Poverty

The issue I am discussing in my last essay is poverty. My main focus will be on poverty of African Americans in areas around the country. Specifically I will be looking at the Moynihan report to and how he could have used critical reasoning to make his report more accurate and true. Poverty is when people have insufficient means of supporting themselves and their family in everyday life. This condition plagues mostly minorities and especially African Americans. The reason that I decided to write about this subject is because in our Black Social Movements class poverty was something that was discussed almost everyday and it was one of the main challenges that black people struggled with and continue to struggle with every day. The enthusiasm that these people fought against poverty with and the stories of people like General Dogon were so inspiring that this topic was one that stood out in my mind more than any other topic we discussed in class this whole semester. There are so many different factors that account for poverty and the struggles that have gone along with each factor are so captivating. Also the Moynihan report provides me with a great source to discuss critical reasoning and how it relates to what is and what ought to be. It tried to close this gap, but in an extremely ignorant way, which allows for a perfect analysis of how critical reasoning could have been better used in this report.

Never Finished

During my research I found an article from the Los Angeles Times that talked about the neighborhood of Baldwin Hills. In the article it talks about how a developer took a plaza on the corner of Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevards, which is an are that is predominantly minorities who have low incomes. The purpose of the new plaza was to bring in new business and revitalize the neighborhood economically as well as give it a cleaner and more modern look. However, the developer never followed through on his plans and millions of dollars were wasted. Not to mention the are that was under construction became a haven for drugs and crime. In trying to improve the city developers came in and actually made it worse. If a city or are is to be revitalized it should be done by the government with the people's wants and needs in mind as the primary goal. The government could choose to do the work on its own or it could bring in developers for additional funding, but the government must give the developers a strict idea of what needs to be built and where. When developers come in a try to improve a city they can end up making the situation even worse, which is why gentrification is not the answer.

Poverty Help in Los Angeles

USC Master Plan

The university seems to have a very organized and structured idea of what they want to accomplish with this plan. It discusses improving traffic and bringing in business to the area. The plan consists of many things that seem to be beneficial mainly for the school. The project on Jefferson Boulevard seems like it could be a interesting in the sense that it may bring jobs to the community, but when the community tries to use this resource along with the students and faculty there may be issues. Overall the plan does not seem very good to me. It seems like the focus of it is to improve the school and bring the spotlight to the university rather than involve the community. The plan did mention the community, but not in a sense that made me feel like the community and neighborhood around the school was really that important. The feeling I got from reading the plan was that the university just mentions the surrounding neighborhoods so it looks good and seems like it's doing something for the surrounding community. However, when I read the whole plan I didn't get the feeling that the community really was that important and that rather the main goal was to make the university better first and then maybe help out the community.

http://www.usc.edu/community/upcmasterplan/

Enrique's Journey

This presentation was extremely powerful and exposed a problem and situation that I, and I'm sure many other people were not aware of. The fact that thousands of kids from poor South American countries risk their lives numerous times to come see their mothers in the United States is a heroic feat. This lecture taught me to not take things for granted and that having parents present in your life who love and support you and are actually, physically there in your life, is something that I should be very appreciative of and so should everyone else. The lecture opened up my eyes to the devastating lives that thousands if not millions of kids live every single day. The struggles that this lecture exposed me to were ones that need to be taken care of and have more attention brought to them. There are several things I and many others could do to follow through on the ideas presented in the lecture. I could either start another organization that helps support these kids and spread awareness to their issues or further support another group that helps these children. The change of this issue needs to start with awareness and then getting things done.

Moses Video

More to Moses

After reading and researching more about Bob Moses I learned a lot about him and his ideology. He wanted blacks of the South and all over the nation learn to vote and go out and actually do it. This was the main goal of his grassroots movements and his whole idea of going door to door. The Freedom Summer he helped organize was all about helping blacks to learn to vote and then registering them to vote so they could take what they learned and actually use it. I learned that he had a specific goal and idea of how blacks could obtain equality and the steps that were necessary to do so. Instead of just having the concept of equality, he wanted blacks to be empowered through voting and then they would become equals. He felt that the main way blacks would become equal and receive equal power was if they had power. Moses knew that this power would come through the ability to vote. My perception changed after more research in that I understood what he was doing. I now could see his vision and how important it and he was. This in turn made me respect Bob Moses even more.