I'm going to end up writing more than I care to.

I went to a vocational high school with kids from the projects. Poor or impoverished I can't say. They were there to get a marketable skill. Some ended up defeating themselves with "why you tryn' to be white studyin'" others succeeded. Attitude and desire, they all came from the same shithole.

I was from a bottom of the middle class/poor, up to you what you want to call it, neighborhood. There was another way out, the military. That is something some were willing to do, and others weren't. You might be lucky and get a skill but there was GI Bill educational benefits if you did or didn't. There was a price. One guy from my neighborhood was killed in Vietnam and one who didn't enlist or get drafted was killed in street violence. Two came back amputees, three who stayed behind went to prison. Some of us got out, some didn't.

You could stay local to family, or you could move away. There's a price and I paid it, being separated from my extended family for most of my life.

I understand the old saying, "Wherever you go, there you are" but some who want to make a better life for themselves do by doing whatever it takes to escape their toxic environment.

Poverty? I walk past it every morning on my morning walk. Homeless encampments. People with no roof over their heads and all their stuff in a stolen grocery store cart or baby buggy. I politely greet them and most of them return the greeting. But the Neighborhood ap has daily reports of burglary and children's bicycles being stolen, assault, strong arm robbery, etc. Is that criminality associated with that poverty? Of course it is. But as best as can be determined they are mostly homeless because of drug addiction. I understand that some people are more prone to addiction than others. Without getting too personal, I'll just say that I know the tragedy of drug addiction all too well. Other than killing all drug dealers where they are found without a trial, that problem isn't going away.

My point is that I understand the association of poverty and crime quite well, maybe more than you on a personal level, I don't know, but it is not an unbreakable shackle. I'm in no way saying that it is always easy or equally accessible to all. But if you don't try and sometimes make hard choices, that is an unbreakable shackle.

Race? It's often easier to be a white man in America. That's always been common knowledge although largely not given thought to until the 60s. But I know black people who have been more successful in life than me. They worked for it and made good choices.

Life is hard, but it is harder if you choose to hold onto an excuse for your failure instead of doing the work to succeed.