I was listening to a story on National Public Radio this evening about "poor people"--which turned out to be about black and Hispanic Americans living in a central city somewhere in the U.S. I was troubled by how often we focus on black and Hispanic people when the topic is about poor people--as if the two are the same. Given this lopsided way race and poverty are portrayed and discussed in our media, it is not surprising that so many of us (including black and Hispanic Americans themselves) assume that connection.
In truth, however, half of all black and Hispanic families are "middle class." Granted, that term is extremely broad and, in fact, most Americans consider themselves "middle class"--including many people who earn over $100,000 and less than $15,000 per year. This is because for most people the category has as much to do with cultural values as it does income, wealth, and status.
Nevertheless, with respect to their economic circumstances, families can be considered more or less firmly embedded into the middle class. Economists call this "Middle Class Economic Security," and a report was published this past summer by Demos, a non-partisan public policy research and advocacy organization, in which the security of black and Hispanic middle class families was examined and compared to the security of middle class American families as a whole. (Unfortunately they left Asians and Native Americans out of their analysis.) By and large the research seems to be carefully crafted--and the findings are worth considering.
To begin, they measure "security" according to five broad indicators:
1. Assets: number of months able to live at 75% of a family's current living expenses using only savings
2. Academic Degree: a family with at least one person with a college degree is more secure
3. Housing: percent of after tax income spent on housing
4. Budget: amount left over at end of year after paying taxes and all expenses
5. Healthcare: number of family members covered by health insurance.
From these indicators, they create an "index of security" that they use to ascertain how secure a given family or group of families appears to be. Here is a summary of their findings:
While 31 percent of American middle class families are securely in the middle class, only 18 percent of Hispanic families and 26 percent of black families have the combination of assets,
education, sufficient income, and health insurance to ensure middle-class financial security.
And while one in five (21 percent) of American families are at high risk of falling out of the middle class, one in three (33 percent) African American familes and twice as many (41 percent) Hispanic families are in serious danger of slipping out of the middle class.
Keep in mind that the security index of "American families" includes black and Hispanic families and is not an index measure of white families -- and so it is skewed downward. Having said that, it is worth pondering just how many Americans of all ethnic and racial backgrounds are at risk.
Consider this:
* A full 95 percent of African-American and 87 percent of Hispanic middle class families do not have enough net assets to meet three-quarters of their essential living expenses for even three months if their source of income were to disappear. Both figures are well above 78 percent, the national average among all middle-class families.
* Sixty-eight percent of African-American and 56 percent of Hispanic middle-class households
have no net financial assets whatsoever and live from paycheck to paycheck. Just over half (52 percent) of Americans in general have no financial assets.
Check out the "By a Thread" report. It is worth thinking about.
Though it is essential to understand these differing patterns of wealth and poverty between groups, it is also important to notice how often our perception of this data is skewed by the sheer number of times the media mixes the term "poor" with the term "black" or "Hispanic."
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34 comments:
I think that we (the media) do a competent* job at tying the concept of middle class with caucasians/whites as well. Especially in the way that middle class news stories and even fiction, seem to be told about whites by default.
To this respect non-whites seem to be only interesting and worth of fictional portrayals when they are overcoming barriers, breaking glass ceilings, etc. The pudding of proof can be seen in the proliferation of "first in (blank) for (enter minority ethnic group here)" stories such as The Express, Glory Road, Geronimo, among others.
As far as the news world, I don't know that I can cite specific examples. But they are not hard to find.
*couldn't find another word that denoted adherence but didn't make said adherence "good" or "bad".
I think that it is very interesting that it is natural for people to assume that poor people and black and Hispanic people get mixed into the same group. I know that a lot of people in poverty are in minority groups; however, this doesn’t mean that all poor people are non white. I come from a town that is predominantly white; however, we have many areas of our town where people live in low income housing. Growing up in my hometown made me aware of the fact that there are many poor white people. Going to college and engaging in many conversations about race and sociology has caused me to realize that there are a lot of poor minority families living in America, especially in the center of cities. It wasn’t until sociology classes in college that I truly realized the reason why so many black and Hispanics live in poverty compared to white. It wasn’t until now that truly understood the white privilege. I used to think it was the privileged white and now I realize the difference. To meet all five of the security standards would be extremely difficult for someone to do who was born into a low income family. This would be difficult for anyone, no matter what race, to try to accomplish. The concept of the wide range middle class is interesting. The difference between $15,000 ad $100, 000 is huge. If you are on the higher end, it will be much easier for you to stay in that security bracket than it is for a child born into a family with an income around $15,000. The idea of middle class is such a broad statement that most people would fall into, but their lifestyles could be much different.
