Monica Potts Poor White Woman

On the morning of May 23, 2012, Monica Potts finds the perfect example to support her claim that poor white women are dying. This is the same day that Crystal Wilson, a 38 year old poor white women from Cave City, Arkansas, dies due to natural causes. Wilson is a part of a demographic of white women who did not graduate from high school and whose life expectancy has declined over the past few years— but no one knows why. Potts is determined to find a reason for the decline of poor white women. She uses Crystal’s story to make her claim that the decline is caused by a lack of education, medical care, good wages, and healthy food. Potts is mistaken because she overlooks the victimization of poor white women and fails to provide evidence

why poor white women are specifically targeted as opposed to other poor women. In addition, she chooses only one family’s story to provide her with a primary source; however, one family is not enough to make a statement about an entire demographic.
Three generations of poor white women from the same family had to confront the same issue, but how they handle it is their decision. At a young age, Crystal got pregnant before she could finish her education at high school. Instead of continuing her few years left of school, she dropped out and started her family with her 28 year old boyfriend Possum. She became statistic a part of the poor white women demographic with no high school diploma. Potts points out, “Broad-scale shifts in society increasingly isolate those who don’t finish high school from good jobs, marriageable partners, and healthier communities”( _____). This is a clear depiction of the importance in choosing a future. Without the intention of finishing her education, Crystal determined her path as an uneducated poor white woman who will be stuck in a desperate cycle filled with lack of education, medical care, good wages, etc. Crystals decisions are fittingly juxtaposed with her daughter’s decisions. Megan, a mother in her junior year of high school, followed through with her education. She finds support in her school community that set up the Bethany Project so people can donate to young mothers in need of clothes and school supplies. Megan goes on to find a job at Wendy’s and puts herself through community college. She is defying the odds against her and making a living for herself in order to reverse the cycle of poor white women dying.
Potts gives one paragraph to consider the question of why white women are dying at an earlier age than black women.

The hypothesis to support the claims that white women who are already unhealthy are less able to and are more likely to die did not hold up. She attributes the decline of white women to drug use and employment issues. Potts says,”It is well known that smoking shortens life; in fact, smoking led to the early deaths of both of Crystal’s parents and her sister and brother. Crystal, though, never smoke or drank. But the researchers discovered something else that was driving women like her to early graves: Whether the women had a job mattered, and it mattered more than income or other signs of financial stability . . . In fact, smoking and employment were the only two factors of any significance” (7). When comparing those two factors of smoking and employment to black women, Potts does not reinforce her hypothesis. She gives no thought to any women of a minority race the option of feeling like they have a sense of purpose in life. Potts says, “Black women are more likely to feel like they’re on an upward trajectory. Perhaps they have more control relative to the men in their communities”(11). Her assumptions are opinion based and they do not show factual evidence that black women are on an upward trajectory and do not struggle with drug abuse issues and a lack of self-importance. Participating in a community and working among others can give a women a “sense of purpose”. Women without a sense of purpose find the will to live harder. Having a reason to live is not a matter of race. Potts could be expressing her underlying feelings toward white feminism— that poor women as a whole may be struggling, but more importantly poor white

women.
To Potts’ disadvantage, she uses one family’s situation as her primary resource to back up her allegations that poor white women are struggling more than others. To effectively argue a point, information from other backgrounds need to be considered and proven wrong to fulfill her proposition. Potts includes the median household income of $29,590 for most of the white residents (4). What she did not mention were the incomes for other residents across the country with varied ethnic backgrounds. Potts caters to the ethos of the reader to tap into their emotional empathy toward Crystal and her family by using her story to uphold her conclusions; however, using emotional appeal is not as valuable as when it is used in union with logical or ethical information.
Crystal and her family string along the story of their lives that they are stuck in the never ending cycle of being poor white women. Each one of those women had the choice to stay in school and continue their education. To drop out and become a mother is a reflection of their own philosophies of perception. In Potts’ attempt to overlook the problem they call upon themselves, her argument becomes weak. For every action there is a reaction, and those reactions build up and lead to inevitable death among poor white women. These women can be portrayed as victims of a society that constraints them to live with low wage, inadequate education, and a lack of healthy food. So what makes them any different from other women who are not white? Without providing a significant amount of evidence to prove the black women do not struggle the way white women do there are no comparisons to make a decision from.