The Poverty Problem is A Segregation Problem

[Miranda Snodgrass]

 Income inequality is growing and economic mobility is tightening, not just in Dallas, but all over and this is eating away at the American Dream. Dallas, an area that is geographically limited, is a great example of just how much income inequality is increasing and eating away at the middle class. Opportunity of geographic growth is limited to the predominantly white residents of the citizens in the northern neighborhoods and districts of the city. Leaving the south end, the area with most the cities minorities, is dwindling away as the people with money come in to “clean it up,”

                  The problem with income separation is closely tied to a problem that has been around for ages and the one that is attacking those in South Dallas: poverty. Dallas’ poverty level has been described as obscene and it can be physically shown how separated the lower class is from the other socioeconomic groups.

                  A large group of Dallas citizen affected by this? The children. 90% of Dallas children are living in poverty and half of the city houses almost all the poor children. One half of the city, making it uneven between the North and the South ends of the city.

                  Income segregation, then becomes one of the biggest barriers to economic mobility in Dallas. Meaning, for those in poverty, it is becoming more and more difficult to escape the ties that bind them. Because where people live dictates their opportunities for education, work and their quality of life.  So how is a child of poverty supposed to overcome their “hardships” if they are attending a sub-par school and getting the bare minimum when it comes to their education.

                  Dallas may appear to be a diverse city, at least on paper. By when looking at it at eye level, it is more segregated along both racial and economic lines than Chicago and LA. Therefore, to become a diverse city, on both paper and at ground level, means to integrate the socioeconomic classes so that they are no longer separated from one another. By this, minorities might be able to afford to move to north areas of the city or can remain in the southern parts even after business tycoons try to change parts of the south. An example of this is the neighborhood of Oak Cliff, which is up and coming but still harbored in the poorest part of the city.