Norris McDonald | Black people, poverty, homelessness and US survival crisis

“ Great principles, great ideals know no nationality!”

- Marcus Mosiah Garvey

America’s rising national debt has had a devastating impact on middle class and poor families.The increased debt has led to rising interest rates. This in turn has caused mortgage rates and rent to get sky high.

Black people have been the hardest hit in all this.

America’s increased national debt – driven by wars and military spending– has led to a sharp rise in household poverty and indebtedness. And because black people are at the bottom of the economic ladder, they have suffered the most.

A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) highlights this alarming trend which tells the grim plight of poor people in America.

The OECD is a grouping of the rich Western industrialised nations. But according to the findings, when compared to 25 other nations in this group, America is ranked at the extreme bottom.

According to the OECD “US rates of poverty are substantially higher and more extreme than those found in the other 25 nations”.

Wages for the American working class –whether poor whites, black and Latinos – are the lowest when compared to these 25 other OECD capitalist countries.

America also has the highest poverty rate of 17 per cent when compared with the other 25 rich Western nations.

Black people and other minorities were led to believe that jobs, better wages, and general improvement in political, social economic rights would be major priorities on President Working Joe Biden’s agenda.

But he has not done that.

Take the issue of the national minimum wages. The base pay for American workers is US$7.25 per hour. Basic wages of American workers has not risen since 2009!

Given the rising cost of mortgage rates, rent, food, transportation, healthcare and other necessities of life, how can any black family survive on these measly wages?

Clearly, black people are the hardest hit.

Nearly nine million black people do not have access to enough food for a healthy life. Black children are more likely to experience food insecurity than children of other race or ethnic groups.

The average rent for a one bedroom in America is an average US$1,700 - 2,000 for most big cities.

Homelessness is one consequence of this sharp rise in mortgage rates and rent. In many big cities such as San Francisco many homeless people live in tents on the street or, sleep on ‘de dutty tuff ruff’ cold sidewalk.

The New York Times in a recent report said that there were “over 582,462 people experiencing homelessness across America”.

Promises made, promises not kept by the Biden administration and the Democratic Party who counts black people as loyal supporters. This issue is of fundamental importance for nations such as Jamaica who are blindly following the American ‘One Don’ capitalist-imposed values.

If capitalism was so great how come America, the leading capitalist nation in the world is so heavily indebted and black people are getting poorer and poorer?

As American household debt rise, comparisons are being made by some economists to the Great Depression of 1937. The International Monetary Fund has warned the American government that this spending splurge on massive debt is just unsustainable. And this is a warning for heavily indebted nations such as Jamaica, who may well likely suffer further increase in the cost of borrowing money from America.

Where do we go from here?

THE SURVIVAL CRISIS

John Steinbeck in his book Of Mice and Men was confronted by the survival crisis of American families during the 1930s Great Depression.

He warned then, of the dangers of taking the ideas of American capitalism – the so-called ‘American Dream’– at face value.

Written in 1937, during the Great Depression, Steinbeck tackled the strivings of people to achieve a better quality of life. It is almost 100 years since Steinbeck’s words became a cautionary note to the believers in American exceptionalism. Indeed, my dear friends, it is just not enough to have a dream, as Steinbeck would tell us. The question is, does this dream match with the reality of our everyday existence?

And again, if we have a fantastic dream can it become a reality, through hard work? Or will it become, as in Jamaica a nightmarish long IMF road to nowhere?

Clearly, given these hopes and dreams, do we need to cling to the idea that we must blindly follow this or that politician to achieve our goals?

Dream or nightmare? Which is it?

This is the question everyone must ask themselves.

Is it enough to spout political ray-ray while our lives are being made worse off?

To me, while it is good to dream, it is better to work hard to make life better and not be conned by snake oil politicians.

Politicians come and go but, a realistic dream of vision, if realisable will remain with us.

These are some of the things we must ask ourselves.

Politics, in my opinion, can’t be about whether we are voting for stew crab, roast goat or curry-cow!

What if we decide that we don’t want to hear any “next time excuse” from politicians of why they are not serving our interest?

At the end of the day, the choices we make will no doubt determine our future but, what if we have a serious plan to force political changes?

People need to get more involved in grassroot community organisations.

More assertive community organisations, mobilisation and civic action, may well, ultimately, force politicians to work to serve people’s interest. This way they will not take our votes for granted.

By doing this my friends, we will not lose sight of viable dreams, as Steinbeck cautions. Or become delusional: losing sight of personal dreams or goals by, subsuming them to devious, crooked schemes of cunning, opportunistic politicians. That is just the ‘bitta’ truth.

Norris McDonald is an economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.