After graduating college, I was excited and ready to start my new career in nursing! I was twenty one years old and had a job with benefits that paid competitive wages. I thought about my family’s life in poverty. My parents didn’t have these opportunities. Systemic racism was a reason why they did not. Dad did not obtain meaningful employment until he was nearly sixty years old. At a time when most people were thinking about retirement, he was entering the work force. He was now nearly seventy years old and was only gainfully employed for almost six years. Along with racism, unemployment, underemployment and insufficient benefits are some of the leading reasons for poverty in the United States.
Dad was a veteran of WWII and was still denied employment opportunities. As a result, we lived in absolute poverty until Safety Net Programs and the employer at the Naval Base gave us a lift up. Through it all, we were not victims of poverty because we had loving parents who didn’t believe in a poverty mentality. They were our first supportive network. We had many conversations regarding what was happening in the land we lived in. It was a land that discriminated against people of color and poor people. We struggled to survive within it but had support from other positive people and organizations, including our church, Cousin Fessor, neighbors and school teachers and leaders. Our faith grew and grace and mercy followed us. I was the last of five siblings to survive the cycle of poverty and gain meaningful employment. My three brothers served in the military and were gainfully employed afterwards, Vie attended a local business college and I earned a degree in nursing.
Read more in my new memoir. It will be available soon at www.franciemaewrites.
It was time for me to be responsible for my own economic growth. The civil rights movement and the Vietnam War ended. Black people were gainfully employed and contributing members of society. To stay out of poverty, I had to be a life- long learner. I had to surround myself with positive people who were willing to share information. It was a long process; however, I was changing my mindset.
“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”- Helen Keller.
