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The 236, 000 Dollar Hole In The American Dream By Wes Moore

1180 Words5 Pages

Poverty in America Poverty in the United States is a serious problem including all races. Black people have a higher poverty percentage than other races. The book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore himself explains his teenage life growing up in poverty and all the struggles he had to face as a black kid. Statistics show that the poverty rates for blacks according to 2015 is up to 24% and that number keeps increasing into 2016 (Jones 1). Most people say that it's black people's own fault that they have high poverty rates, and there is more in depth explanation for why black people have a very high percent of poverty compared to other races. There are many reasons why this problem continues to affect this race, and the biggest point comes …show more content…

In the article “The 236,000 Dollar Hole in the American Dream” written by Dean Starkman explains, the many reasons of why blacks are so far behind than whites according to wealth, and poverty. The article starts with the bigger contributions that built the wealth gap. Today's differences of household earnings between white and blacks are very different, contributing to the poverty levels. As of now in America 45% of African American kids that are under the age of six live in poverty, and 14% on the white side. One of the biggest reasons for the the wealth gap is household ownership. People that live in poverty are constantly moving in and out of homes because, there's a lot of bad neighborhoods for lower income families. Theres many more safety hazards that make them want to move their families into safer areas. For that matter they never get to stay in the same home for very long and don’t have time to build a true home. At the end of the day 27% of the wealth gap is made of housing contributions (Starkman 2). There are many detailed explanations that lead up to why blacks have higher poverty levels compared to any other race. Maybe one day we will be able to find a solution that wouldn't involve a ton of money to fix this 236,000 wealth

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According to Hodgkinson et al, there are “disparities in poverty rates depending on age, race or ethnicity, family structure, and geographic location. Although the largest number of poor and low income children are white, minority children are disproportionately affected, particularly African American, American Indian, and Hispanic children. In 2013, Hispanic and African American children were ~3 times more likely than white and Asian children to be poor. Children raised by single parents and children raised in the South or West are also more likely to be poor or low income than children residing in the Northeast” (Hodgkinson et al, 2016). Children and youth are a vulnerable population because they have no control over their situation or environment;

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