Vernice Jones, a home-schooling blogger, wonders if the underclass is incapable of rising.
How helpful is it to know that their odds aren’t great? Don’t we know that? What is more helpful, to me, is the fact that when you mix education, exposure, and a little bit of opportunity, some children GREATLY benefit and can translate those benefits into success for generations to come. Why am I so passionate about that? I’m just ONE generation from being in that group of folks who aren’t expected to do anything, but with a little luck and intervention by individuals who cared, I have had access to great opportunities.
Jones’ mother grew up in the segregated South in a poor, poorly educated family. With financial help from her church and a bale of cotton a year, she earned a degree at a local black college. She sent her own children to private schools and invested scarce dollars in piano lessons and other enriching activities.
People escape the underclass if they find someone — a relative, a friend’s parents, a teacher, coach, church leader, etc. — who can show them how the steps to success: Know that you’re making decisions all the time, even when you’re deciding to do nothing, and take responsibility for the consequences of your actions and inactions. Everything else flows from that. Then, it’s helpful to be taken to the library, the zoo, the museum, etc.
One of the chief evils of racism is that it persuades victims that their lives are determined by forces outside their control. Kids need to know that they can determine their futures, most of the time, even in an imperfect world where some people will make negative judgments based on race, ethnicity, gender, whatever. Yes, there are racists out there. Do your homework. Read a book. Write a poem. Design your future home.
Vernice grew up in poverty but she is not underclass. She had a father and a church. This is what the underclass lacks.
The state is never cost-effective when it assumes the duties of the family and the church. Often the state directly or indirectly undermines these institutions in effect creating the problem of the underclass.
Vernice grew up in poverty but she is not underclass. She had a father and a church. This is what the underclass lacks.
Please, let’s have a definition of underclass.
From Ms. Jones’ own site:
“They are the people who never seem to break free of poverty. Neither do their children, nor their grandchildren and their parents were poverty struck as well. They are born to poverty, and it seems like it is their heritage, one they can never shed; a curse unto seven generations.”
If that is what defines “underclass”, then it applies to many people, of many races, locked into generational poverty. By convention, it always seems to apply to urban blacks - no father, no church. But the rural white American underclass is so steeped in family and religion, it might as well be the Middle East!
Clearly, these factors are minor ones. Having a strong family structure and solid ethics does help children, but if these are too strong, they stifle personhood.
And never forget how class works. It’s an alliance, a tribal grouping, based on birth. People take care of others in their own class, more to avoid public embarassment than out of benevolence. The upper class does have members with urban ghetto “underclass” values, but it has the resources to take care of them, and make sure they stay rich.
Keep in mind that many members of the upper and middle classes have a vested interest in maintaining the lower ones, in other words, keeping them down. This applies to liberals as well as conservatives, perhaps more to liberals. If there was no poverty and injustice in the world, what would they have to complain about?
But if there are three factors that can help fight poverty, including generational poverty, they are optimism, independence, and education.
Optimism: I don’t mean that the world is good. It isn’t. I mean that evil can be fought, and the forces that conspire to hold you down can be defeated - at least on the personal level.
Independence: That means living for yourself, and those you love - not some impersonal society, tribe, or community. Vernice Jones is an exemplar of independence. Too often, ghettos are filled with “community-minded” parasites who hate honest success, and will do anything to sabotage independence.
Education: That means nurturing the inborn love of knowledge, and for that, public schools and a good many private ones are out of the question. And remember, college isn’t for everyone; there’s no shame in vocational education .
But the rural white American underclass is so steeped in family and religion, it might as well be the Middle East!
Just what kind of people are you talking about?
Family and religion have in the past prevented poverty in rural America - both white and black - from degenerating into a permanent state of dependency. There is probably no stronger empirical finding in the social sciences than intact families, traditional morality and a healthy community institutional life correlate strongly with upward social mobility and every civic virtue.
The rural underclass - believe me - is plagued with family breakdown and has only the most tenuous involvement in organized religion.
Underclass is underclass wherever, but radio and then TV has made Ruben a son of the past.
What kind of people am I talking about?
Just look in your nearest trailer park or truck stop to see poor ignorant Bible-thumpers. It’s also full of the boozed-to-the-gills hypocrites who believes that anyone involved with “drugs” needs to be flayed alive.
Or, for that matter, look at the Middle East itself, or nearly all of non-communist Third/ underdeveloped world. There’s no shortage of family, religion, tradition, and community there. Family tends to be the ultra-patriarchical variety that impresses a good many American conservatives.
Having said that, I turn to successful places such as Silicon Valley, which attract the responsible but bohemian types. Many of these are atheist, agnostic, gnostic, or observe some other non “traditional” spirituality. Many of these despite “living in sin”, provide a good family life to their children.
As for “intact families, traditional morality and a healthy community institutional life” leading to success - the best examples are the Jews and certain immigrant communities. They manage to balance freedom with community obligation.
Sometimes, though, a good dose of libertarian selfishness goes a long way. I see it in someone like Vernice Jones, who shields her child from the negative effects of ghetto “community”.
BTW, she blogs a lot about herself and her child, but nothing about her husband. Does she even have one? Does her child have an active, stay-at-home father? The answer could be no. She could well be raising, and educating, her kids all on her own, in which case she deserves extra credit.
Vernice has mentioned her husband. He’s employed full-time; Vernice has a job too.
‘One of the chief evils of racism is that it persuades victims that their lives are determined by forces outside their control.’
Sorry but how does racism make victims think things are beyond their control? I think it’s the other way around - people tend to blame things that they perceive as beyond their control to racism.