Why Does Poverty Have A Dark Face? III

Internal Solutions

• Eradication of harmful cultural practices: As I have said earlier, many of the world's poor are women. Many of these women are often illiterate and were married off at a very young age. While early marriage does have its many advantages, one of its disadvantages is that women are often without workable skills to equip them in the event that they lose their husbands or jobs. In certain African countries, women aren't allowed to own land and property. Hence, when a man dies, his property is transferred to his family, not to his wife and children. Some cultures allow one of the deceased man's family members to absorb the widow and her children into his family. It's clear that she becomes his property to do as he will while she can't assert any rights over her dead husband's property. Now tell me how any aid worker can give such a woman money to help her start a business without her "husband" breathing down her neck demanding for proceeds from her trade? She's his property; remember? it is, thus, imperative that societies that have stayed in the past should try to determine whether their customs and traditions are good for their women and can sustain development.
• Ineffective national policies: Many countries enact laws and make policies that do not provide the envisaged solutions to problems. There may be reasons why this is the case, but what I consider most prevalent about it is that the government is far removed from the realities in the grassroots. In many developing countries, politicians live in mansions and drive posh cars while a teeming number of their people are living in abject penury. How can anyone whose main worry is how to embezzle public funds understand that he has to make his bill reflect a sound understanding of what the people are facing? Even when policies and laws are in accordance with the people's demands, their implementation becomes a Herculean task. Thus, development stunts even when internal means could have made it possible.
• Openness to innovation: It's one thing to hold on to a particular belief and another to be willing to grow with the tide. I do not advocate opening the floodgate and accepting everything into one's house as "innovation." But give it a try even for the heck of it to see how it goes. Then if it doesn't feel right keep it at bay. Innovation includes introducing some form of formal education to a place that prefers a different kind of education. In a fast globalizing world, it wouldn't hurt to learn how "others" handled their business. This trend could include allowing for trade among neighbors. Of course, imbalance of power is introduced when one is more knowledgeable about a certain way of the world than another. Hence, every sensible person should be smart to either close his floodgate and not be bothered by the rest of the world or open it a little bit, test what is being offered and decide whether it's worth trying at all.
• People's own attitudes: Many developed countries "raped" other countries in search of human and material resources to enrich themselves. Years of imperialism and slavery have wedged a sledge between the global south and north. Many Africans were uprooted from their fatherland and transported to faraway lands of no return. I believe there was slavery in other parts of the earth as well. Even though slavery is far from over in our contemporary world, it has at least been abolished in the market place. But what has not been abolished are the sentiments that this evil practice has left in its trail. On the one hand, the posterity of slave masters are saying, "We didn't do it; our ancestors did. Now, do you think it's fair for us to pay for what we didn't do? How can you possibly demand reparation of us when we didn't enslave your ancestors?" On the other hand, the children of the enslaved retort, "Yes you should!! Your trust funds and all that you possess come from the labors of our dead ancestors. Your grandfathers allowed you to have a future while they destroyed ours. We can't do anything right because you don't believe we are human enough to do it. Reparation will be a way to right that wrong." And the debate goes on and on and on and on and on....You get it? But for us to eradicate this impasse in our attitudes to solve world poverty, we have to look beyond our positions. How many of Black Americans have rejected opportunities to improve their economic well-being just because it would "make them white?" What does it mean to be white? If being white means being able to work and pay one's own bills then "being white" is probably a good thing to be. Now, how many of White Americans wouldn't extend an opportunity to a black person simply because of their reluctance to empower him or her? You feel that a chance given to someone of a darker skin pigment would reduce your own children's future? If this is anyone's thought then such probably shouldn't even consider to have kids because such children will not take care of them in old age. You got what you trained. Attitude analysis would be useful to ensuring that we aren't hindering our own growth or stunting other people's growth as well.

Now that we have looked at four internal blockages or deterrents to poverty eradication. It might be useful to consider external factors that make poverty almost the exclusive reserve of dark-skinned people. (To be contd...)