Giancarlo Caballero

The Struggle of Poverty and Racism

Struggle can be defined as the experience of having bad or dark times, such as being in poverty or a
loved one dying. Many individuals rehash that struggle is good. It can be good because sometimes going
through struggle and getting out of it can teach you valuable life lessons that could last a life time!
Others believe that struggle is gloomy. Much probe has been operated on this topic. This essay will
argue that in the face of what some believe, struggle, specifically poverty and racism, is multi-
dimensional and has implications that can harm us.

Struggles are multi-dimensional. We notice this in the book, Breaking Through. For example, Panchito
and his family have the struggle of being undocumented. Due to this, Panchito lives in fear that one day,
he will be deported. An example could be the line of text in the book that says, He lived in constant fear
for 10 long years. A different example was that, Panchito was deported by one that was very close to
him (Unknown). Lastly, at the end of the chapter, Panchito and his family are deported and are taken
back to Mexico. This shows that struggle can be multi-dimensional in many ways.

Along the lines of struggle being multi-dimensional, we can also frisk its implications. Once again using
Breaking Through Panchito struggles with poverty. Poverty affects Panchitos health, education, living
conditions, and treatment. There are many examples in the book that show the implications of his
poverty. One example is how his classmates stereotype him a lot (pg.15). This shows how poverty
affects education. Also, Poverty affects health, this is due to Panchitos dads back problem which cannot
be cured due to not having the money to go to the hospital. This shows how their own poverty affects
how they live their life and if they are healthy or not. Living conditions are also affected. Due to poverty,
the family lives in a poor small ranch and are forced to work in the fields, (Jimenez pg.8-14), poverty also
affects how he is treated (Jimenez pg.13) the doctors treat him like some kind of monster, they also
acted disgusted by just seeing him, most likely for being Mexican. This shows how poverty can implicate
a lot on someone life!

In addition to Breaking Through, the implications of poverty are also found in various internet sources.
Poverty affects education and according to The Impact on Educational outcomes for children, It said,
The incidence, depth, duration, and timing of poverty all influence a childs educational attainment,
long with community, characteristics, and social networks. The website is trying to explain that Poverty
can affect how a child acts in public and how he acts socially, if he is social or not, and how he/she
performs in school. In addition, according to, www.dosomething.org it said, 40 percent of children
living in poverty arent prepared for primary schooling. This shows how Poverty can also even affect
how the child learns in life and at home. Furthermore, another example is also
from,www.dosomething.org. It said, Children living in poverty have a higher number of absenteeism or
leave school all together because they are more likely to have to work or care for family members. This
shows how poverty can affect how children do in school. Lastly, according to www.dosomething.org as
well, it said, Dropout rates of 16-24 old students all came from low income families. As you can see
this is the reason poverty affects education and how it is also found in various sources in the media.

In addition to education, poverty also affects living conditions. This is also shown in many examples in
the media. For example, according to Native American Rights article, it says, The housing shortage on
the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is so severe that only 16 people living in a 4-bedroom house is
considered lucky. Next door, there are 23 people in a 3-bedroom house (Rapid City Journal, no url
mentioned nor author). Implicates on how their own poverty affects how they live overall. Another
example can be found in www.clifsnotes.com it said, Middle and working class Hispanic families have
not left their barrios, or urban Spanish speaking neighborhood, in large numbers. This evidence shows
how even if poverty affects their living conditions, they wont give up on their neighborhood, they will
keep on trying. Lastly, also according to Native American Rights, it also stated, Despite the promises,
hundreds of people on Pine Ridge Reservation are homeless. These are examples on how poverty
affects, not only education, but also many things such as living conditions.

Not only living conditions, but also treatment is affected by poverty. This is also shown in various
examples from the media. An example is from, en.wikipedia.org, on the website it said,
Unemployment rates for African Americans are typically double those of Caucasian Americans. This
implicates on how African American people are less likely to get a job because of racism. Furthermore, a
different example is also from, en.wikipedia.org. It said, African American men working full time earn
72 percent of the average earnings of comparable Caucasian men. This shows how people are racist
most times and discriminate other people and treat them differently. Lastly, an example is also from,
www.CommonDreams.org. It said, In at least 30 state legislatures across America, predominately
wealthy politicians are quite impressed with themselves for considering bills that would limit the meager
amount of state help given to needy families struggling to make ends meet. This example shows how
wealthy people can take advantage on how they treat poorer families. These examples can help us
understand how wealthy people can sometimes treat people struggling with poverty in different ways.

Finally, the one thing that poverty also affects is health. This is shown in an example
from,www.Healthypovertyaction.org. It says, Infectious and neglected tropical diseases kill and weaken
millions of the poorest most vulnerable families every day. This same website also stated this, The
causes of poor health on millions globally are rooted in political, social, and economic injustices. Lastly,
the last example is from,www.childreninpoverty.org, it says, Many infants born into poverty have a low
birth weight, which is associated with many preventable mental and physical disabilities. These are all
examples on the implications of poverty affecting different things worldwide!

