Challenges that Black Americans faced in the early 1970’s, like the Benign Neglect, what was a policy to neglect racial issues, is what led to poverty in the South Bronx, New York, which then led to the birth of hip hop culture, which was a form of entertainment as well as a way to fight for racial equality for Black Americans by addressing the discrimination and struggles they faced. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a former American politician who served as an advisor to President Nixon, created the Benign Neglect on June 16, 1970. Moynihan looked at certain aspects such as programs that helped African Americans, Black single mother families, Black unemployment, Black education, and saw no improvement in Black American lives. This caused him to …show more content…
Cook, “He seems to be saying that if we ignore the race question, i.e., deemphasize the problem of race in the United States, maybe it will either disappear or solve itself.” This means that the Benign Neglect created issues for Black Americans because they confronted many racial issues and with this concept at the time, it was despondent for them to earn their rights. In fact, the increased segregation, due to the Benign Neglect, created other issues. As stated in the article, “Racial Segregation, the Concentration of Disadvantage, and Black and White Homicide Victimization” by Ruth D. Peterson and Lauren J. Krivo, “the growing concentration of poverty and other disadvantages that are especially great for African Americans are related strongly to segregation.” This shows that as racial problems increased for African Americans in the 1970’s, poverty worsened. The South Bronx’s poverty especially aggravated due to the Benign Neglect and it being a rural area. Services there were reduced which decreased Black American’s economic opportunities, eventually leading to poverty in the South Bronx. This caused an economic collapse in the South Bronx affecting African Americans and their education, businesses, property and what led to the red lining. All these struggles and obstacles that African Americans