It upsets me when people think of poor they automatically think blacks and Hispanics. There is poverty in every single ethnicity around the world and there always will be. Even though I am white I cannot imagine how I would feel if people were to make assumptions like that about white people. There is wealth and poverty everywhere and there is no need to make judgments like that about people that would don’t’ even know for a fact if its true or not. People love to jump on conclusions about things like that and they use it against other people. I came from a town that was 99% white and there were a lot of wealthy people in my town but the second you stepped out of my town there was a ton of white poverty and also black and Hispanics but more white people. People need to research things and find out the facts before they make statements like that and hopefully soon people will start to realize that there is a lot of poverty in all races and ethnicities and then maybe people will stop having this general opinion always relating poverty with non-white groups. It’s hard for everyone to meet the standards especially if you are born into a low income family but anything is possible and people shouldn’t be turned down because of any of these reasons.
It is very unfortunate and misleading that when poverty comes to mind, the first thoughts are associated with blacks and Hispanics. Unfortunately, I must admit that I am among one of many that think in such a way. Prior to taking SOC 119, I did not have the knowledge of knowing that half of all Blacks and Hispanics are actually categorized in the middle class. I also have no knowledge about the major difference between high middle class ($100,000+) and low middle class ($15,000).
Philadelphia accommodates a large majority of Blacks and as I take a walk through the neighborhoods, I noticed that many Blacks and Hispanics are living in ghettos. Seeing that and not knowing other statistics, I came to the assumption that many Blacks and Hispanics are in poverty. I had always had the idea that everyone who lives in the ghetto makes much less than $15,000. I observed that there are Whites that are poor or even in poverty, but far less in number. It is from taking this Sociology class that I learned of poverty and the effects of it today. It is shocking to know that many minorities are in poverty simply because they are not born White. They have less advantage concerning employments, housing, and ownership. It is very distressing to have finally have knowledge about this, but I am glad that I am no longer ignorant about poverty and of Blacks and Hispanics.
I do not see anything wrong with people assuming (besides my dad always says it’s not good to assume) that when talking about “poor people,” they are talking about black people. It is not a bad stereotype such as “black people are stupid,” or “black people are all gangstas.” This is just an assumption based on facts. It is the same assumption as if talking about upper class C.E.O’s people would think of a white man. It is simply that the majority of C.E.O’s are white men. 24.5% of people living in poverty are black, second only to Native Americans. Black people earn $71,900 less per capita every year than white people. There are more white people than black people, and yet, still white people have a smaller percentage of the people in poverty. People imaging a poor person as black is not wrong or racist, it’s simply a reflection of the numbers. More black people are poor than white people. What is morally wrong, however; is that these numbers are the way they are. There shouldn’t be more black people in poverty than white people if there is a higher population of white people. This is a pure indication of racism. I hope that one-day people will imagine a white person when they think of poverty because this will indicate that the poverty rates reflect the population, not our institutional racism.
Over the past few years I have really become aware of the connection between poor people and Black and Hispanic people and it has really started to bother me. I understand that statistically, there are more poor people that are Black and Hispanic than poor people who are White, however, I see no need for the media to continuously focus on stories having to deal with Black and Hispanic people in a negative way. Many times, the only time we see or read about Black or Hispanic people, they are portrayed as poor. On the other hand, most of time when White people are on television or in the news, they are seen as doing well. I think this coverage is misleading and unfair. I feel it is important to realize that there are Black and Hispanic people that are not poor and that there are White people who are poor.
With this said, I do understand Black and Hispanic people are more likely to fall into the lower class rather than White people and that it is not just something we assume because of the media. I simply feel as though the media just unnecessarily highlights this fact. What I do not understand is why Black and Hispanic people are more likely to be poor than White people. In a time where equal opportunity seems to prevail and many people believe inequality no longer exists, then why does this happen? It drives me crazy that skin color has such a big impact on an individual. I feel as though inequality is still a very real thing and these facts prove it and people need to become more aware of it.
Josh,
will people ever imagine a white person when they think of poverty? WHO CARES!
Thinking or even imagining poverty is so difficult. So many feelings and thoughts rush into my mind. Honestly, I hate being confronted with the notion of "poor" in any context.
I agree with you; the numbers and statistics about poverty are what they are. You said, "Imagining a poor person as black is not wrong or racist, it's simply a reflection of the numbers." Thoughts about blacks and poverty aren't racist. (I wonder if any "thought" can be racist? I don't believe so.) However, if we stop at the thought black=poor, then we stop trying to understand, response, reconsider, or simply listen to the stories and voices of people who are poor. If we already know black=poor, then there's nothing hear? As such, the stories of poverty begin and end simply in the imagination of person who is "trying" to think about this wild far-out "tale."
