LETTER: Poverty—The Real Problem

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Dear Editor:

The poverty rate for African-Americans is 27%, the highest in the nation. It has been the highest for years and yet you hear little about it. Instead the news is full of protest about the police shooting Black kids, confederate flags and I am somebody campaigns. These are diversions from the real problems and solutions. You can end all of the police shootings, lower every confederate flag and have a constitutional amendment declaring that every Black is somebody and still African-Americans will have the highest poverty rate in the nation. We need to ignore the diversions and get down to the problem which is poverty. By ending poverty you will end police killings. After all, how often do you hear of a rich kid being shot by the police.

Ending poverty is not that difficult. First you speak standard English which will enable you to learn how to read and write. Second you apply that knowledge to earn a college degree. Preferred degrees would be in banking, accounting, finance, economics, marketing, business law, computers, science, engineering and math. Third you use that degree to start a business. Fourth you grow the business and create wealth. This is not a new idea. Poor immigrants have been coming to this country for centuries and doing what I described above and now they are the millionaires and billionaires of the country.

African-Americans have the most incentive to end poverty since they/we have the most to gain. Poor Hispanics who have a poverty rate of 24% and poor Whites with a poverty rate of 10% can also use the above approach. I have detailed the above recommendations in my book “No Excuses – A Guide Out of Poverty”

Elie V. Parker

San Leandro,CA