It has been shown that a married couple employed full time at a minimum wage job are highly unlikely to be considered living at the poverty level. It presumes that their wages aren't "going up in smoke".
The biggest lie sold to the ghetto people is that the deck is stacked against them on purpose. They stack the deck against themselves.
If a ghetto dweller decided to groom neatly, stand up straight, be polite, and speak normal English, they could write their own ticket, no matter where he starts in the job ladder.
Employers love a presentable person who shows up for work everyday, on-time. Employers value reliability in a worker more than anything else: "Well Leroy might not be the brightest, but I know he will be here for me, rain or shine!".
A quiz kid wonderboy who is unreliable is worth nothing.
Yeppers.... My Pop told me years ago that "there will always be work for a hard worker.." Even in hard times..
I don’t completely agree that impoverished black children stack the decks against themselves.
I can’t imagine the long odds they face. Almost all have no father in the home and experience multiple men coming and going through their lives as their mothers churn through a parade of temporary new men who then disappear.
Worst of all, we are now on 4 or 5 successive generations of impoverished black mothers who were raised wrong and have no clue how to raise their children, how to instill discipline in them.
Don’t even get me started how the studious children are punished by their peer group for “acting white”. School discipline doesn’t even exist.
Blacks at one time might have been responsible for stacking the deck against themselves, but here at least 4 generations on from that, impoverished blacks really have incredibly long odds against them. I can see why many are just hopeless and have no incentive to try. So sad.
The saddest part is that black immigrants come into America and often succeed wildly with the opportunity that comes from hard work and taking the educated risk. They just have the mindframe of the go-getter who is driven to succeed.
Most black kids in America just have no hope whatsoever and therefore put out no effort since they have no vision of what their lives can be.
It will take an act of God to break this vicious cycle. The itertia is overwhelming.