Falling by the wayside

Poverty in the United States is a complex issue, and should not be considered a simple problem with a simple solution. It is estimated that 37 million people live in poverty in our nation today, including 26.6 percent of the Buffalo population; and those affected seem unable to rise above it. These statistics need to be changed, and there are things that we can, and need to do to change the situation.

As a Peer Mentor for UB 101 this fall, I, like the incoming freshman class, had required summer reading. Alex Kotlotwz's bestselling novel, "There are no Children Here-The Story of Two Boys Growing up in the Other America" is a simultaneously disturbing, yet touching true story of two young boys growing up in the Chicago housing projects.

The book is the result of Kotlowitz's keen observations of a society appallingly different from the one in which I, and the majority of my peers, were raised.

Kotlowitz introduces us to Lafeyette and Pharoah, aged 9 and 12, two boys born into extreme poverty. We see how the lives of these two brothers were influenced and transformed by their poverty-stricken surroundings. Eager to escape, the boy's aspirations for life outside the projects were quickly stifled by the violence around them.

This tale of lost innocence in the projects is only one of many, yet the effect it had on me was profound. It is a depressing aspect of our society that hard work and diligence is often not enough to raise oneself up the social ladder.

In a world where drive-by shootings and bullets through the living room window are the norm, how can these young boys possibly make their way out of the projects unharmed?

Can there be social and political equality in a society that has such great disparity in its distribution of wealth?

This is certainly not a new or previously unexamined question in our society, but it is one that in the past, present, and most certainly the future will continue to plague our nation.

According to the Children's Defense Fund, one in every five children in the United States lives in poverty, amounting to an unbelievable total of 12 million. This outrageous statistic is the product of a culture which has a sad tendency to turn its back on its poor and look the other way.

During the late 1980's and early 1990's sociologist Jonathon Kozol's report exposed the disparity between rich and poor neighborhoods and their schools by studying cities such as New York and St. Louis. He exposed differences between public and private schools such as in the individual attention toward each pupil, limited funds, and government response to these situations.

Throughout his research, Kozol showed the atrocities that children suffer only because they were born non-white into underprivileged situations with little hope for success, or even breaking the cycle of poverty.

We can't honestly expect all students to achieve equal results or break through the glass ceiling, when their beginnings are so varied.

So what is the solution? Don't give up on the poor. Instead, give them the education, the funds, and the skills to rise out of poverty and join the American society.

So many of us have never suffered like the children living in the "other" America. My attending college was never in question, so I often take my life and the opportunities I have been offered for granted.

Even as a college student in Buffalo there are things we can do, and every little bit helps. Volunteer at a soup kitchen or in a public school. Help our nation rise above its own limitations.

For those interested, Alex Kotlowitz will be speaking at UB on September 29, and I strongly suggest you hear him lecture and read his book. Coming to college is an eye opener, yet our sight is often impaired when it comes to those unlike us.