Dear Future President,

Poverty has been around ever since there were money and people. What is poverty? Poverty is the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; the condition of being poor. Poverty should not only be abolished in the U.S. but worldwide because poverty is just getting worse because of the racist ethnicity differences, and the difficulties each child in poverty has to go through.

Poverty will only worsen. According to the National Poverty Center, by 1983, the number of individuals living in poverty had risen to 35.3 million, or 15.2 percent. For the next ten years, the poverty rate remained above 12.8 percent, increasing to 15.1 percent, or 39.3 million individuals, by 1993. The Census Bureau in 2014 listed the U.S. had 47 million people living in poverty. The poverty rate for 2014 compared to 2007 is 15 percent to 18.3 percent that means the poverty rate is 2.3 percent higher in 2014 than it was in 2007. If this trend were to continue by 2021 the poverty rate would be 20.6 percent and 20.6 percent is a large number, that’s almost ¼ of the total population.

Many deny the ethnic differences in poverty numbers, according to 2014 US Census Data, the highest poverty rate by race is found are Blacks with 26 percent, with Hispanics (of any race) having the second highest poverty rate (24 percent). Whites has a poverty rate of 10 percent, while Asians had a poverty rate at 12 percent. Now that’s racist, it may not be directly racism but it’s giving off the racist vibe. You may be wondering how and why race is even related to poverty, well it does and here is why. National Poverty Center said “In the U.S. one of every three African American children and one of every four Latino children live in poverty— two times higher than the rate for white children”.

The effects on children and burden of poverty they have to carry and go through is unbearable. According to National Poverty Center, 15,540 thousand of all children under 18, White only, non-Hispanic 4,679 thousand, Black 4,639 thousand, Hispanic 5,745 thousand, Asian 577 thousand, they all make up 23.1 percent of the total population, and 33.3 percent of the poor population. Around 21,000 children die every day around the world that’s the same as one child dying every four seconds, 14 children dying every minute, 7.6 million children dying every year, and 92 million children dying in 10 years. Poverty to children is like a silent killer. In developing countries (where 92 percent of children live) seven in 100 will not survive beyond age five, now that’s just sad.

This issue is a personal issue that I’ve experience. I was born in Thailand where you grow most of your food. On average I get two meals a day if I’m lucky I might get three, but sometime I go without a meal in my belly at all just some fruits. I was young and having to go through all that changed my view of the world, makes me think of what’s going on in the mind of other billions of children that are in that situation. What I’m trying to say is that no child should have to go hungry, not just children but people, no one should have to worry about if they are going to go hungry today.

This is why I think Poverty should be stopped not just in the U.S but worldwide. Like Eli Khamarov, writer said "Poverty is like punishment for a crime you didn't commit.". No one should have to get punished for something they do not have control over.

Sincerely,

Chai Yang