist that you need a "prime" and "recover" drink now in addition to the regular drink, so that would mean you might end of paying 9 times as much for that stuff as you would have last year.

I lived in East LA for 20+ years and I paid my own way through state college and graduate school by working part time and living at home to save money. Sometimes while studying at night, I would drop to the floor when I heard shooting noises. Sometimes I couldn't sleep during the night as the police choppers circled the houses. But I had no trouble getting out of there and many other of my friends had no trouble either. I attribute that to good parental upbringing and family support structure. I knew I would finish college and do well before I ever set one foot on a college campus.

Now I pay a lot of taxes so that others not as fortunate as I am can stay that way and collect checks. Some people are destined to be poor. There's a lot of unfairness for sure, but some people will be poor no matter what playing field you put them on.

I'm no savior wrote:

PROGRAMS DO NOT WORK. I'm done working at food shelters and clothing closets. I've seen way to many Mercedes, BMW's and Hummers pull up and have us load there cars full of free handouts. I've also delivered way to many dinners to homes that have plasma screen TV's and rooms full of stuff. I was someone who was all about serving and charity . . . not anymore, I feel it is just enabling people to live the lives they are.

You know what? BULL F***ING SHIT. I don't believe one word of this. People with BMW's are not going to your soup kitchen- why would they? A meal is about 5 bucks maximum! I just don't believe you at all. Any person with a car is probably buying their own food. Food is cheap as hell; if you go on food stamps or welfare you're almost certainly poor as F***.

People who believe this crap: ask yourselves, how much does a BMW cost? And how much does a meal cost? Is it really very likely that a person who can afford an expensive car is collecting welfare, when welfare payouts aren't particularly high? A family of 4 gets 930/month. Take out rent and utility and there's no way in hell that person makes enough to cover a car. I'm tired of all the lies coming out of conservative mouths. Tell the truth! Use real facts to argue your point of view, please! You're ruining our political system!

OK, first: this article opens up by quoting its own writers, which is a major sign of hubris/BS alert.

Furthermore: This test is from a racist website. That means they're looking for anything to further their black-is-worse viewpoint.

Later: they take the Maryland State Test to be an intelligence test, when it is expressly NOT designed to be such a test. It is an education test. By ignoring the fact that this test is checking on educational status and not intelligence (if it tested intelligence it would be useless, as that's not its purpose), LGDL is able to conclude as they wish, which is that blacks are fundamentally less intelligent than whites. But in reality the data supports only the conclusion that Baltimorean education is worse than that of the surrounding suburbs.

Every hear of drug dealers, pimps, etc.?!?!

Why not collect a free check for $XXX.XX on top of your undocumented regular income?

Hell, I ain't a saint either. If I was paid under the table I'd probably try for welfare too. Another drop in the bucket, right?

The welfare system is broken. Taxpayer funded charity should be abolished, it would leave more money for people to donate to volunteer charities (who do a better job at a lower operating cost).

Basil - I think the low IQ problem is relevant and real. But at the same time I don't think it helpful to dwell on it. A rising tide lifts all boats, and incentives designed to further education and skills in an increasingly global and knowledge based economy help everyone. Yes, the American Renaissance site is very suspect, but almost anyone who looks at IQ acknowledges the material differences.

What is disappointing is that we have not see inter-generational increases in IQ among minority populations - a very disturbing thing since it is the opposite of what we expected to happen since the Civil Rights era. Although I think many on the left would be reluctant to concede this, Moynihan (a liberal, by the way) was correct in his prognostication about the disintegration of the black family. This has been the primary driver of so much misery.

What can Government do? Well a cheap alternative is to have our Government leaders from top to bottom use their offices as absolute bully pulpits to speak to matters of sexual responsibility and a work ethic. This is problematic, though, because it would detract from the perpetual victim meme that so many people have come to rely.

South Bend wrote:

Sounds just like South Bend, Indiana, which is one of the most racist towns I ever lived in. The blacks over there, there whites over here. Split school districts, split everything. Separate and Un-Equal. Another racist town is Kankakee, Illinois.

Back in the 80's I went to a Baptist Church in South Bend. They originally were in the city, but moved a few miles out when too many African Americans joined, and gave their old church to the African Americans, who formed their own congregation.

I'm no savior wrote:

Perhaps this is true in other places, but this is ABSOLUTELY not true in my neighborhood. I have sources and research to back this up. It's actually very, very cheap to run a business in my neighborhood. You can buy a whole building for $10,000. They probably do have more costs in terms of losses, safety precautions and insurance, but with the cheap cost of operating a business, it's cheaper to run a business in my neighborhood than it is to run the same business outside of my neighborhood. Now, factor in that a grocery store has a monopoly in my neighborhood because of inability for people to get transportation elsewhere, the higher prices become price gouging and people have to pay it. Not just people, but EVERYONE in the neighborhood. And yes, here, rich, white, suburban dwellers run them.

I love shit like this. Hey bud, here's an idea, if the evil rich people are jacking up the prices and taking all the poor people's money and you feel so bad about it... START YOUR OWN GROCERY STORE, CHARGE LESS AND PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS. I read the same crap about the evil oil companies who are bleeding us normal folk dry by making too much money. It's a free country, if you think someone is selling a gallon of milk with a 40% profit margin, start your own company with 20% margins, demolish the competition with your lower price and make barrels of money. Christ, people are so goddamn stupid.

It's very easy to be a problem finder and evry difficult to be a solution finder.

I see you and most posters on this thread have decided to be the former rather than the later.

No how do we solve it?

heeeyoooooo wrote:

... Christ, people are so goddamn stupid.

It's "goddamned" or "god damned".

Or "God damned"

Interesting perspective.

One thing I have to ask is.. why do people always say a college education is out of reach because it's not affordable? Financial aid is there. Every year I attended I was offered federal loans and plus loans up to the amount I needed to completely cover school and housing. Sure, it wouldn't leave much money for anything else, but that's why I got a part time job. When my parents were out of work for a year, I got a $10,000 grant because their income was so low and took less in loans. Sure, I have a student loan payment now, but I also have a career that pays double what I'd be making with a high school education.