Let Them Do It Themselves essays

Let Them Do It Themselves essays Many people throughout the world live in some of the harshest, most despicable living conditions on the earth. Whole countries may have less than a few thousand people that actually live in real houses and eat real amounts of food. Countries like Somalia depend a large amount on whether or not people find it in their heart to donate food, money and clothes to them. There are places like that within our own country, which are the focus of The Promised Land, by Nicholas Lemann. These places are called ghettos. These two scenarios are completely different, despite the fact that Lemann seems to classify them as being the same. Although he doesnt outright say this, he writes as if we as Americans should feel the same way about ghettos as we would about any other poor living conditions. This is shown when he states, The black poor that live in ghettos are among the most poor in the world and ghettos are among the worst places in the world to live. (p 353). I have a problem with th is. Though some may disagree, I feel as though Lemann actually puts people living in ghettos in the same category as those in poverty stricken countries. People who live in poverty-stricken countries live in that condition because for them there is nothing else. Those countries have no jobs available, and if they did, it might be pretty safe to assume that the people would take whatever job they could find. Ghettos in America cannot even compare to the poorest people of other countries. To live in a ghetto assumes that someone actually has a real place to live, whether these ghetto houses and apartments are low quality or not is not the issue because the real worlds poor dont even have ghettos to call their own, or opportunity to find a ghetto to call their own. To get out of life in a ghetto requires a will and some elbow grease, but to get out of life in a poverty stricken country is nearly impossible. When some...