Isn't poverty a lived experience? Why do we spend so much energy trying to "imagine" poverty? Why is it so hard for us to listen to the actual stories of poor?
I should say, I'm an African American professor who is grateful that every member of my immediate family has worked to become middle class, but the majority of the folks in my extended family have constantly struggled with issues of poverty.
Maybe that's why talking about poor is hard for me.
thanks Josh (and Sam) for giving me something to think about.
Gabriel
I think that it is a reflection of our country’s ingrained stereotypes that most people think of blacks or Hispanics that live in a city when we think of poor people. It is interesting that most people are not able to realize that most black people are actually in the middle class. It think this perception that mostly blacks and Hispanics make up the population of poor people just goes to show that most people’s eyes are closed to what really goes on in this country. Just in State College alone one does not have to travel very far to see white poverty. I would even argue that most of the homeless people I see on the streets of Philadelphia are actually old white men. Also I think people completely forget that Native Americans not white, black, or Hispanic people are actually the poorest racial group in this country. If the media was not so focused on showing crime and poverty in the inner cities maybe people would start to understand that poverty exists elsewhere too. People in this country really need to start opening their eyes to everything and not believing just what the media wants us to believe. Also we need to stop making assumptions as to what someone’s economic status is just based on the color of their skin. Actually we need to stop making assumptions about people all together because until you really get to know someone you never truly know or understand a person’s background.
I personally don't think that poverty has any specific color. I feel this was because this country follows a capitalistic ideology. To me this means that whatever you make you deserve. As long as you are making your money in a legit way. Because America is a free country I feel that there is a lot who choose not to work and collect from the government no matter what their skin color, religion, sex, or creed might be. I feel the only way to curtail this problem is to have much stricter rules for receiving welfare assistance. If I may point out and this is only opinion but I think it is absolutely ridiculous that you have to be pass drug test to have a decent job in this country but to receive public assistance you can take all the drugs you want. I will close my discussion by saying that poverty despite what the media says it dose not target any specific race or group. I feel that majority of the poor people in this country think that W-O-R-K is a radio station. Not to offend anyone but they are my feelings and take it for what it's worth.
I've always felt that it was unfair that people seem to immediately assume that any who is "poor" is going to be of black or Hispanic descent. I took a Criminology course this past spring and learned that while larger groups of poor blacks and Hispanics are concentrated in the inner-cities, that fact alone does not make all blacks and Hispanics poor. They are just more "visible" because of how many people live in those poor communities. In that same class it was explained that poor white people are more "invisible". This is because poor white people tend to be more spread out or living in rural communities.
While the numbers give evidence to the fact that more black or Hispanic people will be poor, it still baffles me that people immediately jump to the conclusion that poverty = black people or Hispanic people. Poverty doesn’t have a race – in my opinion it just depends on the circumstances of life. I personally feel that a teenager from a poor white family is about as likely to go to college as a teenager from a poor black or Hispanic family. I find it very troubling that poverty is typically linked to blacks or Hispanics, especially since half of all those families living in the United States are middle class. With the economy the way it is recently, every race and class has financial worries – this includes many white families who cannot afford their houses or their cars because they make much less than they need. I know more white families than black families who are in jeopardy of losing their houses and cars because of the economy – and the ignorant focusing on blacks and Hispanics as “poor” people is still as strong as ever.
I think it is interesting that many of us, myself included, think of Blacks and Hispanics when mentioning the word poverty. I grew up in Philadelphia, so I have seen a variation of different types of families, incomes, etc. of all different races and ethnicities; however, I still associated minorities to poverty. I still do not completely understand why but I think part of the reason is how I was raised and brought up. As I was growing up my neighborhood and schools were primarily white, so I never really thought that many white people lived in low income areas or even in poverty. However, seeing the video in class about the white woman raising her children in an extremely low income family, I have realized that Blacks and Hispanics mainly being the ones in poverty is mostly just something that I have come to wrongly assume. I think many of us do this too often. We see a couple instances that fit a stereotype and suddenly begin to assume that most of these people fit this group.
However, it is interesting to consider the five indicators that “secure” families into the middle class. Americans are at the lowest percent of falling out of the middle class when looking at these indicators, compared to Blacks and Hispanics. So maybe, white people consider this when making the assumption of Blacks and Hispanics in poverty. Maybe whites assume that these groups will fall out of the middle class and into the low income category. Or maybe, we, as white people, need to change our minds and think outside of the box and realize that there are many white people and families in poverty also.
