Berkley Center

It doesn’t take long for the child of a Haitian immigrant in the slums of Little Haiti in Miami to become aware of the effects of poverty on their lives. Not only will children in impoverished areas like Little Haiti be surrounded by a host of other children whose families are at or below the artificially low poverty line of the United States, they will be faced with other children who share the same heritage yet are allowed to reap greater benefits from our society. It is a struggle for individuals in situations similar to these to meet even their basic nutritional needs and human rights, let alone muster enough concentration in order to learn basic math concepts and progress in their literacy.

In communities throughout the United States poor people are being systematically denied basic public benefits due solely to the fact that they are marginalized and grouped into economically depressed areas. Public schools, the one and only outlet for poor children to obtain steady meals and gain the necessary intellectual skills to one day produce a healthy income, are becoming near wastelands. How can poor families be expected to produce enough tax revenue for their district in order to provide an adequate enough educational environment for their children to one day lift themselves out of their present circumstances? The simple answer is they cannot, and should not be relied upon as the epicenter for their own poverty alleviation.

Certain public initiatives recognize and look to circumvent these inherent injustices within the system. For example, in many communities including Little Haiti, beautiful and state-of-the art facilities have been built in order to facilitate the development of a downtown area of communities and areas for high-level recreation. The problem has become that the higher-income families and residents of communities exclusively utilize these facilities. It is not the case that poorer residents are been explicitly excluded; rather, poorer residents have been unable to find adequate resources and means to find transportation to these facilities and once there, find the necessary guidance to maximize the utility of these resources.

The only way to circumvent the most pressing issues in our society is to find effective and comprehensive channels to evade the various structural obstacles brought on by income inequality in our society. Income inequality is broadly based and rooted in other important social issues such as discrimination and human rights.

lhernandez@rollins.edu