Poverty (John Speaking)
						MAIN PATH: Fred
				Fred

Basically, we are asking why a disproportionate number of African Americans are poor. My own view is that when we find a large group of people that is different in some way from other groups, we have to look at the conditions in which they live and the history of those conditions for the explanation of the difference. I don't believe in inherent differences between races or ethnic groups. If we look at recent conditions, we find several factors that matter a lot:

• For many years blacks were deliberately kept out of higher paying jobs. Much of that discrimination has ended, but not all of it.

• Blacks migrated north to the industrial cities all through the 20^th century. Many whites did so as well. Since World War II, however, most investment has been outside the cities in mainly white suburbs. Hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs have left the cities or been created elsewhere. In a very real sense, blacks have not been where the jobs are.

• There are fewer and fewer good paying, low skill jobs. Many of the jobs created in the last 25 years have been low paying service sector jobs or high paying jobs that require technical skills. Many blacks are not prepared to compete for the better paying jobs being created.

• The quality of black education has not kept pace with changes in the economy.

As I see it, we need to find the point of intervention that will allow us to have the greatest impact on this situation and focus public policy on that point or points.

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