When talking about poverty, unfortunately, all that comes to mind are those in Philadelphia living in slums. Living forty minutes outside of the City of Chester, I am reminded that most of the poor living in that area are black. The area I live in involves million dollar homes and a small historic town. However, the poor of my town are mostly Hispanic. So, my two ideas of poverty come from the poor inner city blacks, and the poor Hispanics of my town. This does not mean that I only think black and Hispanics suffer in poverty. I understand that poverty knows no race, and that anyone can suffer. I hope the focus can be taken off the stereotype of blacks and Hispanics as the majority of people suffering from poverty. Sam showed a video in class a few weeks ago about white poverty and those living in trailers. I agree with Alex, you do not have to travel far outside of State College to see poverty. There is the trailer park near the Wal-Mart on Atherton. As I stated earlier, poverty knows no race, and I think that is something we as a society should recognize more. Maybe the focus should not be on the stereotypes, especially for academic studies. If poverty is to be studied to it’s true form, every race, every ethnicity, and every area should be covered.
For me to think that the media focuses on people of color as the center of poverty is upsetting and neglectful journalism. It is easy to see a mass of Black or Hispanic people in the center of any given city and make the connection with poverty especially when these are the images that flood the media. Yet many times these people are not as poorly off as the media would like us to believe in comparison to poverty as a whole. I am not intending to downplay that intensity of poverty in the cities of America, but to fully appreciate the matter one must look from all angles. Other angles of this issue include white poverty. Because this poverty is not as abundant in the cities, the media neglects to emphasize its severity. In some cases, the degree of poverty of the rural white population is a great deal worse than that of the urban population. But this is not to say that the media should shift its focus, simple become more balanced in its broadcast. Poverty is blind to color, so the media should be as well. But more so, as a public, we need to be more alert and questioning towards the information that is presented to us.
I think it is very interesting that the word poor is associated with blacks and Hispanics. I believe that this is due to the way the media portrays the poor areas of cities. When showing news broadcasts on TV or even in some movies, the run-down section of the city (i.e. the poor area) is always a community of color. Rarely do you see white people in those situations in the media. I also believe this is based on our stereotypes that we all carry and hold. I also believe that the problem in this is that when showing poor people or poor areas, it is always a city, where the population IS mostly blacks and Hispanics. That’s not to say that white poverty doesn’t exist. I think we all know that it does. White poverty that I have seen personally exists more so outside of the city, in trailer parks or in “the country,” somewhere almost desolate. Of course, there are poor white people in cities and even suburbs but as I said before, the population is mostly that of blacks and Hispanics. The media is definitely slanted in that it, for the most part, only displays poverty in the cities and not on the outskirts or elsewhere. I think this raises the biggest problem because if the news continuously shows images of poverty being blacks and Hispanics in big cities and that is all you see or know of poverty, then how are you supposed to know or think any differently?
I feel that the media is the blame for portraying black people and Hispanic people as being poor or relating them to poverty. I believe they don’t want to show the Blacks and Hispanic people that live in nice neighborhoods because people only see and have false beliefs that Blacks and Hispanics are low income families that live in the inner urban cities or the ghettos that have high percentages of crime and poverty. So it would probably be surprising thing to some people that Blacks and Hispanics do live in middle class suburb neighborhoods, but why? I don’t know. What I don’t understand is that on television shows it is alright to portray Blacks and Hispanics in nice neighborhoods and show that they are middle class working families, yet television networks won’t show them in reality on the news. I feel that people who watch these television shows and watch the news are shown by the networks bad situations of Blacks and Hispanic and where they live. This problem creates stereotypes and bad perceptions about blacks and Hispanics. I know a lot black and Hispanic people that middle class and don’t live with poor neighborhoods but live in nice neighborhoods. I just hope that people see behind the media. I want people to think about things more clearly and understand what is really going on in the world for themselves.
I believe that some things will never change in the world today. The media has created a mind set for people and to believe and that’s ectactly what we do. Whenever the media is talking about poor people an image of a black or hispanic will follow shortly after. Just the word “ghetto” helps to prove my point. Whenever a person says ghetto they never assume that a white person lives there. The word ghetto is a descriptive for poverty, and you only think of one race when you hear that word. I am an African American and I hate when I hear people saying that white people are holding us down. I hate hearing it, but in some cases I feel its true. I feel that if I was born a white male I would have more opportunities. I feel I would have a better chance of getting a good house, loans, jobs, credit, and many other things if I was white. You will never hear me blame my misfortune on the white race though. I rather just work harder to succeed, than sit around and bitch and moan. The media definitely isnt helping the minority image, but that’s just how life goes.
