Economic Disparity: A New Approach – A Call to Rise

Fighting for the economic interests for the people of poverty-stricken District 7 is Patricia Evans Mokolo’s top priority. One issue that is clear and that is on everyone’s mind is the Eradication of Poverty. Poverty isn’t just a local problem, it isn’t just the broken down houses seen from a distance while traveling on the highway in a rural area. Rather, it is a problem of globalisation that is starring us in our face. One doesn’t have to travel around the world to see impoverished conditions. Poverty is right here; at home as we walk out the door, it’s the neighbour down the street, it’s the 5th grader whose family in the next county or state who chose to pay the rent instead of buying something to eat and yes, poverty is even in other countries.

No matter how many bills Congress attempts to pass, the social change must be synonymous with the physical; but it, must come.

In 1937, the 32nd President of the United States of America, Franklin D. Roosevelt, addressed Congress in a State of the Union address by saying, “Goods produced under conditions which do not meet a rudimentary standard of decency should be regarded as contraband and ought not to be able to pollute the channels of interstate commerce. The same should be true internationally. Only with an Economic Bill of Rights will Americans be able to realize the rights of equality, life, liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness promised in the Declaration of Independence.” Franklin’s bill was never addressed by Congress.

Responding to the national poverty rate of nineteen percent, the 36th President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson declared “War on Poverty” legislation to Congress during the State of the Union address in 1964. War on Poverty programs were administered through the Office of Economic Opportunity. Forty-six years later, many of its programs such as Head Start, Job Corps, Legal Services and Community Action Programs are still active today.

Civil Rights leader, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s final request or maybe even his final dream was to outlaw poverty. In his final book in 1967, "Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?” I am both reminded and inspired by his words:"Deeply woven in to the fiber of our religious tradition is the conviction that we are souls of infinite metaphysical value. If we accept this as a profound moral fact, we cannot be content to see hunger, to see [people] victimized with ill health, when we have the means to help them. Rich and poor, we have entered the same mysterious gateway of human birth, into the same adventure of mortal life. The agony of the poor impoverishes the rich. We are inevitably our brother's keeper because we are our brother's brother, [we are our sister's sister]. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly."

Poverty doesn’t just affect the impoverished area and we can not sit idly by watching it grow and fester. If we accept it, it becomes diseased and it affects the mind. If we want things to change, we must first change our way of thinking.

There is a cause and effect to everything that is visible. How does the issue of poverty tie in to the Seventh Congressional District? In the Black Belt counties or District 7, there are 12 counties, 9 of which are poverty-stricken. Let’s be honest and truthful and talk about the history of these counties. More than 100 years ago, Caucasian Americans were put into better financial positions, jobs, etc. to ensure success.

While African Americans picked cotton, tended the fields and worked in the homes of others, it caused a breach, perplexing African Americans and other minority groups into a huge disadvantage of finding a probable solution to closing the gap. Therefore, what you see is the result of years of an uneven or unlevelled playing field. The results are noteworthy, as they have had lasting effects. In other words, the cause of poverty or what you can’t see with your naked eye is oppression and the effect, which is what you can see, is poverty. What is the cause? Oppression and effect? Poverty.

What are the factors affecting the poor or impoverished counties? Economic growth, job cuts, unemployment, climate changes, HIV/AIDS, emergencies, lack of Healthcare, infant mortality rates, the absence of decent or livable wages, and non-existent equal opportunities.

Distractions such as teenage pregnancy, job loss, unemployment, absence of livable or decent wages and the need for healthcare all threaten economic growth.

Just as much as Eradication is a powerful word, the real word to deeply consider is: Mind – in order for Eradication to be possible, we must change the way we think.

One of the common denominators is that we live in the same State. We are all Alabamians. Why is one city or county leaving the other behind?

One can clearly see prosperity in some areas and in others, all you see is destitution. Let us loosen the invisible shackles of oppression and end poverty; let us be inspired as we sing the National Anthem together and hum the last words: The Land of the free and the home of the Brave.

It is my opinion that now is the time to change the state of deprivation in District 7. It should be the duty of the newly elected 112th Congress to outlaw poverty, “Light up the Darkness” and finally eradicate poverty. This may be the only opportunity to address poverty in this district since the district lines will be redrawn based on new information presented in April 2011, by the 2010 Census Count.

Do we have the means to outlaw poverty? Do we have the resources? Do we have the compassion for others? Or maybe the question is do we have the will? I say, let us RISE and Rise up out of obscurity!

Let us declare Economic Justice on Poverty just as my three brothers have and Let us finish the unfinished and fragmented rights of all citizens as our 32nd President would have wanted, go further than our 36th President as he waged War on Poverty and let us Dream the final chapter in Dr. King's legacy and choose to uplift an entire not partial community, and one day even an impoverished world, by outlawing poverty.

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