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Effects of poverty on society
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Effects of poverty on society
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In 2015, a Stanford study sent shockwaves through my community when it ranked Charlotte worst in the nation in terms of economic mobility. Shortly after the report was published, I was asked to lead specific programs for Girls Go Beyond, a division of Charlotte Girl Scouts developed for low-income communities. My challenge was to create an interactive lesson to educate young girls about privilege inequalities and address issues surrounding economic disparities. In turn, I created the Character Privilege Walk, a unique spin on privilege walks that enables young children to examine privilege through the eyes of a common fictional character like Barbie or Moana. Through questions ranging from outfits to education level, kids are able to understand
privileges both earned and given. Guided discussion afterward allows children to reflect personally on their own privileges while figuring out ways to help others in need. I look forward to bringing my program to my new home and incorporating it into more communities. Due to Charlotte’s economic mobility ranking, girls growing up in shelters are likely to spend their adulthood there as well. This October, I was elected to represent my council as a National Convention Delegate. As result, I read a statement to the convention regarding our efforts to extend outreach to shelters. I was then put in touch with GS of Greater New York, and together we work on replicating their shelter troops in Charlotte. We are hopeful that this collaboration will contribute to an increase in economic mobility.
Today in the United States of America people are both privileged and oppressed based on their diversity markers and social locations. These advantages and disadvantages are put in place by the people whom are in power, or otherwise known as the government and other leading officials. This is a major issue in today’s society that often tends to be masked by the many other issues within the country as well as by the privileged people. Many people who experience privilege tend to believe that privilege and oppression do not exist and that everyone has equal opportunity, but that is not the case privilege and oppression does exist and it can be seen every day in society. After a careful review of Dena Samuel’s “Matrix Model of Oppression and Privilege” I identified myself as rather privileged due to my social and diversity locations on her model.
Growing up we often fail to recognize the ways in which we are privileged and the opportunities we are given due to these advantages. In the essay “White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh discusses the privileges of being white and the ways she has experienced advantages because of her race. Throughout the essay, McIntosh allows readers to explore how she has been given opportunities due to specific traits she has in her “invisible knapsack”, privileges she once had taken for granted. As she shares her personal experiences throughout the essay she invites the reader to participate in discovering which items their knapsacks carry. Similar to McIntosh, I also have invisible items which have been unknowingly beneficial to me throughout my life. Until recently I have failed to recognize the impact these items have towards other aspects of my life. I have been gifted these privileges merely through inheritance. Some of the most profound characteristics I am especially grateful for are my gender and geographic location. These privileges that I have been given by chance have had cumulative effects on my life experiences.
The lessons that are taught through experience are usually the ones that stick with children for a lifetime. In Toni Cade Bambara's “The Lesson”, Miss Moore, a prominent character in the story, teaches a lesson to underprivileged children growing up in Harlem. Bambara's work is described as “stories [that] portray women who struggle with issues and learn from them.” (Vertreace, Par. 48) Bambara uses Miss Moore and her characteristics to teach Sylvia and the other children about social inequality and the idea of pursuing personal aspirations regardless of social status. Miss Moore has many admirable characteristics; she's intelligent, patient and caring.
Are the little girl 's in America being cheated of their privilege of having a childhood? Stephanie Hanes, a freelance journalist, believes so and she decided to express her opinion in the article “ Little girls or Little women ? The Disney Princess Effect”. Hanes argues that today’s society is morally ambiguous because of the sexual messages being sent to young girls. In consequence of this , toddlers now aspire to attain the pre-teen goal to be sexy at such an early age. It all begins with the influence and example that The Disney princesses give to their young fans. For the reason that the article appeared in magazines and in the USA today , the targeted audience must be
Dr. Peggy McIntosh looks at white privilege, by “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” She describes white privilege as almost a special check or coin that she gets to cash in on. Dr. McIntosh tells that white privilege has been a taboo and repressed subject – and that many white people are taught not to see or recognize it. However, she is granted privileges (McIntosh 30). Dr. McIntosh goes on to describe twenty-six ways in which her skin-color grants her certain privileges. In example twenty, she describes how she can buy “…posters, postcards, picture books…” and other items that “…feature people of my race” (32). Additionally, in her first example, she talks about being able to be in the “company of people of my race most of the time” (McIntosh 31). Instances in which a privilege person would not even recognize unless they were looking, show evidence for white privilege. People take these advantages for granted because they simply expect them. Due to the lack of melatonin in her skin, she was granted privileges and her skin served as an asset to her. Dr. McIntosh conveys how her privilege is not only a “favored state,” but also a power over other
Toni Cade Bambara addresses how knowledge is the means by which one can escape out of poverty in her story The Lesson. In her story she identifies with race, economic inequality, and literary epiphany during the early 1970’s. In this story children of African American progeny come face to face with their own poverty and reality. This realism of society’s social standard was made known to them on a sunny afternoon field trip to a toy store on Fifth Avenue. Through the use of an African American protagonist Miss Moore and antagonist Sylvia who later becomes the sub protagonist and White society the antagonist “the lesson” was ironically taught. Sylvia belong to a lower economic class, which affects her views of herself within highlights the economic difference created by classism.