When people actually think hard about poverty, I think they realize that poverty isn’t something that discriminates-- it is something that affects people of all races. However, a lot of people don’t think hard about poverty and accept poverty means black and Hispanics, because that’s what they see in the media. I think part of the reason the media focuses on these two races is because most of these groups that live in poverty are located in the city. While most white people who are in poverty live in rural areas. Of course, sometimes poor white people live in the city and poor black and Hispanics live in rural areas, but most of the time this isn’t the case. I think the media realizes this, but they continue to focus on the city because it’s more “interesting.”
Most people view a city as being an exciting, fast pace environment with people living in close proximity of each other, which makes it “interesting.” But when people think of rural areas, they think of a boring, slow environment, which doesn’t seem very exciting or interesting to most people. So when the media is given the choice of doing a story on a place that’s dull and boring or a place that’s exciting and interesting—they’re going to pick doing the exciting the interesting place. Since the majority of poor people in the cities are not white, the media decides it’s best to focus their stories on the majority in the city—blacks and Hispanics.
The media should focus on the white poor people in cities and in rural areas more than they do-- all races need equal attention in the media when it comes to poverty. Yet, I think the fact that the attention isn’t equal isn’t just based on the media being “racist.” I don’t think most journalist think that just blacks and Hispanics are poor or have anything against these races. For the media it’s all about what makes the most interesting story and to them that’s inner-city poverty among blacks and Hispanics.
I agree that more often when people talk of poverty it is natural to assume people of a non-white, typically black, race. I know this is not right and we should realize that the population of people in poverty has some representation of all races but I know for many people the word poverty implies that we are talking about a darker race. Perhaps it might have something to do with people’s interpretation of third-world countries or places that we see having extreme poverty. I have this personal image of people in third world countries living in severe poverty being of a non-white race. I suppose that this idea translates to home, even though that really doesn’t make sense, I guess it’s just made a stereotype in mind after seeing various news articles and stories covering poverty in countries of black or brown races. Then when people talk about poverty here those images are immediately brought to mind. It was really interesting to read all of those statistics about how many people of color are in the middle class, and the video that Sam showed us in class about the white woman and her family living in poverty also helped to break the stereotype a little. I understand that poverty doesn’t know what race we are, it doesn’t narrow in on certain races. It affects people of all races and there really cannot be a “color of poverty.” But I do see the difficulty in not just assuming poverty is talking about black or brown races.
It is remarkable how much the media and researchers can do to show that blacks and people of color are generally at a lower class of wealth and have little to no financial security. I say remarkable because in my view they are often the ones that actually create this sense of inferiority of wealth. If it was not for the idea of determinism or racism then maybe the man at the bank of color would have received a better interest rate on his mortgage, or maybe he would have gotten a better job if his name did not sound ‘black’ to the people hiring. Before we can attribute wealth, which usually runs parallel to the ideas of hard work and good behavioral practice; we need to look from a more broad perspective and see why these people of color may be in lower wealth brackets than whites. Maybe it has to do with the fact that this country is not equal still and that the ‘kings of the mountain’ or white people are holding them down. If whites can live off of their financial portfolio while people of color live pay check to pay check, there has to be a reason for it; one greater than lack of will.
I think when the mass media in this country labels poor people as Hispanic and Black, they do not do so intentionally, and definitely not to be racist. There are a plethora of reasons as to why this is, but I feel as though they assimilate poverty and minorities because there are a higher percentage of minorities living in poverty than white people, and the stats we saw in class back up that fact. I think if the media would focus their attention on poor white folk that would be construed as racist because they would be focusing their attention on whites rather than Hispanics and Blacks. As terrible as this may come out, when poverty is mentioned white people do not stand out or jump to the fore thought of my mind. I tend to think of ghettos rather than trailer parks when I think of poverty. Perhaps that is just the “whiteness” in me, because I did not grow up around any trailer parks, and all the white people I knew were well off, more so than the Hispanics and African Americans I knew. Either way, it seems, the media cannot win in their coverage on anything, and this is just another example of such.
This blog really interested me because I think its interesting that the term poor is tied more with minorities more often, when in reality people of all races are considered lower then middle class. Looking back on the video Sam shared in class about the poor white family who lived in a trailer, lived pay check to pay check, had no car, I think it was a big eye opener for the people who think they have a hard life. Thinking about it though, I think people of all colors put a connection between the term poor and blacks or Hispanics, unintentionally. While we spend time in class talking about the huge differences in income and such between whites and non-whites, I'm sure a lot of people's minds wondered away from the fact that poverty is in all races. The statistics in this blog did surprise me to an extent, but referring back to the stats on whites and nonwhites who go to college and who don't, a connection can be somewhat made there. Who knows why more whites attend college then non-whites, that's a whole other issue, but I like to believe that people with college degrees get higher paying jobs. I hope it's true because one of the main reasons of going to college is to prepare us for careers, where I hope to be in the middle class, stable. Anyway, where I grew up
I encountered poverty of all races, from inner city to trailer parks, where most poverty is labeled in my area. Primarily, a lot of the people in poverty in my area were black and Hispanic. Pretty cliche', and it's a hard topic to understand or voice opinion on because there's really no direct answer. But the 5 keys of stability that were listed in the blog seem hard to reach for a lot of people in the middle class, its interesting. For me personally, my family is not rich but we are pretty stable in these 5 aspects, however I do open my eyes to whats around me and the struggles people of all races face. I like to understand it as more of a culture thing, what families they were born into and how they were raised, more so then race of poverty.
