Diaz-Rico & Weed Response

This is a somewhat tenuous step as my complete understanding of what is required of these blogs is somewhat lacking, but, in that grand old American spirit, it's time to take a stab. My initial reaction to the "Cultural Diversity" reading was along the lines of, "Wow, that's an awful lot of information." Taking a moment though, I realize that these are things that we've known or are becoming more aware of: the increasing number of minorities (almost to the point of no longer being a minority, but an equal share in population- a very exciting step), the number of children living in extreme poverty, the ethnic majorities living in extreme poverty... The reading certainly showed a depth in regards to its insights about life outside of "what we know" (very generally speaking, of course) and in its data gathered. Indeed, my head was swimming with all the percentage figures before all was said and done.

I suppose what is desired here, though, is a little bit more than a text overview; like some insight or sudden understanding of my own would help the cause. I can't offer much more than simply saying that this reading gave quantity to numbers of population I'd always guessed at, had assumed information about. With that having been said, the inordinate amount of Blacks and Hispanics living not just below the poverty level, but in extreme poverty, is a concerning trend that hasn't bucked for...well, ever. There is something inherently wrong with a system that keeps certain segments of the population down. That sounded incredibly unscholarly, and I know that these problems run into complexities of astounding proportion the more one looks into them (education levels which leads to school systems which leads to property discussions which leads to gerrymandering accusations which leads to me angrily banging my head on the desk and giving up), but we should definitely question the reason for these trends and issues and seek to find some solution, even if it isn't a complete one. After all, the point is to keep thinking and keep searching, right?