In conclusion, this essay has shown how struggle is multi-dimensional and has implications that can
harm us. Some may argue that poverty is good for you. It can be good due to the wisdom you gain by
passing through struggle. This may be true but I believe struggle is bad because of its effects on Poverty,
Living conditions, Health, and lastly Treatment.

Poverty and struggle could have immense effects on the U.S., this is due to many things. For example,
too many Families in poverty could really affect the population in the U.S. and people will most likely,
start dying from hunger. Also, most people would be desperate to take any jobs, so there will most likely
be no jobs left for the poor. The U.S. could also be affected from the crowd control. For example, they
could take them to prison for no reason! These are only a sum of the negative effects of Poverty on the
U.S.

Poverty is not the only struggle that has negative implications; racism is just as damaging. According to,
www.Dictionary.com racism is defined as, A belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the
various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that ones
own race is superior and has the right to rule others. In other words, racism is when a different race
discriminates other races, due to them thinking their own race is superior.

Racism is also found in Breaking Through. An example is how Panchito is discriminated by his friend
Peggy and her family. This is shown when Panchito enters her home they ask Panchito if he is Spanish,
smiling. However but the moment he says he is Mexican. The parents decide to tell Peggy to stay away
from Panchito for being Mexican. Another example is also found. When Roberto gets a girlfriend
(Jimenez, Broken Heart), the girlfriend also invites him to her house. The parents ask him where the
name Jimenez came from, the moment he says hes Mexican, the parents start to glare at him, and also
ignore him for the rest of the day. The next day, the girlfriend tells Roberto that her parents told her to
stay away from him, but she wont. So they keep dating, but after a while, she cant take it anymore and
she breaks up with him and starts seeing someone else. These examples are just scratching the surface,
there are many more examples, but they are too many to even be mentioned!

The movie, 42, about the Jackie Robinson story, shows examples of racism and its implications. An
example could be how when Jackie got accepted into the baseball team, he had to take a flight to New
Jersey. However, the receptionist lady, for being racist, gave away Jackie and his wifes tickets to
someone else. She did this because she saw Jackies wife go into the whites bathroom and she got
offended. Another example can be how when Jackie plays Baseball, instead of the pitcher yelling, Hey
Batter Batter Batter! he yells, Hey Nigger Nigger Nigger! Usually, in Baseball, the phrase hey batter is
used to either distract the batter or to make him concentrate, however, the man was being racist and
saying nigger instead of batter in a way to offend Jackie. These are examples that show how 42 has
racism and how It shows its implications.

Racism hasnt only happened to Jackie, but it has also been experienced by my brother Jack. People are
usually racist against him for having dark skin and for being Mexican. One example is how one time, he
and I walked to 7-Eleven. I had my 3DS in my pocket and he had his phone in his pocket. When we
finished getting what we wanted, we went to pay. The lady saw my DS bulging out of my pocket but she
didnt know it was a 3ds and she also saw my brothers phone bulging out but didnt know it was a
phone. Instead of asking both of us what it was, she only asked my brother. This shows how she was
racist against my brother for having dark skin and being Mexican, instead of me for having white skin.
Something similar happened in Halloween how he had a giant bag filled with candy and a man asked
him how he got the bag, my brother responded by saying he got them by trick-or-treating, the man
didnt believe him and just started overreacting and getting really mad, I also had a giant bag but he
didnt ask me anything at all. This shows how he was being racist against my brother for having dark skin
instead of me. Not only is Jackie affected by racism but so many people can be affected by just saying
one thing.

Throughout this essay, I have argued on how struggle, specifically poverty and racism, can harm you.
Regardless of that, Kelly McGonagall on TED Talk, talks about how she believes stress can help you and
that it is your friend. She shares that stress, regardless of what kind, creates hormones that can actually
give you more energy, can also make you live longer than usual, and can also increase your heart rate. In
my opinion, I strongly disagree with Kelly. First of all, stress can still harm you even if believing that it is
good, this is because stress, specifically racism and poverty, can really affect how you think and feel
about your life and your world, making you, most likely, fall unto depression. Second, stress can still
affect how you behave overall, making you negative and less social, also making you feel lonely and
depressed, which can harm you. Lastly, the stress of being in poverty can really affect how much you
work and how much less you actually can rest during your day, making you negative, grumpy, and lastly
depressed. Overall, these are my arguments that can prove that stress can be harmful to you.

As you can see, these are the reasons that the struggle of poverty and racism has harmful implications
that can highly injure us. The baseball star, Jackie Robinson, was highly affected by just being called one
word, Nigger. We can also see that a now successful Mexican man had the struggle of having to work
at the age of 15 to support his family in poverty while being discriminated. Also how many people
around the world are being affected by racism and poverty, yet nobody does anything about it. Now I
want to ask you something, can YOU and everybody else change all of these horrible things happening
on our own world and lives? I challenge you to change all of this, to turn the tables around and to stop
racism and poverty once and for all!