I find Sam Richards’ entry, ‘The Color of Poverty,’ to be a parallel to my opinions in regards to the media’s portrayal of poor people in this country because I agree that this country often associates poor with these certain terms: black, Hispanic, and minority. The fact that a national radio station doing a report on, “poor people,” and that it turned out to be about black and Hispanic Americans speaks volumes about how often our media portrays those groups together. I feel that the continuous negative exposure in the media only exaggerates the stereotypes of poor blacks and Hispanic Americas, but also severely harms their respective communities. Personally, when I think of poor America, I think of middle-America, white families living on Welfare; I do not think of poor black or Hispanic Americans. I am not sure if this is because I am from an urban area where blacks and Hispanic Americans are educated and working. While Sam does provide empirical evidence that shows that blacks and Hispanic Americans strongly identify themselves as middle class, this does not mean necessarily that they are poor. I think that the most important idea to take away from his post is that the media is creating a false association between these two groups and poverty. The affect of this is that our society will wrongly associate poverty with certain racial groups; what does this say about our society? The term poverty should not conjure images of certain people of color; poverty transcends racial boundaries and can affect anyone. It is troubling to think that the media in this country is promoting this association; this creates a greater divide between our racial groups unnecessarily.
I think it’s true that when stories are being done about people who are poor, it’s more likely to be a story about someone who is black or Hispanic over someone who is white. This is unfair because these stories give a portrayal that isn’t necessarily true and these portrayals are then used in the media to show the conditions of poor people. When this happens it gives a biased version of the truth. I also thought it was interesting pertaining to middle class in general the way security was measured, because while everyone in my family has a college degree and is covered by healthcare, I know that our budget wouldn’t be that much and we wouldn’t be able to live for very long at 75% of our living expenses using only savings. After seeing all that information, I realized that while I consider my family middle class, we aren’t necessarily extremely secure being in that demographic. Then when I think about how news reports don’t usually look at black or Hispanic families in middle class and just assume they’re poor it’s easy to see that they are already at a disadvantage. Whether my family is just barely middle class or firmly in the middle doesn’t matter because we’re assumed more likely to be because we’re white, and people who aren’t are more likely assumed to be of a poorer class because they aren’t white and news reports focus on how minority groups are poor.
Assuming that blacks and Hispanics are poor is not a good assumption to make. It just further contributes to the negative stereotypes that are thrown at these people. However, I can understand why we do it. Many people decide to only believe what they see. They don’t look deeper into issues. If this is true, for me, then I would most likely associate black and Hispanic people with being poor. I come from a suburb called Abington just outside of Philadelphia. My neighborhood is a middle-class working neighborhood. It is a predominantly white neighborhood. When I drive 15 minutes south into Philadelphia it is a much different environment. People are living in poverty and most of these people are black or Hispanic. Sam Richards has explained to me why this is the case. After World War II, many whites were given very low interest mortgages in the suburbs. Therefore, these people were able to move out of the city and establish financial security for their families. Few blacks or Hispanics were given these mortgages. I don’t think many people know this fact. I didn’t know this before I took this race relations course. Nevertheless, I can see how white people, living just outside of Philadelphia, would associate being poor with being black or Hispanic. However, the neglect to look deeper into the issue.
I think the whole issue of defining people of different colors as those who are mainly poor only plays into a stereotype that is not true. Although there are people of color who do live in poverty, there are also people who are white that live in poverty. I think the issue of free will and determinism plays into this factor. Because white people are the dominant race in the United States, they have a much better chance of advancing. This goes along with the idea of nepotism- it is all about who you know and the connections you have. A person of color growing up in poverty may make the same choices (free will) as a white person growing up in poverty, but because of outside forces out of their control (determinism), like skin color, the white person may advance farther than the person of color. I think because this cycle has repeated so many times in our history it is hard to see past the stereotype that people of color live in poverty. The thing is if you end up actually taking a look around, white people and people of color are becoming part of every socioeconomic class. It is shocking how easy it is to be ignorant and jump directly to conclusions.
