Harness your talents

It's not lost on me that I don't have a "hard" job. Sure, it can be mentally exhausting, and it requires a great deal of creative problem solving, but the only thing I'm exercising is my brain. It's obviously a cushy job when you put it next to a coal miner or a factory worker. When I was in high school I would work for my dad during the summers. He was building houses and I would do odd jobs for him. Looking back, I can say with certainty that I was really bad at it. Like, really, really bad. But that's OK because I had the opportunity to find out what I'm good at, to develop those talents, and to turn it into a successful career. I can contribute more to society working as a software engineer than I could working in construction. But that's just me. Other people, like my dad, are really good with their hands and can build anything.

Only two percent of scientists & engineers are black women, despite being seven percent of the US population. Two percent. Why is that? It's certainly undeniable that racial and gender discrimination play a role. The science is quite clear that we're all guilty of racial bias. That's just how our brains are wired. But that's a really hard problem to solve (although certainly one that we should be talking about). Let's talk instead about the low hanging fruit: poverty. Poverty rates for black people are higher than any other demographic subgroup. Poverty is a better predictor for a child's outcomes than any other factor. Studies have shown that growing up in poverty affects how many years of education you'll get, how much money you'll make, how many times you'll be arrested, and how strong your relationships will be as an adult. Poverty is a national crisis and yet whenever we talk about it, we just kind of throw our hands up in the air. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but poverty is what keeps people from getting out of poverty. We need government to step in.

It's very clear to me that society is failing people who are living in poverty. I say that as someone who cares about people, but you don't have to be altruistic to think that this is a problem. It's what I consider to be a lose-lose-lose. It's bad for the kids growing up in poverty because they don't have the same opportunities or quality of life, and they're more likely to carry those problems into their adult lives. It's economically inefficient because people in poverty require more government resources and those areas with high poverty rates have more crime. It's also bad for society as a whole, because we are missing out on the talents of all those people who didn't have the same opportunities that I've had. That last one is the one that I just can't fathom why we don't have widespread agreement on. There's a little black girl growing up in poverty right now who might have within her the key to figuring out how to cure cancer. Why on earth would we as a society want to keep her from pursuing her dreams and talents? She might be the one that gives me another ten years of life when I'm old and sick. Poverty is such a waste, and I can say that for purely selfish reasons.