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Saturday 30 december 2023

Perspective: Children born poor have little margin for mistakes or bad

decisions, regardless of race

Continued from Front tion, jobs, friends, neighbor-
hoods, adult interventions,
Some stories are burned into hard work and good luck.
memory, like the Washington, We say people can be
D.C., teenager who asked whatever they want to be.
his mom to send him out of To a degree that is true, but
the region to escape the moving through the socio-
violence. He spent years economic levels of America’s
away only to come home economics-based caste sys-
one weekend to plan his tem is like the Apollo moon
high school graduation party missions of my youth. Millions
and be randomly stabbed to of parts have to work per-
death by a stranger. fectly to get you there, and
While I know some of those back.
back stories, Alfred’s is the According to “ Race and
one I can personally trace Economic Opportunity in
from a decision made years the United States: An Inter-
ago by adults to gunshots generational Perspective,”
near the end of a rundown part of the groundbreaking
street. Opportunity Insights project
Alfred is my first cousin. based at Harvard, only 2.5%
When he was 13 my wife and of Black kids born to a par-
I tried to get legal custody ent or parents in the bottom
of him after his mom was quintile move to the top quin- Associated Press reporter Gary Fields poses for a portrait at a public park, Wednesday, Dec. 20,
murdered, but his guardian tile of household income. 2023, in Washington.
said no. For white kids, the figure is Associated Press
I think about him often and 10.6%. What is more likely for The focus on the statistics My uncle, his dad, had done to Maryland where we live.
the decision that kept him both is they will stay in the tends to be on the racial dis- what he could but was bro- We wanted legal custody so
from reaching escape veloc- poorest quintile or, at best, parity. I see the disparity, but ken down from working hard my work benefits could cover
ity, the things you need to go move up one level to lower what I also see is that Black or labor jobs, usually several at him. We also wanted to be
right to lift the weight of your middle class. For white kids, white, less than half of the kids once and was living on limited able to make decisions on
birth circumstances off of you. that figure is 53.4%, and for born poor move up much. income himself. He couldn’t his behalf without unforeseen
Those include family, educa- Black kids, 75.4%. Even if they make it one step, promise his son much future. bureaucratic or legal barriers
a car repair, a missed day at The first time I met him Alfred that might arise.
work or a high utility bill can was a thin, gangly, very shy My now dead uncle said yes
begin a downward spiral. kid who kept his head down, but his message to me was Al-
And there are millions born avoiding eye contact. He fred’s now late-grandmother
into that world, although spoke softly and slowly and said no. Alfred was getting a
we treat it like a moral fail- was the target of bullies. government check of some
ing. One measure of Census I don’t remember him smiling sort. I don’t know how much it
data shows more than 10.7 — ever. Around me, at least, paid or what program it was.
million children younger than his nature was melancholy. This year I asked the Social
18 lived below the poverty For Alfred, I was the cousin Security Administration what
level in 2022, and that figure is who had a charmed life. The it might have been and there
undoubtedly higher because truth is, for reasons I will never were a couple of possibilities.
millions more lived in places comprehend, I had nearly As a minor, he could have
where the incomes couldn’t everything go right. been eligible for benefits
be determined. We love to talk about people because of his dead mom.
Millions of young people live pulling themselves up by their It also might have been Sup-
in homes where social security boot straps. A lot of people plemental Security Income for
payments, WIC, SNAP and contributed to my boots and some health problem he had.
TANF, various food, nutrition showed me how to use the In a place where minimum
and income assistance pro- straps. There were teachers, wage was $5.15 an hour at
grams, are the order of the friends, family, neighbors and the time and people lived on
day. luck stirred together. That the edge of financial ruin, it
To our clients and to our readers, Poverty isn’t the purview of mixture was added to the did not matter how much, or
one race. Neither is violent foundation, a ninth-grade for what. If you are born into a
We sincerely thank you for your support and your death. Socioeconomics is a drop out unwed mom who certain economic class eve-
friendship. We will be closed on Monday, January good predictor for victim- truly valued education who rything goes towards basics:
1st, 2024 and will return to your doors, lobbies, and hood and criminal justice married a good man who food, rent, utilities, clothing.
newsstands on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024. involvement, as well as de- helped her raise me. Alfred stayed in Louisiana.
ficient health care and edu- Alfred’s grades were not Over the years, he reached
We wish you a joyous holiday season and a Happy cational outcomes. good. Something about the adulthood and when I came
New Year. Alfred came into the world on way he looked at me made home I would give him what
the bottom economic rung me ask when he’d last had an cash I had, especially when
Stay safe! and when he was 13 the eye exam. One optometrist he had kids of his own. By
critical decision was made visit and a pair of glasses later then he had a criminal record
From Aruba Today and the Caribbean Speed Print- that likely kept him there. His he could see the blackboard. but he treated me the same
ing family mom had been shot to death My wife and I decided then. and he checked on my mom:
months before in Alexandria. We wanted to bring him back Aunt Shirley.q