I can't say I am one of those people who used to think of poor people as being only black and hispanic; although I admit whenever I watched the news, the people portrayed were always non-whites whenever the topic involved crime, drugs, murder, etc. But I realized that the news stories were always based out of the cities in eastern NJ/NY, and were not an accurate reflection of the situation for poor people outside of urban centers. I come from a rural town that was not quite affluent but was about 90% white, and I also remember that a surprisingly high percentage of students in my school district could not even afford school lunch. I knew of a woman who could not afford clothes so she sometimes stole other peoples' clothes on drying lines. I know of a man who sometimes comes buy our house to pick up firewood, because that is how he heats his house throughout the winter. These people are all poor, and they are mostly white.
So although I recognized that poverty can affect people of all colors, before coming to Penn State I never understood what the factors are that contribute to poverty and the differences in rates of poverty between whites and other races. I hadn't considered the institutional racism that still exists that holds minorities back or that unfairly gave white people an advantage in life without us even realizing it. Just recently I learned for the first time about the practice of redlining by the Federal Housing Administration which gave loans discriminatingly to white people to buy homes in the suburbs, thus facilitating the white flight from the cities in post WWII decades. Consequently, the minorities were left to deal the with economic losses and urban decay that ensued. So now when I look at the statistics on poverty of blacks and hispanics compared to the American average, I realize it is a result of covert racism. Otherwise the rates of poverty would be about equal for all colors.
It is really harmful to the perception and ideas about “blacks” and “latinos” when the media makes it seem like all people of this race are poor. This makes people look down on them and I feel like it increases the severity of racism by so much. We know that it is definitely not the case that all blacks and latinos are poor, and that there are so many white people who live in extreme poverty. The movie we saw in class along with an astonishing visit to West Virginia proved to me how many white people live in extreme poverty, where blacks and latinos were part of the upper and middle class. I just think that so many components of racism really rely on class and economic status. Many people would look at a poor white family and a poor black family much the same. Just the same as how wealthy, powerful people are usually looked at pretty much the same way weather they are white or non-white. A great example of this is the high possibility that the next president of the United States will be black. No matter his race, Obama is looked at by many to be a strong, powerful, wealthy American that has a chance to govern our country. It is really a shame that the media and some people associate poverty with Blacks and Latinos because that’s really not how it is and it really increases the racism and the perceived differences between blacks and whites. So many of the differences people think of towards different races shouldn’t be because of their race but more their economic status and people really have skewed perceptions of different races because of this association certain races get.
I think it is interesting how so often when people think of poor or low income families the image of black and Spanish people come to mind. The media is in part to blame for this but the reason that people rarely notice this discretion is because it has been happening for so long. All media makes takes this interpretation, it is not something that is found only on liberal news stations or done just by conservative new channels. It is not something that is related only to the south or predominantly in the Midwest; it is not a regional issue it is a U.S. issue. Another view that has resulted from this is how white people see it when black or Spanish people move into a predominantly white neighborhood. When a white person says “there goes the neighborhood” they are saying this because the association they have of people of color with income. They believe that they are of a lower income and will bring down the value of the houses in the neighborhood. It would be one thing if this was just a incorrect view that most Americans had of people of color but the sad reality as Sam pointed out is that Blacks and Spanish due face harder economic hardship then white people. Growing up right outside Washington D.C. this was clearly evident, as the areas of lower income housing were almost inhabited completely by minorities. I was fortunate enough to be in the middle class and lived in what could be considered middle class neighborhood. This whole issue goes back to what Sam said in class about the G.I. bills and how they were distributed unequally to the whites. That is what destined black and Spanish people to live in areas of lower income and first started the view of the color of poverty.
It is a shame that in today’s society people automatically assume that the poor people in America are all blacks and Hispanics. Do people really think whites are immune to poverty? In SOC 119 we watched a documentary that featured a white poverty stricken family in America. They lived in a trailer, and Tammy, the single mother, walks 10.5 miles every day to work at a Burger King and clean bathrooms. It was fascinating to watch that video and see other students’ reactions. Many students of other races commented after how they didn’t really think of the poor white population and it was good for people to learn that blacks and Hispanics are not the only races poverty effects.
It really bothers me that people automatically connect poverty to those two races. Why just those two? As I have learned in class, it is not someone’s race that makes them inferior so there really is no justification in connecting poverty to blacks and Hispanics. I believe it is true that the media plays a large role in promoting this connection. The media plays in a role in developing racial stereotypes affecting the way everybody sees different races. The media needs to stop promoting racial stereotypes so that people stop making false connections between poverty and certain racial groups. People need to throw away the racial stereotypes they have because that is the only way everybody will start to learn no one is better or worse because of their race.
