Page 2, Section II. Portland Observer, February 25, 198/
.Living With Poverty.
by Y von ne W haley
There w a s a tim e w h e n all Black people u n d e rsto o d w h at cla ss" m eant
There w as the upperclass "h o u s e fo lk ” and th e low erclass "fie ld fo lk ."
N ext ta m e the have and the have n o ts M o re rece ntly w e had the elite and
the in dig en t
C u rre n tly, it's the b tip p ie s and the underclass W h a t does
th is n e w b u zzw o rd , "u n d e rc la s s ” m ean? W h a t m akes it m ore descriptive,
m ore d e fin itive , tha n any o f the others? A fte r all. the con cep t is n 't new ,
even the Bible in fo rm e d us th a t the re w o u ld alw ays be poor people
We have to back up a bit to the beginning of this century.
Public de ba te a b o u t h o w to solve the pro blem o f p o v e rty and do aw ay
w ith labels had basically been co lo re d by the p h ilo sop hies o f Booker T
W a s h in g to n and W E B O uBois
O uB ois took the co lle ctive stance that
Blacks w ere the v ic tim s o f seem ingly un changeable social, racial, and eco
nom n. policies, w h ile W a s h in g to n felt tha t personal e ffo rt or self help w o u ld
im p ro ve one s life
W h e n this happened, a ripple e ffe ct w o u ld therefore
be tte r the p o s itio n o f the entire race
O uBois belief th a t the "ta le n te d
te n th " w o u ld o ve rco m e , or at least lessen th e p o litica l racism th ro u g h legal
m eans, fo ste re d the b irth o f the N A A C P
T h o u g h W a s h in g to n urg e d B lacks to ' <ist d o w n your b u c k e ts w h ere
you a re "
, it was the w h ite race that em braced his plea
They le lt less
threa tene d by his desire Io develop an econom ic ally stable but segregated
artisan and w o rk in g class, th a n the y did try O uBois de m an d for civil rig h ts
for Blacks Even th o u g h , at the tu rn o f the ce n tu ry, m ost Blacks lived in
the rural s o u th , w ith o u t acceptance by the rna io nty o f urban Blacks, W ash
m g to n 's plan becam e sus|>ect and even un resp ectab le W h e n the dem o
gra ph ic s tru c tu re o f the U S w.ts changer) try th e Great M ig ra tio n W ash
m g to n ’s th e m e was d o o m e d
centers rose ph en om arially, and C h ica g o 's S ou thsid e becam e the largest
Black n e ig h b o rh o o d in th e U S A . w ith som e eigh t m iles by fou r m iles in
area.
N o w . som e tw o ge ne ration s later, th o se same areas tha t w ere hu stlin g
w ith com m e rce are filled w ith b u ild in g s th a t are boarded up or c o ve te d by
heavy g ra tin g W h a t happened? It is a w ell k n o w n sto ry
W h ite flig h t
m eans urban b lig h t
"Urban renew al m eans N egro rem o val
B oth
rhym es are p a rtially true
A fte r W o rld W ar II w h ite s t>eyan to flee the citie s fo r tfie suburbs, and
those Blacks w h o co u ld , m ove d in to the tretter (i e w h ite ) neighbor
hoods
U n scrup ulo us realtors helped this ne w m ig ra tio n along th ro u g h
block b u stin g
In a d d itio n , ne w civil rig h ts le g isla tio n in the 60 s saw the
em ergence o f fair ho using agencies
This enabled m ore m id d le . lass
Blacks to m ove to the suburbs and leave th e center c ity to the low er class
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This Coupon
Good For
m id dle or upper class Blacks had succe ssfully d ilu te d th e statistics
N evertheless these sta tistics are q u ite sta rtlin g In th e de cad e between
19/0 and 19H) S o u th B ronx in N ew York (called Fort A p a ch e or Vietnan
by the e n fo rce m e n t agencies) lost 37% o f its p o p u la tio n ; C h ica g o exper
tenced sim ilar losses
W a sh in g to n 0 C and A tla n ta
W h a t this repr«
sents is brain and p o cke t dram Role m odels th a t are le ft w ith in th e g h e tto
c o m m u n ity represent the dregs o f society, th e tru e under . lass for whit.r
m any social scie ntists see no hope A ll o f the fa cto rs th a t need be present
in the i ities o f despair are fo u n d in the g h e tto
W fie n th e m iddle class tier) to the suburbs, C hicago s p o p u la tio n below
the p o v e rty line rose fro m 37% to 6 , % . u n e m p lo ym e n t fro m 9 5% t,
24 5% and tem ale headed fam ilies increased fro m 40% to 72%
Babies
or poor Black Thus th e under class becam e m ore visible by being isolated
in a sectio n o f a c ity renam ed "th e g h e tto
This d e p o p u la tio n o f the
g h e tto s in the U S resulted in social and eco n o m ic d e te rio ra tio n lo r g e n e
hey L i A rgc T
rally the only agency ttia t rem ained in the c ity was the s to re fro n t ch u rch
F light by die m id dle class Black was a desire for sa fe ty g o od schools, and
•' ........ .. e n viro n m e n t so m e th in g that was no longer available in the cities
w h ere the c u ltu re o f the under class had lost its c o u n te rv a ilin g force
31 NW FIRST
NIGHTLY ENTERTAINMENT
Thu'
r»t> 2«
lU ip e s
ESO '
, I.'
