“The Poor Shall Always Be Among Us.”

 

I have heard this so-called Bible verse all of my life. I am of the belief that it is not required that the poor should be among us. Moreover, isn’t it amazing how we start every year off with a new year’s resolution that we usually don’t live up to during the rest of the eleven months of the year? During black history month, we remember and celebrate the past (historical) efforts, achievements and monumental strides that have been by African Americans in this country and even the world. During this particular month we also acknowledge the current accomplishments of extraordinary African Americans in the country today. During the rest of the months of every year, the accomplishments, efforts, and the birthdays of Presidents, inventors, and entertainers are recognized. I wonder when there is ever going to be a day, a month, and even a year when the poor among us will be acknowledged and poverty eradicated in this country.

Sure, we have the little television commercials that show starving people in supposedly under developed countries around the world who each one of us can adopt out of poverty with as little as ten dollars a month. However, in the United States, poverty seems to be an issue that no one in power wants to touch. As a matter of fact, when almost everyone who seeks a political office runs for public office in this country, an agenda for the poor is rarely ever mentioned. I believe it is considered to be political suicide to even acknowledge that there are poor people in this country. The last time I heard or read of there being an actual national political agenda in this country to seriously eradicate poverty in this country was when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. attempted to organize and carry out The Poor People’s March on Washington back in 1968. However and sadly, Dr. King was suspiciously and conveniently murdered before he could get this political movement officially off the ground.

Of course, back in 1929 as a result of The Great Depression, government programs were created to help feed people and lend some form of relief to the millions of Americans who were out of work because of the depression that crippled the United States during that time. Since then, social and public programs like TANF, WIC and Section 8 Housing programs have been put in place to assist those who fall on hard times economically. Still, in my opinion, these programs are not enough. Why can’t the greatest country in the world get a handle on its homeless population? Why can’t the same government that high jacks American citizens’ tax dollars to pay for multi-billion dollar wars and/or “conflicts” contribute to an economic program that totally eradicates poverty in this country?

Each billionaire owner of a professional sports team in this country can form a group that can eradicate poverty in this country. The owners of Wal-Mart, Amazon, Microsoft, FedEx and UPS can wipe out a huge chunk with just the stroke of a pen. The owners of the major television networks ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX can eradicate poverty in this country over one weekend. Jay Z, Oprah, Beyonce, Tyler Perry, Puff Daddy, Robert Johnson (former owner of BET) just to name a few of the black  multi-millionaire and billionaire blacks in this country can eradicate poverty in the Black community alone in five days. I know that I am making all of this sound pretty easy. I guess it sounds pretty easy because it is. However, as the old saying goes, “It sounds too much like right.” As a social worker, I, along with thousands of social workers before me, tend to possess this realistic, but unrealistic ideology about how people can help other people get through the hard times in their lives.

I think that those of us who are doing better in life and in finance should reach out to those persons who are not asking for a hand out, but a hand up. Of course, it is certainly something to see when a poor person who has just a little shares a little of his/her little with a person who has absolutely nothing. Even when I was a poor kid growing up in north Memphis, TN, I have always had this need to see other people eating and having enough food to eat. If I had a sandwich, which was just enough for me, I always tended to share with another kid. It really tortures my soul to see a child hungry. So as a social worker today, it bothers me when I see those with a lot act if there is nothing they can do to help out others in need when a TV news camera is not around or cell phone isn’t recording what is suppose to be a selfless act of giving.

Who will speak for the poor in 2021? Who will have the guts to stand up and demand the creation of programs that directly attack the serious problem of poverty in this country instead of organizing these annual publicity seeking, pat on the back, quick fix food drives when people are hungry every God-damn day? The next time a politician comes to your community comes to ask for your vote, ask him or her if he/she has an agenda to directly address the problems of the poor. The very next time your preacher or pastor passes the collection plate around in your church for the building fund or the pastor’s anniversary, ask him/her if there is a collection plate being passed around for the poor. If an entertainer, a corporate business owner or a professional sports figure comes to you trying to sell you his/her product, be sure to ask them if at least 30 percent of those multimillion dollar profits are going to help bring an end to the poverty in the city where they will be playing that sport, acting in that movie, telling those jokes or singing those songs at that concert, or selling those overpriced clothes, shoes, tickets, and jewelry.

In my opinion, “The poor shall always be among us” is just another excuse not to share with others to the point of actually eradicating poverty in this country.