A Discussion on Class Warfare

A few weeks ago, I wrote a little confessional post on the blog about my life, sort of a “getting to know you” type of piece addressed to my friends in real life. Well, it turns out I made a mistake. I said, “Friends, you also know that I am not rich. Although my family has money, you know that I live on less than $35,000 a year, that I live in an apartment, and that I am currently in debt because of college.”

I understand that the wording of that particular passage may leave some readers with the impression that I am “barely making it,” and I understand that for many in our community, $35K a year is a lot of money. I apologize for leaving anyone with the impression that I am out of touch with reality.

According to this report (scroll down), 52.3% of people living in Alexandria make less than 30K a year, and only 14.6% have a bachelors degree. There is a serious rich/poor gap in our community, and this creates a social dynamic in which the “average” citizen feels disconnected from the decisions affecting his or her daily life.

I definitely do not have all of the answers to this problem, but I know that a discussion is both healthy and necessary. The discussion breaks down, however, when we attempt to project the entire problem onto one person or one group of people. For some reason, many Central Louisianans prefer to play the blame game when it comes to the problem of poverty. The rich tend to believe that it’s easy and painless to simply “lift yourself up by your bootstraps,” and they offer little empathy for those who struggle daily to provide for their families. At the same time, those who “speak” for the poor like to stage the discussion from an emotional and untenable starting point: “You can’t participate in this discussion because you don’t know what reality is.” This creates a barricade to discussion, and it alienates those who truly want to help.

Demographic Report
Center: 5401 JACKSON ST 71303
Distance: 5 miles
Population (2005)
Total %
2005 Population 57,502
Population (2010)
Total %
2010 Population 55,564
Sex (2005)
Total %
Male 26,995 46.9%
Female 30,507 53.1%
Age Distribution (2005)
Total %
0-4 4,274 7.4%
5-9 4,030 7.0%
10-19 8,353 14.5%
20-29 8,215 14.3%
30-39 6,934 12.1%
40-49 7,969 13.9%
50-59 6,523 11.3%
60-64 2,525 4.4%
65+ 8,679 15.1%
Race Distribution (2005)
Total %
White 28,163 49.0%
Black 27,363 47.6%
American Indian 192 0.3%
Asian 943 1.6%
Pacific Islander 20 0.0%
Other 157 0.3%
Multirace 664 1.2%
Hispanic 813 1.4%
2005 Total Households
Total %
Households 22,384
Families 14,276 63.8%
2005 Household Income Distribution
Total %
4,281 19.1%
$10-$20K 4,037 18.0%
$20-$30K 3,411 15.2%
$30-$40K 2,610 11.7%
$40-$50K 1,877 8.4%
$50-$60K 1,543 6.9%
$60-$75K 1,470 6.6%
$75-$100K 1,317 5.9%
> $100K 1,838 8.2%
2005 Household Net Worth
Total %
$0 or Less 3,047 13.6%
$1-$5000 3,467 15.5%
$5000-$10000 1,604 7.2%
$10000-$25000 2,673 11.9%
$25000-$50000 2,814 12.6%
$50000-$100000 3,474 15.5%
$100000-$250000 3,915 17.5%
$250000-$500000 1,473 6.6%
$500000 or More 748 3.3%
2005 Labor Force Status
Total %
Labor Force 23,944
Employed 22,441 93.7%
Unemployed 1,420 5.9%
In Armed Forces 83
Not In Labor Force 20,480
2005 Total Number of Housing
Total %
Total Dwellings 25,274
Owner-Occupied Dwellings 12,014 53.7%
Renter-Occupied Dwellings 10,370 46.3%
Housing Units Occupied 22,384 88.6%
2005 Education Attainment
Total %
Population Age 25+ 36,293
3,010 8.3%
Grade 9-12 6,164 17.0%
High School 9,691 26.7%
Some College 7,795 21.5%
Assoc Degree 1,455 4.0%
Bach Degree 5,292 14.6%
Grad Degree 2,886 8.0%
2005 Size of Household
Total %
1 Person 7,218 32.2%
2 Person 7,215 32.2%
3 Person 3,609 16.1%
4 Person 2,540 11.3%
5 Person 1,194 5.3%
6+ Person 381 1.7%
Sex (2010)
Total %
Male 26,265 47.3%
Female 29,299 52.7%
Age Distribution (2010)
Total %
0-4 4,196 7.6%
5-9 3,969 7.1%
10-19 7,551 13.6%
20-29 8,204 14.8%
30-39 6,508 11.7%
40-49 6,993 12.6%
50-59 6,656 12.0%
60-64 2,759 5.0%
65+ 8,728 15.7%
Race Distribution (2010)
Total %
White 28,105 50.6%
Black 25,691 46.2%
American Indian 191 0.3%
Asian 973 1.8%
Pacific Islander 20 0.0%
Other 159 0.3%
Multirace 423 0.8%
Hispanic 969 1.7%
2010 Total Households
Total %
Households 22,114
Families 13,843 62.6%
2010 Household Income Distribution
Total %
4,090 18.5%
$10-$20K 3,617 16.4%
$20-$30K 3,140 14.2%
$30-$40K 2,489 11.3%
$40-$50K 1,851 8.4%
$50-$60K 1,574 7.1%
$60-$75K 1,486 6.7%
$75-$100K 1,473 6.7%
> $100K 2,394 10.8%
2010 Labor Force Status
Total %
Labor Force 23,166
Employed 21,694 93.6%
Unemployed 1,385 6.0%
In Armed Forces 87
Not In Labor Force 19,865
2010 Total Number of Housing
Total %
Total Dwellings 25,064
Owner-Occupied Dwellings 11,362 51.4%
Renter-Occupied Dwellings 10,752 48.6%
Housing Units Occupied 22,114 88.2%
2010 Education Attainment
Total %
Population Age 25+ 35,587
2,822 7.9%
Gr 9-12 5,780 16.2%
High School 8,779 24.7%
Some College 7,669 21.6%
Assoc Degree 1,673 4.7%
Bach Degree 6,056 17.0%
Grad Degree 2,808 7.9%
2010 Size of Household
Total %
1 Person 7,468 33.8%
2 Person 7,494 33.9%
3 Person 3,455 15.6%
4 Person 2,333 10.5%
5 Person 990 4.5%
6+ Person 251 1.1%
Source: Applied Geographic Solutions, Thousand Oaks. CA

