Born Poor, Stay Poor: The Silent Caste System of America | C. Nicole Mason | Big Think

Born Poor, Stay Poor: The Silent Caste System of America

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's a lot missing from debates and policy surrounding poverty but the biggest deficit, according to Dr C. Nicole Mason, is in honesty. Impoverished people aren't poor because they're lazy, they're poor because social mobility is institutionally suppressed.Dr C. Nicole Mason was born in Los Angeles, raised by a beautiful but volatile 16-year-old single mother. Early on, she learned to navigate between an unpredictable home life and school where she excelled. Having figured out the college application process by eavesdropping on the few white kids in her predominantly Black and Latino school, and along with the help of a high school counselor, Mason eventually boarded a plane for Howard University, alone and with $200 in her pocket.

Mason found a path out of poverty – something that only 4% of America’s impoverished population are able to do. An alarming majority will never rise into the middle class, and so it seems that in the US, if you’re born poor, you stay poor. And no one is being very honest about this invisible caste system.

Mason is a vocal advocate against the presumption that the poor are poor simply because they don’t help themselves enough. "[In college] we heard a lot of things about welfare queens, people living off the system, not wanting to work, women being lazy, having multiple children. And that really wasn’t the reality for the women who were actually impoverished." Mason found that the policies were detached from reality, and in fact the barriers built into the system (some intended to motivate people) – such as time limits, additional child penalties, and few provisions for childcare – were ineffective and suppressed social mobility. "What was excluded from that policy was a clear pathway out of poverty, like education," she says.

When people think of poverty they think in terms of money and material resources, but a large part of being poor is suffering from a lack of social connections and networks, and living in a low-income area with no infrastructure that enables the leap up to the middle class.

If institutions and leaders want to support and elevate poor communities, Mason argues that they need to provide better infrastructure (like libraries, parks, good grocery stores, and hospitals) as well as bridging programs both within the community and, very importantly, outside of it, so people can get in contact with people outside of their normal social network. "We just need to be honest about what it really takes for everybody to have a fair shot at the American Dream," she says.

Dr. C. Nicole Mason's new book is Born Bright: A Young Girl's Journey from Nothing to Something in America
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. NICOLE MASON

C. Nicole Mason is the author of Born Bright: A Young Girl’s Journey from Nothing to Something in America and heads up CR2PI at the New York Women’s Foundation. Her commentary and writing have been featured in the Los Angeles Times, The Chronicle of Higher Education, POLITICO, The Nation, The Progressive, Spotlight on Poverty, Marie Claire Magazine, USA Today, ESSENCE Magazine, The Huffington Post and on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and NBC, among other outlets. Nicole is the Executive Director of the Center for Research and Policy in the Public Interest (CR2PI) at the New York Women’s Foundation. Nicole is also the creator of the Lead The Way Initiative for emerging women of color executive directors and mid-level managers working in the social sector. Since it’s inception, more than 100 leaders have cycled through the program including a Presidential Appointee and a MacArthur Foundation Genius.

For more than two decades, Nicole has worked on a range of pressing social issues from violence against women to reproductive justice to economic security. She is also the former Executive Director of the Women of Color Policy Network at New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. There, she held the distinction of being one of the youngest scholar-practitioners to lead a major U.S. research center or think tank. Under her direction, the Network became a leading authority and voice on public policies impacting women of color, low-income families and communities of color.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT
C. Nicole Mason: We’re not talking honestly about what it really takes to get from poverty to the middle class. So, for example, we know that only four percent of peopl

[donakavite]

poverty isn't an accident.. it's engineered

[saritaiswalking]

We are also not being honest only studying the 4% who make it instead of seriously considering why 96% don't. We absolutely cannot write off 96% of those in poverty as simply being "lazy". There is something seriously flawed about this way of thinking.

[vanlitespeed]

Its called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it. -George Carlin RIP

[themissile]

Everyone commenting that it's your own fault for not working harder & smarter and it's completely your responsibility isn't necessarily "wrong", but they're completely ignoring psychology and behavioral economics which is what is causing the problem in the first place. Statistics don't lie, and they aren't "just lazy". You can't go up to a group of people consistently not doing well and just say "try harder". You think they like that life? If they were truly as capable of success as you suggest, they would tend towards it, not just remain in the same cycle. There are a lot of small, complicated factors that perpetuate it. Everyone is massively a product of their environment, and if you don't come from the environments causing this, it's ridiculous that you think you have any understanding of it. It's honestly really insanely selfish and a very emotional and irrational judgement.

[spiritanimal]

It's hard to get out of poverty you were born into, when all odds are against you and you had to work as a kid just to eat.

[jogmas]

The middle class are actually poor people with better paying jobs. You heard the expression, " just one paycheck away from disaster". The poor need to work, the middle class need to work, this is a common thread between them. The middle class have things like a home or car because of credit not because they are rich. There are really only two classes of people; the rich and the poor.

[jshir]

*Classism is rooted in eugenics like racism and ableism*

[Tempest_Stream]

A lot of people are selfish and don't realize this though. They never had to struggle in a disenfranchised family and they still have the nerve to point fingers. It's sickening... Of course some do get out but it's extremely difficult if you don't have the tools provided in the community's to help u earn a right of passage. Please don't just dislike this, really listen to what she has to say and think about it.

