The Effects of Capitalism on Black Culture

America’s black population, despite the civil rights movement, still has a long way to go in the United States before it is on equal footing. While the law protects blacks from overt racism, there is a litany of problems facing the black community, many of which relate to lack of opportunity for meaningful employment, absence of role models and very little political representation. Also as we will see, even though racism is frowned upon in polite society, it has not gone away. It has simply been replaced by a more subtle form, which is in many ways more dangerous.

It is important to point out that poverty is not unique to the black community.. Poverty is something our government must address despite color of skin if we are to live up to the ideals set down in the constitution of these United States.

Before even digesting the following information we must first acknowledge that if your goal is to seek to make a case that blacks are engaging in more deviant behaviors, and therefore have some measure of suffering coming to them, then you need listen no more. I do not believe racism can be cured with logic therefore there are some, who by having an agenda, will simply dismiss the obvious in fact of glaring evidence, to the contrary. The only reason I address this, is that it has come to my attention many times, that people feel this way and some even have statistics to back up their thinking.

As intelligent human beings, we learned long ago, that assigning blame in the face of a crisis is not a luxury any of us can afford. Right now our nation is facing a crisis, and even though some of us have it better than others, when there are those in our culture who are desperate and cannot meet their needs this becomes a problem for everyone. I am not calling for compassionate socialism. I am simply calling for a return to the traditional American values that our forefathers fought and died for.

Philosophical debates aside, the nuts and bolts of American life simply involve going to work and paying our bills. If we cannot do that than everything falls apart. The solution seems obvious. It is to get a good job. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation shows us that this can be nearly impossible for many, as exemplified by the Pease and Martin study of the Washington Post where only 8% of the jobs offered were available to poor applicants. Of these jobs most paid menial wages, offered no benefits and had an average of 21 applicants for each open position.(1) What should you tell the other 20 applicants? An even better question might be; what can we tell the 1 in 21 who actually land a job that pays so little that they still cannot make ends meet?

It is clear that we need more jobs in the inner city that require only a work ethic and not a degree. Unfortunately NAFTA allowed many of these jobs to be moved overseas and the American people are paying the price for it. Where there is lack of opportunity, there will be crime, as people will ultimately resort to any means necessary to make ends meet. We can all impact this situation positively by buying from