4 thoughts

  4. What are your 50,000 thoughts a day creating?

    Our thoughts create our reality. This is a simple truth known by all people involved on the spiritual path. It is one of the most taught universal principles in the personal development field. Yet it is one of the most misunderstood!

    People practice visualisation, affirmations, they use hypnosis, subliminal programming or countless other tools to transform their lives. However they fail to recognise one key area in their lives that hinder these wonderful techniques from being effective.

    They sit day after day visualising their perfect scene and yet nothing happens. Why? They have followed all the instructions to the letter! They have chanted and imagined! They have formed a colourful, vibrant scene in their minds and affirmed that this is their reality. Then all of a sudden things get worse! What is going on?

    Would you like to know the secret? Would you like to know why these people get no results? Would you like to hear one powerful statement that explains everything?

    Yes?
    Good. I will tell you why these people get no results or even opposite results to those they are aiming for -simply because of the following truth. Consciously controlled thoughts such as visualisations do not materialise – ALL thoughts materialise!!!
    Most people believe that if they visualise for 10 minutes a day their lives will magically transform. This is not the case. You must change your core thinking. You think approx. 50,000 thoughts a day. How many of those thoughts are working against your ten minute visualisation?
    You can control the thoughts that enter your mind by changing the way you view the world. You can decide which thoughts you give energy to and which thoughts you discard.

    The thoughts that you follow and give energy to become more dominant than the thoughts you discard. Your subconscious mind records these as your dominant picture on the issue at hand. You then move towards this picture because your subconscious mind starts making your outside world reflect the picture that you have stored internally.
    Your mind should be on whatever you want. The picture you need to have is a positive vision of you already having achieved your goal. To realise this vision you need to focus and concentrate. Remember thoughts are real, they create your reality.
    Let’s say you have been visualising a new house. You spend your ten minutes in meditation picturing yourself living in your dream home. You finish your session and get up feeling positive that you will achieve your goal. Then during the day you get a heating bill through the post and exclaim “Oh no look how expensive this is I cannot afford to heat this house”. Where is your focus in the present moment? What are you affirming? You are telling your subconscious mind that you cannot deal with what you have. You are affirming that your life is not how you want it to be. If you knew without doubt that within a week you would be moving to your new home would you honestly be worried about a heating bill? Perhaps other doubts creep in like “I should be happy with what I have”, or “I will never get this house looking the way I want it” and so on and so on.
    These thoughts that are not aligned with your goal. You are not giving complete attention to what you want. Whilst you are dealing with these other lines of thought your attention is not on your goal.
    If you are aware of your thoughts you will suddenly realise that you have spent much more energy on counter productive thoughts than on creating a dominant picture of the goal you want.
    Point your focus in the direction of you’re the life you want. Think about what you want NOT what you don’t want. It’s that simple.

    Your focus determines your reality. Change your focus and you change your life. hypnosis

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