Oppressed or Impoverished

The debate is not new- is poverty a choice? As absurd that may sound to some, to others it is a thought that is spoken in some circles. That thought is, if you are poor, especially in the 21st century, its because you choose to be. Of course, the argument isn't that straightforward in reasoning, and the debate has many valid points on both sides. In short, poverty is being without needed resources. So for those who believe one chooses poverty, the answer is frankly- get an educated or skill and get a job or make a living. On the other hand, those who believe that relieving poverty is more than securing resources, the solution is much more complex.
Oppression sometimes is a word left out of the poverty conversation. Yes, oppression is considered when speaking of developing countries or cities with a recent history of struggling economies from lost of major companies or key goods or services to maintain a competitive and attractive city for business. Yet, I contend that oppression is one of the main causes of poverty. Quickly, allow me to assert the obvious, a lack of jobs, poor money management or financial illiteracy, and no skills or education are major factors that most can agreed on within the poverty debate. Yet, oppression is at the core of this social dilemma. My position is derived from a few questions: 1. If a person is in second or third generation of poverty, faced with racist stereotypes, living in subsidized housing and receiving public health and food benefits, is he or she keenly knowledgeable of the route out of this situation? 2. If no one in a family has finished high school or college and has chronic unemployment gaps, development disabilities, has experienced employment discrimination and homelessness, is the solution clean cut? 3. If the words assets, 401k, interest rates and balanced budget have never crossed the conversations held in the home, can on understand building wealth? And finally, four  words: Substance, or emotional, or sexual or physical abuse? All of these unfortunate situations can cultivate a "spirit of oppression" even if external influences did not actually perpetrate (discrimination, inequality, etc) the oppression.
I am not presenting anything new here. Those who consider the poor among us think that the solution may not be simple but is possible to solve if the one living in poverty will have a little bit more encouragement, training, and sheer will. In addition, the religious sector would add repentance and faith to the equation. I say, faith and sheer will is what gets most people who are impoverished through the day. And many people, in their circles have been given a hand, shoulder and many positive words. And training, well, do you know what one must do to receive housing, public assistance and health care? Well, first, have a child and to be unmarried. Only if a greater effort for a solution to send people to community college than to the next line where you can sign up for a free turkey at Thanksgiving.

Oppression zaps hope as quick as you can turn a light switch off. The sneers, the racist slurs, the abuse at the hand of your neighbor, the exposure to community neglect and violence, the obvious class war being the despised people in a certain zip code. All of these negative energy drives can pierce through and stop the laughter of a child and the dreams of an adult. Oppression begins to live in someone once the fabric of society covers the poor with shame. Then the opportunities seem to be designed for an elite group, and healthy foods appear in particular grocery chains that are too expensive, and quality books and technology show up in certain schools and college libraries; clean parks and family events are across town and church and business leaders are uncomfortable coming to your house for frozen dinners or to pick you up for Sunday service or for work or for parenting class. Oppression knocks loudly at the door of those main society ignores or are even embarrassed by. And, more boldly, oppression reeks from hearts and minds of those who we despise and talk about when we think we have "made it".
Some may think, impoverished and oppressed are the same. The difference is this: Give an impoverished person a job, he or she will eventually live a decent life. Give an oppressed person a job, he or she will battle with self to keep it. The mind will tell her you will never make it. The heart will tell him, you are not worthy.We must do more than give jobs, much more. And the solutions are complex and varied. But any one solution must begin with a compassionate heart, a servant attitude, and the belief that no one, not one human being, wakes up every day wanting to live in poverty.

Poor Dads: A “Perfect Storm” of Adverse Events Works against Young Families

MADISON — In the beginning of the 21st century economy, almost half of all kids are being raised by at least one parent with a low educational background (high school degree or less by age 30) and a poor expected economic future. More than 40 percent of all births are out of wedlock (28 percent for non-Hispanic whites; 72 percent for non-Hispanic blacks; and 51 percent for Hispanics). And the chances that an unmarried biological father and mother will have a child with different partners are 55 to 65 percent (using conservative estimates).

A new book—as much an accessible examination of a major social challenge as a monograph by some of America’s top social science thinkers—explores these growing problems and possible policy remedies. “Young Disadvantaged Men: Fathers, Family, Poverty, and Policy,” a special issue of The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, combines a researcher’s perspective with reality checks from the worlds of policymakers and social service practitioners.

First, the numbers: By age 30, between 68 and 75 percent of young men with a high school degree or less are fathers. Only 52 percent of all fathers (21 percent of African American fathers) under age 25 are married at the birth of their first child. Older fathers are more likely to be married by age 30. Sixty-five percent of all first-time fathers are married when their first child is born, but only 31 percent of all black men under 30 who are first-time fathers are married at the time of the first birth.

To make matters worse, far fewer young fathers go on to education post high school (29 percent of fathers age 30 and under compared to 41 percent of all men age 30 and under). Finally, 62 percent of fathers with a high school degree or less earned less than $20,000 in 2002, suggesting that most young men with little education, low skills, and poor employment records have acquired family responsibilities that they will find difficult to meet.

The economist Timothy Smeeding, a volume co-editor with Irwin Garfinkel and Ronald B. Mincy, calls the situation a “perfect storm of adverse events” that is affecting younger undereducated men, their children, and the mothers of their children. So Smeeding and his colleagues convened a national conference at the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where economists, sociologists, and public policy experts presented their latest work to describe the problem; provided cross-cutting commentary on culture, race, and family functioning and longer-term relationships; and examined child support policy, school-to-work transitions, dropout, incarceration, and fatherhood-strengthening policies.

“Young Disadvantaged Men” presents the best thinking of national experts on the issues of immediate concern to those working through research, policy, and practice to reconnect disconnected dads to their children and thereby improve child and family economic and emotional well-being.

http://www.irp.wisc.edu/newsevents/whatsnew/2011/fathers-May2011.htm