Wealthy or Not????

 

In reading chapter 27 in Adams, I ran across the whole wealth issue. The book indicated that wealth is what people have to fall back on and pass on to our children. Yet only 1/6 of households has zero or negative wealth!! What does this mean for me?A single mother to two children, working part time, and going to school full time? While in pursue of this goal I don't have no wealth and in fact I may be going into negative wealth with all of these school loans. I suppose it will pay off when we complete our degree but climbing out of debt(school loans) will be the next obstacle to conquer. Reading about wealth and this big gap between rich and poor has just caused my mind to race.





This is the land of the free and of opportunity, but to who?Its sad to know that this is a leading country but yet the amount of people living in poverty is higher than those who are wealthy.
That there just show how much this land is not the land of opportunity. So with that I believe out of the isms, classism is a powerful divider. Many people are living in poverty and it does not matter what race you are but only a few are able to be in that wealthy class.

Its so easy to feel discouraged when the statistics show that the rich/wealthy population are the ones to benefit here in this country. I thought this little picture was a good illustration of what I feel it is.








I know I've expressed a lot of discouraging information and thoughts but I am optimistic. I am very thankful for many things. Although I can not be a millionaire right now, I'm content with having a roof over my head, clothes on my back and healthy children. I know many other countries have it worse and may think we,American citizens, complain too much and to an extent they are right. I think we do so because of the labels that come with being an American like -"Justice for All", "Land of The Free and Opportunity"....so we tend to challenge our nation to live up to that expectation. Had the Statue of Liberty or Constitution said the opposite we would not be here and/or we would not be so shocked to know that the wealthy only consist of a few.

Another Name for Slavery-13 amendment

In  Adams book chapter 12, I read about the 13th amendment and I was just stunned!

SLAVERY AND INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE

THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT

SECTION 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except

as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or
any place subject to their jurisdiction.









What amazes me more is that prior to that, Abraham Lincoln created a version of the 13 amendment to state:

No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State.

(See US House of Representatives, 106th Congress, 2nd Session, The Constitution of the United States of America: Unratified Amendments, Doc. No. 106-214)
 Slavery never really ended. As with everything else our grade school taught us that slavery was ended by the civil war and the the Emancipation Proclamation proclaimed the freedom of slaves!They sure did fail to mention that "oh by the way the 13 amendment  allows slavery"  Now the book also states that prior to the 13th amendment whites were the dominant color within prisons but after slavery ended and the 13th amendment was ratified did the population of black people grow within the prison.  So now there were many black people who were criminals and had debt just to have them behind bars were slavery was okay.  Doing others people's work for free was not over.

You know it is sad to think that we get feed what they(I don't even know who to blame?!) only want us to know about our history. I'm thankful that this class has opened our minds and understanding to what it truly is.

Is rich a Sign of Superiority?

In chapter 11 of A People's History, the author indicated that because there was a chance for the oppressed to be rebellious the community( schools, churches and literature) taught individuals  that to be "rich was a sign of superiority,to be poor a sign of personal failure". Personal failure?Well that is very discouraging. How can it be personal failure when individuals in poverty and working class do not have the adequate means to overcome? And although this was taught back in the 1890's I think this is something that is still taught to us today. "If we work hard enough we will get to succeed".In fact that is what the definition of an American Dream reads : The American Dream is an idea which suggests that all people can succeed through hard work, and that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives. As you can see the definition does not include all the obstacles one can have and how a person does not have all the means to do so.

Herman Cain stated this same idea:   
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/05/cain-not-rich-no-job-blame-yourself/

In this chapter we read over and over how the superior group did everything in their power and money to keep the poor poor and did not give them no access to become better or move up the ladder. Today we see that in government programs. For instance welfare benefits:A individual can get them if  they  have no job, but should you decide you want to start working they take benefits away from the individual.What other choice does the individual have? Work and not get paid enough to even pay the bills or live off of the government programs? Doing nothing, in this case, seems like the easiest thing to do.

What really  is an American Dream? and what percentage of Americans even have the pleasure to say they have achieved  the American Dream?


For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil- 1 Timothy 6:10

Cultural Competence

This weeks reading consisted of an article called Critical Race Theory. Its main purpose was to specify and address the problem that social workers are not having a full  understanding of cultural competence. To be very honest in reading this I was perplexed! I felt as though they want social workers to be fully aware of cultural competence by teaching them these" stereotypes" of certain cultures. Yes, some things may be true and some things may not be true. My thing is no one can learn from a book what consist of a culture, they must experience it first hand.The problem may be HOW this topic is being taught.. maybe they should consider having a cultural competence class that is structured around field placement and if that is not an option then just reminding future social workers to be open minded,I think will do just fine.
I currently don't have that much knowledge about other cultures but living in a diverse place as Austin I have learned to be open to different things and ways.The only way we learn is by experiencing or asking. So with that said I feel being taught about all the perceived ways about a culture, it can possibly create bias that was not there to begin with. 
However, I can see why we will need to understand SOME information about different cultures and that is to be able to assist clients to the fullest potential.

What I do think is very important for us to learn is different ways that we can seek justice for these clients and the inside out process of agencies that we will be dealing with. Plenty of times, even if you are the individual helping, you have to go through the same process as an individual who are applying for the benefits would. Working in a agency that helps people, I know there are loop holes that we can take if the individual knows about it or simply speaking to the right person can go a long way.

I just want to get taught the tools that will enable me to help people. Not explain to people why they are oppressed.

Tim Wise

Today we watched a video clip: Tim Wise -On White Privileged. I thought it was great! Just the way he layed out the facts about the civil war, Katrina, and the borders, were so real. The oppressed were used against another oppressed group at the dispense of the privileged group. People can be very manipulative  is the reality. In regards to the civil war the individuals who fought did so because they were told that if slavery ended their own  livelihood would be at risk. Now who would not do it, having been told that their own survival and ability to make an income depended on it? In my violence class the Holocaust was one that we focused on and one of the theories of why so many partaked in it was because of the fear soliders had. Fear can drive people to get rid of a whole entire race! I just find that so sad, to be in a position where you know its wrong but have the feeling you have to do it becuase of fear. Sure everyone wants to survive and be able to make a living for their families, which is understandable but what happens to the respect of life/person/worth? Like with the borders,Mexicans are being used  for building our highways, streets,houses but when it comes to rights they don't have none. Now how does that make sense? Who will do the job when "illegal immigrants"are gone? Surely not the individuals that are implementing these laws.
In all these cases I see that people are being moved out of  fear for the most part and if it has worked in the past why wouldm't the privilegaed group continue using this as a strategy to get things done their way?

I leave with this scripture: "For God did not give us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind".-2 Timothy 1:7.