v*
CRA^ 8 S
D u ring the first W o rld W ar. labor w as sorely needed in the in du strial
n o rth A g e n ts traveler) th ro u g h o u t the so u th to en cou rage Blacks to pa rti
cip a te in d ie war e ffo rt and m ake "b ig m on ey " Sharecroppers becam e
w o rke rs in in du stries th a t ranged fro m sla ughterhouses to steel m ills The
m on ey w as so go od tha t alm ost e n tire to w n s m o ve d n o rth
It w a s n 't easy for th e m ig ra n ts
C o n tra ry to a be lie f s tro n g ly held by
m any w h ite s, all o f us d id n 't look alike, am) m ore im p o rta n tly Blacks had
n o c o m m o n c u ltu r e
This was, and still is, a real barrier to b o th self
acce ptan ce and assim ila tion in to the m ain stream In order to help the for
rnerly rural w o rker to adapt to his ne w ho m eland , the Urban le a g u e was
fo rm e d
A fte r W o rld W .n I the m ig ra tio n s lo w e d to a tric k le Even so. the to w n
or city fathe rs kept a w a tc h fu l eye on th e m ig ra n ts In the sou th. Blacks
were kept w ith in certain ge og raph ic areas th ro u g h in tim id a tio n
Through
care fu l o rc h e s tra tio n o f the realtors, bankers and others, no th e rn w h ite s
selectively set aside areas in to w h ich Blacks c o u ld m ove
Thirty or fo rty
years ago. those Black areas in urban A m e rica de m o n stra te d a deep pride
in o w n e rsh ip
A stro n g c o m m itm e n t to service w as held try Black entre
preneurs. and everyone kn e w and truster) each Othei U nlike today w hen
d ie d o lla r d o e sn 't c o m p le te one circu it in Black ne ig h b o rh o o d s, in the lor
ties d ie dollar tu rn e d a ro u n d five or six tim e s 1 G ro w th w ith in the urban
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U n e m p lo ym e n t, p o ve rty, and tem ale headed fam ilies increased drarnat
ra lly w ith in the g h e tto s
H ow ever, be fore th e m ig ra tio n to th e suburb«,
Su'
, r NA g E
art c A
yt»' ?
zvdeco
bockw ’
ORO A 0 0 ^
DAVE'S
SHOP
buying everything o f value
We Pay Cash
Open 10 00 5 00
Mon Sat
00
:$1
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off
5600 N E Union
REG ULAR PRICED
Thanks to you
rt w o rk s
fix A L L O F US
ON A L B U M OR CASSETTE
OVER $5 00 •
MISTY
IASI AVAUAVD
32i.il b B U R N SID F
231 s w
Unitaci wag
NW AOATIANO
N W 21xr b JO H N S O N
248 01S3
«
• ’ t •
• - i K\
CLUB ZODIAC
Beauty ft Barber
Supply
Open to the Public
J ■ M I L M L E U N S N I C I U M
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A lo o k ,it th e u n d e n h iss Bl.i< k
We weni curty
yesterday.
We B Jammin
Retail b Wholesale
We sell all brands
Stop in and check out puces
» a
5852 N.E. 42nd Ave.
A cross fro m A d a m 's Track on 42nd S treet
•E X C LU D E S RED TAG
M E R C H A N D IS E
LIM IT 1 CO UPO N
PER P U R C H ASE
HO U RS
L.
M o n Sat 8 A M
5 30 PM
Phone: 282 1817
GOOD PEOPLE • GOOD MUSIC • GOOD FOOD
AND GOOD TIMES
featuring
TRADITIONAL BLACK AMERICAN SOUL FOOD
Open Tues. Sun.
Wed is Ladies Night
Thurs. is Fun Night
Fri b Sat After Hours til 4:00 AM
Sun is Oldies Night
.................... Join U s ....................
309 W. Burnside
Club A vailable For Private Parties. C om m u nity Groups Banquets, etc
call 227 5248 for inform ation
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