The challenges faced by low-income Blacks are significantly different from any other racial ethnic and class group in America. Because many critics are determined to prove that life in America is a simple matter of opportunity and personal responsibility, maybe after they live as an urban Black for the next 10 minutes, they will change their stereotypical prototype and definition of equal opportunity.

He gets her phone number and she awaits his call. Thus is born the Black couple in urban America. She has no children and neither does he. She is in her last year of high school and he is in his first year of college. Her family lives in the low-middle class section of town and his lives on the other side of town in the low-income section. To get an understanding of the difference of the two income ranges, we will paint a picture.

Low-middle income Black neighborhoods are populated with working families. By working families we mean, either the father and the mother work, or just the mother as a single mother. The reason both parents are working is that the economic system of capitalism has forced banks to charge extreme amounts of interest on money they do not actually have, so to be able to continue in the banking business, they must make money at any cost. This passes on the cost of being in business to the consumers or working families and forced them to become dual-income instead of a single income.

The woman in this scenario grows above two other siblings - which make up the traditional nuclear family, 2.5 children - and she being the oldest is placed into the position of becoming what the mother and father intends on her to be. The father works as a manager at an appliance store making $29,000 a year and the mother works as a nurse making about the same. Thus, their annual income peaks at between $60 and 65,000 a year.

Their dedication to their jobs has enabled them to take out a mortgage on a house in the neighborhood they now live, which has been growing increasingly Blacker over the past 10 years. The families that move in make close to if not just as much money as they do. Their children are normal children and attend the public school system in the community and the families populate the church congregations in the community.

Of the population of Black children in this neighborhood, approximately 5 out of 100 have serious behavior problems and are possible candidates for the juvenile system and prison in the future. The remaining ones are normal adolescences and teens. Studies have proven that the ones destine for the juvenile system are the children of the single mothers in the community who have no husbands and father figures that will devote time to that family.

However, the woman, let's call her Darlene, has never really had a real boyfriend and finds the man, let's call him Charles, interesting. They date for 6 months and Darlene ends up pregnant in the last few months of high school. Now why does she get pregnant? She has a decent life in a decent neighborhood and attends church regularly. There are contraceptives available and sex-ed classes in the local high school, so what happened?

She is pregnant because she feels she loves Charles and she believes that Charles loves her, and he feels he does also. So this belief between the two consummated a relationship through sex and plans for the future. After all, he is grown and in college and can make his own decisions, and so can she. Moreover, Darlene is pregnant not because of a neglect in parental duties where financial support is concerned or even where the educational system may have failed, but because she has no idea what love is. The schools and parents did not teach that.

Charles, on the other hand, comes from the low-income end of the Black community. This community is what's left over from Black families who moved out to where Darlene lives, leaving many more single mothers and children in poverty. The property values are lower and the businesses have moved themselves to the suburbs.

The schools do not get as much funding from the government because they cannot meet the standards set down for funding. The city does not make as many improvements in infrastructure as it does in the nicer areas and the service lacks compassion. Government programs litter the ballots during election time and city officials are those who want to make everything better but simply do not have the support from the community parents.

They do not receive this support because most of the parents are single mothers who either are on welfare or work low-wage jobs. They apply for lunch programs, WIC, food stamps, section 8, and the other federally funded urban dead ends that reduce individual efforts to do more.

The parks where the children play are not that safe and drug dealers claim them during certain times of the day. Why do drug dealers exist in the inner cities? Because there is not enough police presence or neighbor involvement, thus drug dealers feel they can own the streets. Drugs find their way into low-income communities because there is no deterrent or no protection from such infestation, and one again, because there are not enough police. In fact, all of the drugs that plague inner cities come from the suburbs, and are not produced in the inner cities.

Charles escaped the inner city because he was lucky. That's right, lucky. He was a good kid, pushed his way through school, and ended up getting a scholarship from another government program so he could attend the city university. Though his father was not around, his mother dedicated herself to raising him and his younger brother and their futures looked promising.

Charles and Darlene see each other whenever they can. They spend time at his friend's house and at motel rooms planning their future. He plans to apply for a job at the electronics store her father works at and promises to support their child. She plans on attending the university and working at an office doing clerical work.

A year passes and they have their own apartment. The baby is 9 months old, Charles works at the electronics store, and Darlene attends college and works as a part-time receptionist at a local dentist office. Charles loves the baby and loves playing father and Darlene loves Charles and playing mother. The reason the word "playing" is used is that neither of them have totally dedicated themselves to the idea and responsibility of a real family.

Though their plans revolve around a family and the family life, surroundings and environment say different. First, Charles has friends that are still single and who hangout. Darlene has friends also but they are mostly students with plans. With help from their parents and friends, and from their own earnings, Darlene and Charles have a nicely furnished apartment and a new car.

They live on the edge of the inner city where it meets the industrial section. The neighborhood is not that great but it is somewhere to live. What is meant by not all that great is that, during the day, it seems quiet but at night thugs take the streets and no one goes on leisurely walks. This is not because of violence or crime, but because the residences just would rather avoid any dangers.

Darlene and Charles visit their parents' on holidays and take the baby places with friends and they lead a normal life. Every now and then, they argue about money, the baby, parents and sometimes their friends. They seek comfort from the parents and friends and eventually mend their relationship.

Then the trials begin as it does in any relationship. With them both attending school and working, there is little time for one another or their hobbies. However, they are only taking advantage of the opportunities afforded to them, school and work. Their rent is $750 a month. She makes $9.50 an hour part time and he makes $11.00 an hour full-time. This gives them a total of approximately $570 a week combined after taxes. They are not married so more taxes are taken out than if they were and filling jointly.

$2280 a month is their income. They are paying $220 a month for the car note, $200 in utilities including, electric (the apartment is total electric), telephone, cable TV (a necessity now days), and gas, water, and sanitation all city services at $45 a month. They pay $80 a month car insurance, $400 a month child care (for the good Christian childcare center), and their rent. This leaves them $585 divided by 4 weeks is $146.25 a week for other things such as food, gas, clothes, savings, and any entertainment.

Both seem to budget the money pretty well despite their individual habits. Darlene wants to get her hair and nails done every 2 weeks, though she cannot so she does it herself or one of her friends. Charles likes to have spending money when out with his friends, whether to eat or to drink. They both enjoy CD's and movie rentals, which after these pleasures, leaves them basically broke until the next week, then it starts all over.

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