Seeing poverty: Study enumerates a reality that we cannot afford to ignore

It is perhaps no coincidence that on the same day we run our coverage of the events honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a poverty study is also announced that keys on the fact that, in Goldsboro and Wayne County, the number of impoverished citizens are largely imbalanced when it comes to race.

That very note was the primary topic of the keynote speaker at the city and county's 30th annual luncheon celebrating Dr. King's birthday. It was something he was beginning to address more and more, shortly before his assassination.

We recently pointed out in this very space that data can be skewed to make any point one might seek to have backed by numbers. The figures compiled in the study to be shared on Wednesday, however, don't seem to do that.

How do we know? We don't yet. We will have to vet the figures and the study and the people who made it. And we're going to.

We do know already though, that Goldsboro and Wayne County rank higher than the state average in rates of poverty. We also know that within our city and county limits, blacks, Hispanics, women, children and the elderly suffer more than other demographics because of it.

The rest of the information contained in the study is not to be released until Wednesday.

When it is, the information shared will undoubtedly upset some people to hear. There will be some blaming and shaming that takes place, and, naturally, others will become defensive about some aspects.  

But ignoring certain facts contained in the report might just historically be one of the largest contributing factors to its existence.

More than a quarter of this city's population lives in poverty. Nearly a quarter of the county's population does. And those numbers increase demonstratively when the data is parsed to look singularly at groups such as minorities, women, children.

That can't all be attributed to fraud, waste and abuse in entitlement programs either, the numbers are just too many. Now, that is not to say that those things don't exist and that, part of what should comes out of this study is finding ways to isolate and eradicate those things.  

The hope, we're told, is that those who attend the presentation of the study on Wednesday will be moved to join forces -- the opportunity will be afforded to everyone -- to work collaboratively to combat these issues.

If we want economic growth and development to continue, or to increase, we'd better.

Published in Editorials on January 15, 2018 9:53 PM