In his article “War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty,” Herbert J. Gans, paints a descriptive picture of what poverty was like in the early 1990’s, with several interesting, yet outdated views on how the poor were treated. While some of these views remain valid, others contrast with the present in more ways than one.
With several sections of his essay being interesting, Gans gets readers’ attention by stating the obvious problems Americans were facing in 1992. Although the article was informative, his wording may make some squirm for a breath of fresh air as the writing was dull and a bit drawn out. With bold statements, Gans seems to not be able to back up his points by presenting his readers with stone-cold facts about the poor.
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Gans opens up his essay mentioning the 1992 riot that took place in Los Angeles, California, after a very controversial court hearing, which drew attention to the racial inequalities that minorities were fighting against. This draws my attention to the fact that these same situations are still occurring today. For example, the 2016 Charlottesville riot, which was completely race-related, started after a police officer shot and killed an African American man at point-blank range, causing a butterfly effect of events. This raises the question of what has changed since 1992 in the efforts to make race equality a priority and restrict the excessive use of force by our officers of the law. From the evidence of protest, it is almost like our country is taking two steps forward and one step back. Of course, a lot has changed in the past 26 years since the 1992 riots, but the hardships other races face still occur often. Our democratic nation, after years of racial tension, elected our first African American president Barack Obama, which may be seen as a big leap forward. Others used his presidency as a racial target to further spread hatred.
Another paragraph in Gan’s article that stuck out to me is the second paragraph. In it, he talks about unskilled and semiskilled workers being replaced by surplus labor and treated as if they are expendable, which I find completely relatable to this time era. I have met several industrial workers in my community who have felt they have very little job security. There are very high turnover rates at our local factories due to strict attendance policies, long work hours, and repeated mandatory overtime. These work conditions happen in all walks of employment, including health care, hospitality, and fast food jobs where people are repeatedly put under harsh work conditions. Ultimately, not much has changed since 1992, overworked and underpaid employees live paycheck to paycheck, and still stay below the national poverty level with little to no help.
In paragraphs seven and eight, Gans makes a strong point about the fears whites have about the Blacks, “Hispanics”, and the newest immigrants. There are still many situations that continue to affect Americans, such as race relations. For example, Donald Trump is pushing for a Mexican-American border wall that will cost billions of dollars. By using scare tactics, Trump puts the fears of the Hispanic race into the minds of Americans by describing them as drug-treating criminals with only the intention of crime. In all actuality, the larger percentage of illegal immigrants are women and children in search of a better life along with better treatment from the Government. The same forms of racism and use of fear are still subject matter today, again not much has changed since 1992.
What I can conclude about race in general, is that it is being used as a power tool to have control over the people who are easily manipulated due to inequalities and poverty. Things are changing within the workplace a little at a time. Right now our country's Congress and House of Representatives are the most diverse group of people our country has ever had in office. Hate crimes against other races, religious groups, and sexual orientations have been on the rise since Trump gained office. To me, we are still dancing two steps forward, one step back, and this will continue as long as race is used as a tool to keep the upper class fearful, and on top of the social order over the poor and minorities.
Critique
After reading The War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty, I was well informed about the reasons why poverty and race-related problems are still common today. Despite his extensive research on the topic of poverty and race-related issues Gans fails to state the facts behind his studies in the article. Gans also may leave some readers questioning in what directions he is going, because he jumps around in points, making the article a bit choppy.
Regarding Gans's failure to state facts, he wants his reader to have a better understanding of the severity of these issues, he should have included more facts and statistics. In paragraph twenty-five, he talks about how poor young women often do not marry their children’s fathers, where are the facts about how often this happens? Gans makes very bold statements that readers may not believe are true without stating statistical evidence to support his points. In paragraph twenty-nine, point number twenty-five, he states very straightforward statements about black males being stereotyped to be criminals based on their race, not because of poverty, while not backing up. I would have liked it if he had more interesting data to make this serious topic stand out, backing up your hard work with statistics never hurts the research.
Another thing I noticed while reading Gan’s essay was that he did not organize his ten points of view on the poor in a way the reader can follow clearly. He scrambled around his ten points, not stating which one was the most urgent. Gans also repeats the same words. Instead of describing the poor as needy, or impoverished, he calls the poor undeserving frequently. This article may not be a lite read for some, using college and above level vocabulary, this article may have some needing the support of a dictionary to get a better understanding of his wording. Due to the more skilled vocabulary, this is not an easy read, transitioning from point to point, may have some readers stopping just to comprehend what he was trying to communicate. For an example of vocabulary usage in paragraph five, he uses the word “nihilism” meaning a rejection of religious or moral principles, this word had me stop dead in my tracks just to look up the definition to further my understand his point.
Overall, Gans is a notable teacher, with many years of experience in his line of study, writing may not be his strong suit for his writing is less to be desired. It would have been an easier read if his main points were well organized and transitioned in a smother fashion. His research is however interesting and informative.
Works Cited
- Gans, Herbert J. “ The War Against the Poor Instead of Programs to End Poverty.” Writing and Reading, Pearson, 2017, pp.345-351.
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