Poverty was one of the many social issues that plagued Memphis in 1968 during the time of the Sanitation Strike, and it has not gotten better since then.
Memphis’ overall poverty rate in 1970, just after the 1968 Sanitation Strike, was 20.6 percent, according to “The Poverty Report: Memphis since MLK” from the National Civil Rights Museum. The city’s poverty rate hit its low point of 16 percent in 2000, but it was back up to 20.8 percent in 2016.
Elena Delavega, a social work associate professor at the University of Memphis, said people of every race in the Shelby County area experience poverty because of the same reasons.
“A lack of unemployment and a lack of increase in minimum wage are the reasons most people are affected by poverty,” Delavega said. “The minimum wage isn’t enough to get one person out of poverty, let alone a family.”
The study also reports the nine-county Memphis region has one of the highest poverty rates of any United States metropolitan area with over one million residents. The American Community Survey, a database that collects housing information, found Memphis is one of the poorest metro areas in the nation. Tucson, Arizona, had 18.9 percent, giving it the highest metro poverty rate, followed by Memphis with 18.4 percent and New Orleans with 18 percent.
Delavega said Memphis’ public transportation system is also responsible.
“Most Memphis residents use buses to arrive to their jobs, but most of the buses take too much time or the pick up locations are too far away from the resident’s job,” Delavega said.
Hispanics and African-Americans are the race groups in Memphis affected the most by poverty when compared to non-Hispanic whites. From 2014 to 2017, Hispanics’ poverty rate decreased from 33.1 to 30.4 percent, while African-Americans’ poverty rate decreased from 29.9 to 25.9 percent. Non-Hispanic whites’ poverty rate decreased from 9.2 to 9.1 percent, according to the 2017 Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet organized by Delavega.
Delavega said the city’s leaders should invest in comprehensive public transportation that is efficient and affordable, create a minimum wage ordinance and fund minority businesses to boost job creation and combat poverty. She said it will take time to make these improvements, but it is possible.
“It would take four years for the building of a new public transportation system and six months for a living wage ordinance,” Delavega said. “We can do this; we just need to do the work.”
Marcus Pohlman, a political science professor at Rhodes College, said poverty is a worldwide issue stemming from other social issues.
“We are facing a complex web of globalization, technological change, racism and political gridlock,” Pohlman said. “This web has resulted in the steady shrinking of the American middle class and is being felt most severely at the very bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in the inner cities of places of Memphis.”
Pohlman understands the magnitude of poverty and its effect, but he also thinks Memphis is capable of bringing change.
“One of the ways to be successful is to find a way to train a work force that will be attractive to potential employers and then project the image of social and political stability,” Pohlman said. “With little prospect of help from either Washington or Nashville, much of the resources for improving schools and keeping the sociopolitical peace is going to need to come from business leaders and their philanthropies. Making sure those limited resources are spent most efficiently is absolutely essential.”
