The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Smiley Tavis & West Cornel

Author:Smiley, Tavis & West, Cornel [Smiley, Tavis & West, Cornel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History
ISBN: 9781401940645
Goodreads: 18967286
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
Published: 2012-02-15T07:14:05+00:00

CHAPTER 5

Poverty of

Compassion

“Compassion constitutes a radical form of

criticism, for it announces that the hurt is to be

taken seriously, that the hurt is not to be

accepted as normal and natural, but it is an

abnormal and unacceptable condition for

humanness. Thus compassion that might be

seen simply as generous goodwill is in fact

criticism of the system, forces, and

ideologies that produce the hurt.”

—Walter Brueggemann

“What is it like to be the head of the United States Department of Education when you live in a nation where the value of a poor child’s life is less than that of a rich child’s life?”

Secretary Arne Duncan seemed a bit taken aback by the question asked in late 2011, when Cornel met with the Secretary at his Washington office. They discussed the government’s $4 billion “Race to the Top” competition and other matters related to education and the poor.

Cornel’s query is more than justified by government statistics. We do not believe the Black/white achievement gap captures the complexity of the education crisis in America. Although there have been modest gains in reducing this gap, Black children still score lower on mathematics and reading tests than whites. And more than 50 percent of Black children drop out of high school as compared to 30 percent of students overall. We know that these statistics do not just reflect the educational barriers; they also reflect the insidious nature of poverty as it ruptures the lives of our children.74

According to the National Poverty Center, children make up 36 percent of the nation’s poor. Black children comprise 38.2 percent of that number, while Hispanics make up 35.0 percent and white children are 12.4 percent.75 Poverty is linked to an array of related problems that feed the achievement gap like low birthweight, exposure to lead poisoning, hunger, neglect, frequent school-changing, underfunded schools, and less parental involvement. Is this the way that it has to be in the richest nation in the world?

Finland’s students are ranked number one in the world in science and math. Over 90 percent of Finnish teachers are unionized, and the top graduates of Finland’s universities become teachers rather than investment bankers. The sons and daughters of America’s moneyed elite perform at levels comparable to Finland’s students. However, when poverty enters the picture, too often American students fall prey to an irreversible downward spiral of poor performance.

In the meeting with Cornel, Duncan argued that the Obama administration has made closing the educational achievement gap in America a top priority, and that the Race to the Top educational program serves as a sign of that commitment.

Cornel was blunt in his retort:

“I know you all are break dancing over this $4 billion initiative, but Afghanistan gets $4 billion every day. So, militarism trumps any case of poverty and poor children. That’s the country’s priorities and how warped our priorities are!”

It’s hard to deny that there is an indefensible poverty of compassion for America’s poor children. As a collective, we’ve failed to demonstrate the concern, the care required to make certain that they are properly cherished and nurtured.

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