I think that most people are very easily persuaded by what they see on TV. In almost every show I have watch regarding poverty; the main characters in the story are either black or brown. I believe this is why so many people associate being white with being rich or middle class. All the years that I have living in the US I have met many different faces of poverty, black, white, Hispanic, Asian. The media plays a major role on how people view other people. I have family members that believe that poverty only exist for the colored. I wish I could show them the video that Sam showed in class on day about a white family living in complete poverty. It was sad to see their living conditions. I have an uncle that complains about being the poorest person on this Earth but I think that if he watches this clip he would stop complaining and see that there are people that have it much worse than him. I think it’s normal for people to categorize themselves into a group that’s completely different than theirs. I feel that people that are poor are looked down upon and pitied and nobody wants to be part of something that is viewed as negative. The word itself sounds negative and depressive.
I think it is absolutely ridiculous that the first thoughts in someone’s mind when they think of poverty is black and/or Hispanic. It is those types of thoughts that make it so that those minority groups stay down there. It’s kind of like a, “well if that’s what you think, that’s what I’ll do” type situation. I mean, I think that that shouldn’t be an excuse, but in all honesties, you really haven’t left them with much of a choice. It really also bothers me because these assumptions are always placed right on me as well. I feel like sometimes, as a woman of color, I’ll get looks like; oh where’d she get those clothes, why does she drive that car, how can she buy that, who’d she steal this from, and things like that. My family worked hard to come from near bottom out of the country to be successful in this country and it should not an “automated response” to be put into a category of poverty. I think that facts need to be researched before you can just up and say things like this. They are, to me, very powerful words, and words leave lasting impressions on everybody no matter what color.
I think that the media is to blame for how we picture poor people to be mostly black or Hispanic. I mean for me, every time I hear the word poor when watching the news, I picture in my head some minority group in the ghettos of a city. And its not just the news that shows poor people, even some of the commercials show only minority groups being poor. Like the one commercial where they ask you to send 80 cents a day to save the life of a child is always a non-white kid. Never in my life have I seen a white child on one of those commercials. White people in general are rarely shown as poor in the media. They are usually shown in the middle class or above. I think the first time that I actually saw really poor white people was when Sam showed that video in class with the white people living in the trailer. So it does bother me that the media has associated the word poor with only black and Hispanic people. There are poor people from all over the world with different races and ethnicities and I think the media shouldn’t just pick on black and Hispanic people.
In my mind I do picture blacks and Hispanics as being poor because of how the media portrays them to be that way. I believe the media has beaten that thought into our heads because when new stories come up on TV you see them being portrayed that way. Also when you see commercials for helping improve poverty in certain areas you always see black children being portrayed as the poor ones I guess that is the reason why it is in my mind that I connect the two. You rarely see whites portrayed this way but if I do think of poor whites I think of hillbillies and hicks as poor whites. Also in class Sam showed us a video of poor whites and how they lived. It was great to hear how people of color thought about how poor whites were and if they felt anyway towards them. This class has changed my view of connected blacks and Hispanics to poverty. Also Sam explained why blacks were in the inner city of poor areas because of how blacks weren’t paid for there duties during the war for World War II. I just believe the media over portrays this image though and should change the way it is portrayed.
Too often when people think about poverty the first thing that comes to mind is either African Americans or Hispanic Americans. The worst part about this stereotype is that the two groups are often looked upon as if they were one. As a matter of fact there are more Hispanic Americans and African Americans that are well off then there are that are living in poverty. To make matters worse, it is not just the people of other racial groups that feed this stereotype, its also African Americans and Hispanic Americans as well. The reason for this is because every time we are exposed to poverty in America, whether it be direct or indirect, the people are usually Hispanic or African American. The media is a big reason why we believe this. Anytime we see poverty on news outlets we always see Hispanics or African Americans. We never see those people who are doing well for themselves, and this is the majority of the population. Most Hispanics or African Americans are very well off and are usually in the middle to upper middle class. The thing that disturbs me the most is that there are actually more Caucasian Americans who live in poverty than any other group in America. It is only because the percentage of these minority groups are larger than the Caucasian Americans that we continue to feed these stereotypes. If we actually look at the numbers there is a much larger number of Caucasian Americans who live in poverty than those of the minority groups. The major reason why the percentages remain so high for these minority groups is because of the lack of resources in the communities. It has been proven that the educational system in white neighborhoods is much better than the educational system in the minority communities. It is also due to the fact that Caucasian Americans have better access to high quality healthcare than do those who are in the minority communities.
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