"Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor" -James Baldwin

      I can relate to this quote. In my own words, I would say that Baldwin really isn't referring to the money. Well he is, but I think there's a deeper meaning behind it. When he says that it's expensive, I'm thinking that means the struggle that comes with being poor. By struggle I mean environment, living conditions and being looked down on because you don't have what other people may have. Baldwin also had it worse because he was African American. In the reading yesterday, " Fifth Avenue, Uptown", James Baldwin says, " No negro will ever make enough money to escape being a negro." I understand what he was saying for that time period. Even if a negro made as much money as a white man, he would still be below the white man in social classes. African Americans would still be seen as the inferior type of human beings that will never move forward. Going back to the main quote, today is a little bit of a different story. I say a little because there are still racist tendencies on this society. Yet it is still the same concept that Baldwin describes in this quote. Now we have an option to have an education to increase our chances from climbing out of this poverty hole. Not many people make good decisions which leads them to become poor nowadays. Many people are lazy and want to stay in the hood in their moms house and that's where it's expensive to be poor with many prices to pay.
-Jeffrey Collado