January 22, 2012

This is what presidential candidate Newt Gingrich recently said about kids at schools (poor and mostly black schools):

"Some of the things they could do is work in a library, work in the front office, some of them frankly could be janitorial; what if they clean up the bathrooms, what if they mopped the floors, what if in the summer they repainted the school; what if in the process they were actually learning to work, learning to earn money; if they had their own money, they didn't have to become a pimp or a prostitute or a drug dealer. [If] they had the dignity of work and learned how to be around adults who actually wanted to mentor them and help them. This is not a casual comment... It grows out of a lot of thinking over many years of trying to figure out how do we break out people trapped in poverty who have no work habits."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joi-ruth-orr/newt-gingrich-racism_b_1217614.html

His words were well accepted in South Carolina, a state noted for its racist views and history but won't be readily accepted by most in November. This is why:

He is saying poor kids don't have a work ethic or the drive to learn to work. This broad generalization is demeaning and untrue. Just because some may be sloths is no reason to categorize each as lazy. There are many lazy, entitled rich white kids because their parents gave them everything.

Most if not all the poor work hard for every cent. Because they have only the money in their pockets, each day they have to figure how to get more so they and their kids are fed and clothed.

They probably work harder than Gingrich just to live.

Requiring poor kids to work in public schools is not a solution. It is ridiculous to say a few poor kids being janitors or library assistants will end poverty. The problem is systemic and unrelenting just because of people like Gingrich who have no solutions or clue.

The solution to poverty goes beyond just money. It is about education and community resources the poor can count on to help them succeed.

Gingrich does not offer a solution but only racism. That too is not a solution but again, it plays well to many looking for someone of prominence to see things the way they do.