You need to go back a few pages to see how this discussion all began. Someone suggested that poor black people should do the same thing Irish Americans and Asians did to rise above poverty. I suggested that the Irish benefited from good paying jobs in industry, free land for homesteading, and other opportunities that are no longer available to Blacks. I suggested that Blacks would follow the path of the Irish if they could have the same opportunities, including a good paying job. Someone else (Kmoose) responded to my post implying that Blacks were looking for some kind of privilege or favoritism, stating that there was no "Yellow Privilege" benefiting Asians. I responded that a good paying job was not some kind of a privilege, but that good pay was a human right earned by hard-work. I never suggested that all jobs should be paid the same amount, just that those at the bottom needed a livable wage if you expected them to rise above poverty in the same manner that the Irish and the Asians have done.
A look back in history will show that the Irish were treated horribly in the mines, on the railroads, and elsewhere. But they benefited by the rise of unions in the first half of the 20th century. It was no accident that factory workers were able to afford homes in the suburbs and leave the poverty of the inner city. The rise of unions secured good paying jobs and the poor rose to be middle class. They started sending their children to college and paid for it with the living wages they earned in their union jobs.
For a few years, Blacks benefited along with their white neighbors, and we now have a Black Supreme Court Justice, Black Lawyers, Black Surgeons, etc. Then the rug was pulled out from under American industry and the good-paying jobs left. Large numbers of minorities, Blacks and Hispanics included, no longer had the opportunity to improve their lot. The good paying jobs were gone and replaced by minimum wage service jobs. So the opportunity to earn their way out of poverty is no longer available to most inner-city Blacks.
I offered a solution, which was to pay them a good wage so they too could move to the suburbs where their children could attend better schools and rise above poverty, just as working-class whites were able to do following the depression. Kmoose implied that good pay would be some kind of privilege. He may have thought I was asking for more affirmative action programs. I was not. I was suggesting that given the same opportunities (good paying jobs, good schools, safe neighborhoods, etc.) Blacks would over time raise their standard of living in the same manner that poor whites had been able to do. And before I'm accused once again of giving Blacks some kind of special privilege, I'm suggesting that good paying jobs would benefit all impoverished groups: poor Whites, poor Blacks, poor Hispanics, poor Native Americans, etc.
Let's not single-out Black Americans by implying they would not improve their lot if given the opportunity. As others have pointed out, economic status is pretty stagnant, if not declining, for all Americans. If you're born poor, you are likely to remain poor. It's not about being lazy or having no initiative, it's about lack of opportunity. And lack of opportunity is inherent in poverty. Good paying jobs would be a step in the right direction.