[Gothicc_senpai]

in modern society, the poor and the underprivileged are seen as a dirty evil, to be treated like some animal.

[genericeric]

poverty is a form of violence affected upon a person by the wealthy not sharing equally a way out for the ones that don't have

[justinc]

One thing that makes ZERO sense in our country is the lack of access to education. Why should it cost tons of money to get an education when said education will allow the individual to not only achieve greatness and pull themselves out of poverty by having the experience and skills required for high paying jobs. That way they are in the world (in our communities) doing great things, making good money AND PAYING TAXES which recycles through more than paying back any educational costs! Nah, our country would rather keep the poor, poor.

[BRITTWOODNESHIE]

I don't understand why I had to be born into poverty and struggle.
And people get mad when I say I don't want kids. I would never bring any kids
into poverty knowing that I don't have anything to give it. That's selfish and careless.
I just turned 26 and I am still struggling even living at home with my mom.
And she wants to kick me out soon even though I'm struggling to get a job.
Food stamps just got cut off today btw. It's a whole fucking struggle.
I don't know why I had to be born into it.
Sometimes I question what my purpose is in life, and it just seems like
my only purpose in life is to struggle and suffer. It's not fair.
And people really continue to have kids knowing that they're struggling.
That's not fair to the kids at all.

[MrUkandUSA]

Oh my god, these comments. Tons of people directly stating it's poor people's fault that they're poor. That is a completely unrealistic view of how poverty works. I'm sorry to say, but America isn't the meritocracy you claim it to be. It's better than many other countries on earth without question, but poor people work very hard and rarely move on up in the social order, because they can't. I bet most of the people saying this are middle class folk who have no experience with poverty themselves.

[animalkindness]

America is a highly social class based society and people are not born equal over there as much as its blabbered by the government and culture. Its true, and this does cause lots of racism, division and segregation that exist so much in the US than other countries.
I live in Spain and I dont see the racism and division and segregation and crime that is so obvious in the US(and yes there is lots of immigration in spain, lowest crime in europe), I also used to live in Japan and it is not there either. I have lived in all 3 countries for many years so I have seen it all.
In the US everything is about money, Money determines so much what you can do where you can go, your health, your quality of life and the type of people you can socially interact with(because areas are very much segregated into poor and rich neighborhoods based on income) You may think this is normal because this is how you were raised, but its not.
There are practically no ghettos in spain(or japan), people of all class interact together, rent is not super expensive and university costs 300$ to max 1000$ a year.
France has alot of ghettos because they segregate housing opportunities and make immigrant ghettos just like the US.
I see some americans trying to make excuses all the time that if college was cheap they would be taxed so much, they say the same thing about restaurants, that if we didnt have to pay waiters tips then food would be sooo expensive. all I can say is NO NO NO OMG, I lived in Japan and it is much cheaper to eat out there than in the US, I live in spain and its not anymore expensive than eating out in the US and you dont pay tips here!
Maybe your government just wants more money and so they brainwash you with this freedom crap and you all parrot it. The US is a very greedy segregated country that lacks empathy for its own people and even for each other, Ive lived there and it severly lacks community and empathy.

[noblelies]

We keep raising the bar for "middle class" and lowering the bar for "rich" so much that during the presidential debates between Obama and Romney, they really had to argue whether or not $250, 000/yr. was "middle class". Yep, less than 4% of Americans ever make it to that point.

[jeremybailey]

Damn I'm just trying to get to poverty. I make $6000 a year. Poverty is $11-14k

[GuitarGrrrella]

Discrimination is something that holds people back, & it's rarely talked about. Walk into most offices & you'll see how segregated by race, gender, age, class, etc., the workplace can be. For example, if you're over 40, some companies won't hire you--they're looking for "recent college grads, " i.e., 22 year olds for certain jobs. If you're black, some offices won't hire you as most of their staff are white. (They may hire you as a janitor though.) If you're a woman, some companies won't hire you for certain positions, as some men still have issues working with women, especially being supervised by women.

More important than all this, though, is this culture of conformity here in the US. Basically, if you're different, many employers won't hire you. Maybe you can't afford nice clothes or to get your hair done, so even though you're good at what you do and you're dressed nicely, some offices won't hire you 'cause you don't look like you'd fit into their "culture." Some offices are very conservative and won't hire you if you're a "liberal."

The university environment is similar--it's mostly upper middle class and wealthy students. If you come from a poor or working class family, you won't fit in. Americans need to learn to tolerate and even embrace differences. Right now, we're hypocrites. We talk about diversity and democracy, but in reality, most Americans can't stand to be around people who are different from them.

[Arbbymer]

How to not be poor:
Step 1. Don't have kids
Step 2. Learn some shit
Step 3. Profit

[fredbowers]

You can be in college, and be poor = I paid for my courses until I couldn't afford to finish. I was disgusted by the establishment and it's inbred politics in the educational system that further affirmed why I withdrew.

This issue has to be addressed! Thank you for your presentation.

[jondana]

She's describing the dishonesty, refusal to accept responsibility, and simple sociopathy of conservatism.