Although, African Americans are considered minorities in the United States, not all of them live in poverty. Many African Americans live in a middle class society along with the dominant culture. However, many African Americans do not live in a middle class society, but rather live in poverty and have to suffer along with this poverty. For instance, Donald Goines’s Black Girl Lost and Tina McElroy Ansa’s Baby of the Family, two narrative novels, that illustrate the difference in two young African American girls lives and the society in which they inhabit. Not only do these young African American girls represent the two sides of poverty, they also represent how children can also qualify in the minority category. For example, Sandra lives in a run down apartment with a drunk mother who could care less about her daughter. In addition, Sandra remains all on her own and has to find ways in which to survive each day. But on the other hand, Lena lives in a nice size home with her two parents, her two brothers, and her grandmother, all who love her very much. Moreover, Lena has many family members who look after her and take extra special care for her because she is the baby of the family. Although, both Sandra and Lena lead very different lives, both are faced with challenges as a minority and as a child which questions their view on life.
McIntosh, Peggy. "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," in Race, Class, and Gender in the United States, ed. Paula S. Rothenberg. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
Another powerful video, Including Samuel, ignited my insight in this week’s class. As I heard in the video, “inclusion is an easy thing to do poorly.” The movie chronicles the life of a young boy, Samuel, and his family. With the shock of learning about their son’s disability, it caused his parents, Dan and Betsy, to experience the unexpected. Nevertheless, they did everything to include their son and help him live a normal life focused on his capabilities, rather than his incapabilities. I even admired how his friends knew so much about him, his likes and dislikes, his strengths and his weaknesses.
McIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack. N.p.: Wellesley College Center for Research for Women, 1989. Print.
Cinderella is arguably the most popular fairy tale of all time. While there are many variants, the Disney variant of Cinderella focuses on a girl being rescued from her circumstances by a prince who fell in love with her based on her appearance and because her tiny feet were the “perfect” fit to a lost slipper. Modern feminists are concerned with the subliminal messages Cinderella has in portraying the role of women. Some critique that Cinderella conveys women to have a defined gender stereotype and believe that it has a negative effect on children’s minds. Two critics that have dealt extensively with Cinderella and princess culture are James Poniewozak and Peggy Orenstein. James Poniewozak is a media and television critic for Time magazine and Peggy Orenstein is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine. In two similar but unique articles, they discuss Disney’s princess culture and explore its psychological effects. While both Poniewozak and Orenstein are concerned with how princess culture shapes children’s understanding of femininity; Poniewozak explores how feminist themes in movies have evolved over time
We live in a world full of many societal issues. The aspects that determine whether one will have a successful or unsuccessful life is due to their characteristics such as race, gender, and social status. In the book Is Everyone Really Equal, Ozlem Sensoy and Robin DiAngelo’s exigence is to express the following issues and to encourage the reader to work upon changing the world through social injustice, oppression, power, and community.
Sesame Street is an American children’s television show produced by Sesame Workshop and created by Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett that premiered on November 10, 1969 (Wikipedia 2017). Since its premiere 48 years ago, Sesame Street has continuously progressed to reflect the time’s most pressing current events. In doing so, the show has shed light on controversial and relevant topics including gender-inequality, race, the transgender community, disability, and recycling. The show educates children at a young age by exposing them to such topics, thus fostering a sense of awareness and openness within its audience. Because of the show’s innovation and creativity within the realm of children’s television, I believe that Sesame Street embodies
Even though the production of Disney’s film The Frog Princess is a huge step forward to show the equality of all culturals and ethnicities, it just shows that racial components which were once overlooked by most parents and children are now a wide spread controversy. Giroux thoroughly explains the effect Disney films has on the youth, “Rather, it points to the need to address in meaningful and rigorous ways the role of fantasy, desire, and innocence in securing particular ideological interests, legitimating specific social relations, and providing the content of public memory” (Giroux 132).
As an African American woman, I have lived and worked in underserved communities and have experienced personally, the social and economic injustices grieved by underserved communities and the working poor. All of which, has increased my desires to work with such populations. A reserved person by nature, I have exposed an inner voice that I was oblivious to. I have expressed my inner voice to those living in underserved communities, who are seeking social and economic stability. I have come to classify and value the strength I have developed by the need, to survive in an underserved community. I use these as my continuous struggle against the social and economic injustices that I have experienced, as a product of an underserved community and as an African American woman. I have continued my struggle to overcome the barriers from my upbringing in an underserved community.