I grew up in the inner city. Aside from the constant struggling and signs of poverty I saw all around, there were also things that fascinated me that later became priceless insights. My family resided in the city as a choice, as both of my parents were civic minded and wanted to be in the midst of those who needed inspiration and someone motivated to help elicit change at a fundamental level. But most lived in the city because that was where they could afford.

One of the things that I noticed early on, is that often the less income a family had, the bigger their car, the better their children dressed, or the more toys they received during the Christmas season. I recall visiting a girl's home where the floor was so dilapidated that in one area I thought I could see the basement. It didn't take an Einstein level of observation to realize that the better these folks looked on the outside, the greater was their internal poverty. Many people know the plight of lottery winners and how most people who hit the jackpot end up right where their economic status was before the windfall. In fact some studies cite that approximately one third of lottery winners will declare bankruptcy. Poverty is a state of mind, it is a conditioned way of viewing life. If you have a poverty state of mind, you can have millions and wind of poor again because you need more than any amount of money will ever afford you. You see, wealth is more than money, it is an inner sense of wholeness. It is a feeling that you are fulfilled, secure and have enough, even if you choose to want more, it is a choice, not a compulsive force that drives you to swindle or rob from your fellowman, the elderly or the innocent.

For the impoverished, you have to have more. That is why Terrell Owens could spend his entire earnings of over 80 million and be left with nearly nothing. That is why the brokers on Wall Street were crying foul when their $500,000 bonuses were reduced. You see, many of them lived from paycheck to paycheck, squandering their monthly income, every month. They spent $20,000, $30,000 and more every month because theirs is a mentality of poverty. Theirs is an insatiable need to be whole. If NBA and NFL athletes or Wall Street brokers could have emotionally afforded to put some of their money away so that it began working for them like an employee, they would have. But they needed every dime because they were too poor to part with any of it. A 2009 Sports Illustrated study said that 78 percent of NFL retirees have "gone bankrupt or are under financial stress.

So, my conclusion is, there exists some kind of disorder that creates this perception of impoverishment. When it comes to the African American community, and often even with those observing the African American community, many conclude that what ails them, has something to do with their color, or perhaps their culture. Since I have African American roots, I feel that I can speak to this without the fear of being called a racists or someone who simply hasn't a clue because I have no experience with poverty, which would not be accurate as the beginning of this article can attest. What I see in the African American community intrigues me because what I see is an historical prejudice that has now been adopted by the very people to whom the prejudice was directed. It reminds me of "Learned Helplessness" or of Stockholm syndrome in some respect. Learned helplessness is a syndrome which occurs when an individual or individuals are repeatedly subjected to an aversive stimulus from which escape is impossible. Eventually, individuals stop trying to avoid the stimulus and behave as though they are utterly helpless to change the situation even if circumstances change. The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where captives can sometimes identify or mimic the attitudes of those who have taken them hostage. I mention both of these psychological states because they seem to be exhibited by some African Americans as well as other marginalized groups of people in America in that these individuals or groups have lost their power due to feeling helpless or because they now identify with their oppressor's philosophies even though they are damaging to them.

So, with African American's, they have the experience of their ancestors being looked upon as "less than" by the slave masters.  Yet it is seems that many African American's now view themselves as "less than" deserving as well. Think of this. The slave/landowners looked upon the Africans and thought, they aren't worthy of having an intact family, so we shall sell men or women to those who will pay the sum I demand. They have no land or property to pass down to a child, so we shall take these children from the bosom of their parents and sell them as we see fit. And as for education, what would the impoverished do with knowledge? They have no place to apply this knowledge in that they were made to live, suffer and die. What does a life such as this deserve? And the answer they gave was 'nothing'- "this life deserves nothing".

Now take these same declarations cast upon those who were seen as "less than" and juxtapose it onto the mentality of some African Americans. Many men have no intentions of staying with the woman who is carrying his child, and many men have even less intentions of being in the lives of those children. They aren't building a life, constructing a legacy, so what need have they of possessing an intact family? For some men and women alike, they have no plans for the future, no financial empire, no spiritual or bits of wisdom to plant inside the heart of this precious child, so they cast these young ones off to the Department of Children's services not to be sold any longer, but to be simply given away. And now take the pursuit of knowledge- some in the African American community see this as much of a waste of their time just as the slave/landowners did. What would you need knowledge for if you haven't higher aspirations for life? If you aren't building dreams and goals you needn't Knowledge, for it is power after all. Knowledge is power, and if you have no intentions of being empowered, why would you ever need to know anything other than how to get by day to day?

So, though I have spoken more or less about the African American community, there isn't a human experience that doesn't eventually spread beyond the original borders and affect the population at large.  And so we can see this same tendency for the downtrodden to embrace political beliefs that do them harm, just as we can see enormous segments of American's learning helplessness as more and more see the traditional American dream as something that no longer exists.

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