"LaMontagne, Bob" wrote:
> Bill Gates had opportunities to access computers that
> others didn't have? The real difference is that bill Gates
> chose not to live with a needle in his arm. Actions have
> consequences.
Nice theory, but it shows little understanding of the real situation.
What really changed my mind about poverty and racism was when I dated a
women in Philadelphia who was a social worker. She went into the city's
worst neighborhoods and worked with developmentally disabled children.
One day she took me along. I was amazed that she even had the guts to
drive into the neighborhood we went, which I would have avoided at all
costs. We went in a family's house and it was the worst living condition
I have ever seen, and I grew up in a rural part of Pennsylvania where
there were plenty of people on, and over, the edge. There was four kids
but no mother or father. The grandfather sat near-comotose in a chair,
watching a grainy B&W television set. The whole place, well, stank. The
walls weren't even straight. Paint was peeling off of them. The
grandmother was trying her best but yelled at the kids throughout our
visit. The kids were dirty and the whole time I didn't hear one person,
except my girlfriend, say a kind word to them.
30 minutes in that place opened my eyes more than decades of reading
about poverty and racism or anything I ever saw on the news.
Frankly, no one there could help but to be depressed. With little-to-no
access to medical care, it's no wonder at all that they would turn to
alcohol and drugs and self-medication. Even after just a few months in
that environment, and with not a scintilla of hope that I might be able
to escape, let alone attend the University of Rhode Island or Worcester
Polytechnic Institute or the University of Nevada at Reno, I would
almost surely do the same.
I talked about this a lot with my girlfriend and she tried to tell me
how centuries of racism, of living in such environments, can beat down a
person's soul. For an excellent example of this, have a look at this
recent news story, especially the photograph: