Lake Providence, LA-The most unequal place in the country

[SUJagFan]

What is the solution for closing the income gap in Lake Providence, LA.

Let me ask you a question:

Assume you wake up and your house is on fire. Let's assume the evil white man next door intentionally set your house on fire. It's so wrong. So unfair. Totally not your fault. Let's assume your uncle Joe was asleep on the couch in the living room. For whatever reason, Uncle Joe learned about the fire and got out of the house five minutes before you awoke. So unfair. That's not an even playing field. Surely he could have roused you and you all gotten out at the same time. Now, the fire is hotter and the smoke is thicker. It's much more dangerous for you. Much more difficult.

The question: What do you do?

I'm convinced most of the people on this board would just sit there and get burned to death. "It's not an even playing field." "They had an advantage." "We can't get out because it so unfair and not our fault." "Surely the government ... I mean ... the fire department is on the way to help."

:|

Hopefully, some of you are smart enough to realize that Black America's financial house is on fire. And hopefully some of us have enough sense to do whatever it takes to get out of that house. Despite who caused it. Despite the advantages others may have had. Despite who should or should not come to help.

The most important thing is doing whatever is takes to get ME out of the house RIGHT NOW!

Sure, the help of others can be very beneficial. Any societal problem like this requires a multi-pronged solution. Yet, the most important thing that needs to happen is for us to decide that we need to get up and do whatever we can to solve our own problem - right now.

 

[jsupop33]

What changes could made on a federal level that could make that happen? The federal government has the ability to lure or attract businesses into a particular area.

Unfortunately, you would need the State involved if you going to get the feds involved but even with that, you need people with a vision to start something sustainable. Start off simple like make wi-fi free and offer grants to start businesses. Allow people to submit business plans and give small grants to those that sound promising

 

[JAG89]

Unfortunately, you would need the State involved if you going to get the feds involved but even with that, you need people with a vision to start something sustainable. Start off simple like make wi-fi free and offer grants to start businesses. Allow people to submit business plans and give small grants to those that sound promising

Yes, States are where the problem exists. Like I said previously, the federal government missed the opportunity to balance the wealth right after the Civil War and during the Reconstruction Era. Like the Affordable Care Act, the federal government would damn near need to enact laws that would require States to develop some type of plan for economic development in impoverish areas. Also, the law would require States to implement those plans in such a way that the impoverished population has an avenue of empowering themselves and sustaining their own wealth without government intervention. This is why we need forward thinking politicians that see the benefits of opening doors for people instead of shutting doors in people faces.

 

[JAG89]

Although you took the scenic route to make your point with the house being on fire and a person needing to first save their own life, but both of our questions are pretty much the same, which is, what can be done NOW to close the gap? That's really the question that needs to answer to counter the topic of this thread.

Let me ask you a question:

Assume you wake up and your house is on fire. Let's assume the evil white man next door intentionally set your house on fire. It's so wrong. So unfair. Totally not your fault. Let's assume your uncle Joe was asleep on the couch in the living room. For whatever reason, Uncle Joe learned about the fire and got out of the house five minutes before you awoke. So unfair. That's not an even playing field. Surely he could have roused you and you all gotten out at the same time. Now, the fire is hotter and the smoke is thicker. It's much more dangerous for you. Much more difficult.

The question: What do you do?

I'm convinced most of the people on this board would just sit there and get burned to death. "It's not an even playing field." "They had an advantage." "We can't get out because it so unfair and not our fault." "Surely the government ... I mean ... the fire department is on the way to help."

:|

Hopefully, some of you are smart enough to realize that Black America's financial house is on fire. And hopefully some of us have enough sense to do whatever it takes to get out of that house. Despite who caused it. Despite the advantages others may have had. Despite who should or should not come to help.

The most important thing is doing whatever is takes to get ME out of the house RIGHT NOW!

Sure, the help of others can be very beneficial. Any societal problem like this requires a multi-pronged solution. Yet, the most important thing that needs to happen is for us to decide that we need to get up and do whatever we can to solve our own problem - right now.

 

[jsupop33]

Three years ago, I went a forum that former Congressman and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums was holding about improving the outcomes of black boys in education. This young dude got up and said, "everyone in here is talking about how to get out the spiderweb, but no one in here wants to talk about the spider". Dellums response was "d@mn the spider, talking about him won't help me get out the web".

Dellums point was valid. We all know what caused the problems that we have now. We can recite them all day. We understand the cause, we should now look for the cure. How do we change the mindset.

 

[JAG89]

Like I said previously, once the ground work is laid, an avenue would need to be provided to allow people to empower themselves. In my hometown, one of the mayor's biggest projects is the economic development in a mostly Black community in the city. There's approximately 10k to 15k people living that area and the mayor is using income data to lure businesses into that community. If he is successful, eventually that community would probably have some of the same businesses as other communities in the city, such as fast food chains like McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and Taco Bell. Hopefully, Blacks in that community would be given the opportunity to own the franchise rights for those restaurants. But in order for that to happen, companies would have to know that their businesses would be sustainable in those areas, which is currently something that can't be done in LP's Black community due to no jobs and very little income.

Three years ago, I went a forum that former Congressman and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums was holding about improving the outcomes of black boys in education. This young dude got up and said, "everyone in here is talking about how to get out the spiderweb, but no one in here wants to talk about the spider". Dellums response was "d@mn the spider, talking about him won't help me get out the web".

Dellums point was valid. We all know what caused the problems that we have now. We can recite them all day. We understand the cause, we should now look for the cure. How do we change the mindset.

 

[jag4life]

Three years ago, I went a forum that former Congressman and Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums was holding about improving the outcomes of black boys in education. This young dude got up and said, "everyone in here is talking about how to get out the spiderweb, but no one in here wants to talk about the spider". Dellums response was "d@mn the spider, talking about him won't help me get out the web".

Dellums point was valid. We all know what caused the problems that we have now. We can recite them all day. We understand the cause, we should now look for the cure. How do we change the mindset.

Honestly, if the spider is still in the web preying on you, you'd BETTER think of a way to get rid of him while trying to get out of his web.