#generationalpoverty

Growing up as a Black female in a predominately Black neighbourhood, I had to witness a lot of Black males in the community and in my family get put behind bars. I have been in cars where my Black father had been pulled over for no reason. I had to watch him get harassed by White police officers. I went to a school called C.W. Jefferys Collegiate Institute where the police would casually roam the hallways as if they were students themselves. They never made the Black youth feel safe, just scared. I have walked down the streets of the Jane and Finch community with my Black male friends and had police officers approach us because they “fit a description of a young male who had just committed a crime”. They would taunt my brothers with questions about their whereabouts. I had my home raided by a bunch of White male cops with loaded guns pointed to my head along with my nieces because they were searching for illegal weapons and crack. They found an ounce of weed and had to release my mother. When my Black niece who is now 10 years of age asked me about the day our home got raided and why, I had to explain to her that the system and the White man hate our people and will do anything in their power to criminalize us for trying to survive. She broke down in tears. According to Jay Z, “police issue possession citations in Black and Latino neighbourhoods at a far higher rate than other neighbourhoods” (Alliance, 2016). This has been my reality growing up as a Black female in the Jane and Finch community and I know I am not the only one. It is hard to make it out of a community that is built to tear you down. It is hard to break the curse of generational poverty when the odds of the world are against you. My people are targeted because we have darker skin than our peers. 

“A plan, not a dream” by the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness lays out the framework on how communities can end homelessness. The Jane and Finch community needs an effective plan. The problem with the community is that they are more focused with getting youth off the street and into community centres in their spare time. I am not going to discredit the fact that these strategies are significant, but they should not be the only strategy when it comes to solving the issues within the community. As a community, we need to consider and understand what the core issues are in order for us to implement useful tactics. The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (2012) stated that a major factor with solving problems within communities is allowing members from the community to be active in decision making processes (p.4). In other words, resident’s voices and opinions need to be heard, especially the ones dealing with homelessness. This is because they are the ones living through the experience and they know what they need. Another method to end poverty in the Jane and Finch community is simplistic: stop it before it begins with effective prevention. Many people, if not all, come into contact with a person, program or system that could prevent their homelessness (Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, p. 4). In order for this to take place, the community needs to stop advocating for strategies that are already set in place (i.e. community centres). As mentioned before, the community needs thoughtful and methodical prevention tactics such as rehabilitation centres and more job opportunities. These strategies would attack the main issue and bridge the gap between poverty and Black families. However, if the change does not occur, then Blacks in this area will continue to be victimized by generational poverty.

My peers and I were raised in a “ghetto” neighbourhood because our parents were born into generational poverty. I come from a community called Jane and Finch and it is known for all the wrong reasons. It is a community that is labelled as a dangerous area because violence, drugs and addicts are often attached and stereotyped with it. Most Blacks in the Jane and Finch community are living below the poverty line. To be specific, one out of three individuals are living below the poverty line and in the 1990s, the community had the largest number of low-income residents, but nothing has really changed (United Way of Greater Toronto & Canadian Council on Social Development, 2000, p. 25). Some are experiencing borderline homelessness while others experience chronic homelessness. The difference lies within who distributes illegal drugs and who falls victim by taking these drugs. It is important to note that just because an activity or a group of individuals are criminalized, does not make the actions morally incorrect nor does it make the individuals committing the “crimes" horrible human beings. Sometimes people have to participate in illegal activities as a survival tactic. To clarify, the Black males in my community who sell illegal drugs do it because they are trying to provide for their families. However, these Black men are selling these substances to other Blacks in my community which creates dysfunctional members of society (i.e. crackheads and drug dealers). The problem stems from the fact that there is a generational poverty crisis within my community and most people find it difficult to escape from the cycle because there is no guidance. Jane and Finch is filled with “criminals” and “crackheads” and the entire neighbourhood is in shambles because no one is participating in broader society as functioning citizens. Nonetheless, my community is suffering and I created this blog to illustrate why Blacks continue to end up in a cycle of generational poverty and how the government has the tools to put an end to it, but chooses not to. 

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