Why Do People Live in Poverty?

Not too long ago, I would see people living in poverty who resort to selling drugs and wonder why on earth would they not try to get their life together. “Why don’t they get a job?” “Why are they selling drugs, they’re just going to end up in jail?” I wondered why people would choose to live in poverty. I thought that with determination and persistence, everyone could get some sort of job, save money, and work their way up. Unfortunately, the world does not work that way.

In the real world, a large percentage of blacks will be born into poverty, targeted by the criminal justice system, and sent to jail just like their relatives. No one gets to choose what class, race, or part of the world they are born into. I was born into a white family, and although my family is not upper class, I have had so many opportunities that I cannot take credit for. I was born into a culture where I was able to grow up going to school, and am continuing my education at college – something that a lot of us take for granted.

It is so hard to imagine exactly what it would be like to be a part of a minority race for a white person. A white individual living in America lives in a world that is designed for him/her. I am not proud to say it, but it is the truth. Michelle Alexander talks a lot about this in her book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.

Alexander describes how blacks make up a large majority of the criminal justice system. They are less likely than whites to commit drug related crimes, however they are way more likely to be imprisoned. How is that? Because America has continuously established a racial caste system that ensures that blacks be kept inferior to whites. Alexander explains very well how the system works, and how mass incarceration is equivalent to slavery and Jim Crow. What a lot of people (my younger self included) do not realize is that discrimination is still legal. Even though it is illegal to discriminate based on race, it is legal to discriminate anyone with a felon. This might not seem unreasonable at first. However, because so many blacks have felons, they are subject to discrimination. After prison, it is pretty much impossible for them to move up in the world, because they are denied housing, cannot get a job, and will forever be branded as criminals.

Our stereotype of blacks being criminals has been intentionally created by whites. It is not the result of blacks engaging in more criminal activity, rather it is the result of whites targeting more blacks, imprisoning them, labeling them as criminals, and denying them any opportunities to be successful. It is tempting to think that blacks choose to be criminals, but often they do not.

People living in rough living conditions have to make a choice on how to survive, and often times the answer is selling drugs. I am sure no one wants to resort to that, but you have to make money somehow. Instead of first putting our time and money into police efforts and criminal justice, I agree with Alexander that it would be very beneficial to help the poor find a job and support them, so that no one has to rely on drugs to help them survive.