If Bengalis are intelligent, why is West Bengal poor and backward state?
What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrowKolkata in 1860Calcutta served as the seat of the Raj since the very first days to 1911. It was the second city for the British Empire. Calcutta was a lot ahead of it's time. Calcutta has seen glory. Bengalis have tasted glory. No where else in India has there been a Renaissance as the one in Bengal. No other place produced more brilliant minds.This is pretty much what you will hear from an average Bengali about Kolkata/Bengal. We are proud people. We have an incredible history. But we have problems.1. What I just did. We tend to live in the past. We are yet to realise that it's all lost glory.2. We are lazy people-We have a REALLY BAD WORK CULTURE The average man working in a government office in Kolkata wakes up early to see the sun rise with a marie biscuit in his hand and hot simmering tea in front of him. He sits till he finishes the very last article in his AnondoBazar or Telegraph, has a good breakfast and takes a bath before getting ready for office. He reaches the office. It's 11 by now. And the first thing he does is to order a fresh cup of tea and starts an "adda session" with his co workers. The files on his desk are towering over him, but he doesn't really care. 3. Our love for bandhs is famous We still think we have a lot to offer to this country. Bring about a “revolution”. Every other college goer in the city thinks of himself as the guy who can bring about a “revolution”. A revolution for what? Well, most haven't thought that through.4. Bad governance Three and a half decade of Left (mis)rule. One can say that points 2 and point 3 are also direct/indirect result of that reign.
Why is the poverty rate of African-Americans so much greater than the overall rate in the US?
Your table starts with the year 1959. Voter suppression and Jim Crow laws as well as defacto and dejeure segregation in housing, jobs and education were widespread, Disproportionate & unjust incarcerationLet's go back further than that, thoughLet's highlight somethings :Not only did economic reparations not get made to slaves as promised, economic reparations were made to slave holders. Wow. How's that for justice?As Dennis Copeland points out, the majority of African Americans aren't living in poverty, but they are overrepresented in poverty and the the justice system/ prison system.So, when we look at why any American who lives in poverty, regardless of their racial or ethnic identity, there can be any host of individual circumstances that lead them there. Job loss, medical problems, mental health or learning issues, substance abuse, etceteraAll of those issues apply to individual black Americans who live in poverty. Just add on the additional barriers of racism in the justice system, housing , education and job market.