1
 Dennis Farney's Oct. 13 page-one article River of Despair, about the poverty along the Mississippi, fanned childhood memories 
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of when my parents were sharecroppers in southeastern Arkansas, only a few miles from the river.
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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 Although we were white,
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concession

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 the same economic factors affected us
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 as affects the black people 
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Mr. Farney writes about.
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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 Fortunately, an aunt with a college degree bought a small farm 
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and moved us 50 miles north to good schools and an environment
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 that opened the world of opportunity for me as an eight-year-old.
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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 Though I've been blessed with academic degrees and some success in the materialistic world,
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concession

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 I've never forgotten or lost contact with those memories of the 1930s. 
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 Most of the land in that and other parts of the Delta are now owned by second, third or fourth generations of the same families. 
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These are the families 
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who used 
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-- and sometime abused 
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-- their sharecroppers, people
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 who had no encouragement and little access to an education or training for a better life.
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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 Following World War II,
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circumstance

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 when one family with mechanized equipment could farm crops 
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formerly requiring 20 families,
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comparison

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 the surplus people were dumped into the mainstream of society with no Social Security, no skills in the workplace, no hope for their future except welfare.
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 And today, many of their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren remain on welfare. 
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Cause-Result

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 In the meantime, the landowners continue receiving generous subsidies 
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that began during New Deal days.
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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 Or those 
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who choose not to farm 
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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can lease their lands and crop allotments for handsome sums. 
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Same-Unit

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 Farmers in the Midwest and other areas have suffered,
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Contrast

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 but those along the Mississippi continue to prosper with holdings
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 that were built with the sweat of men and women
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 living in economic slavery. 
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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And when they were no longer needed,
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circumstance

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 they were turned loose 
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List

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unprepared to build lives of their own. 
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 Denton Harris 
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 Chairman 
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 Metro Bank 
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 Atlanta 
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 Because the cycle of poverty along the lower Mississippi goes back so many generations, 
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result

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breaking this cycle will be next to impossible.
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 Sadly, the cycle appears not as waves but as a downward spiral.
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 Yet the evidence 
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that we have not hit bottom 
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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is found in the fact 
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that we are not yet helping ourselves. 
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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The people of the Delta are waiting for that big factory to open, river traffic to increase, government spending to fund job-training programs or public schools to educate apathetic students. 
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 Because we refuse to face the tough answers, 
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reason

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the questions continue as fodder for the commissions and committees, for the media and politicians.
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 Coffee-shop chatter does not lend itself to solving the problems of racism, teen pregnancy or lack of parental support or guidance.
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List

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 Does the Delta deserve government help 
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in attracting industry 
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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when the majority of residents, black and white, do not realize 
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attribution

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racism alienates potential employers? 
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Should we focus on the region's infant-mortality rate 
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when the vocal right-wingers and the school boards, mayors and legislators prohibit schools from teaching the two ways 
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(abstinence or contraceptives)
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elaboration-set-member-e

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 of decreasing teen pregnancy? 
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Same-Unit

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Delta problems are difficult, not impossible, to solve 
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-- I am just not convinced 
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attribution

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that we are ready to solve them yet.
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 Leslie Falls Humphries 
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 Little Rock, Ark. 
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 I would like to issue a challenge to corporate America. 
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The next time expansion plans are mentioned at the old company 
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and somebody says, 
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attribution

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Aw heck, guys, nobody can do it like Japan or South Korea, 
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I wish you 
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attribution

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would butt in 
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and say,
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attribution

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 Hold it, fellas,
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 why don't we compare prices 
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Sequence

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and use our own little Third World country.
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 We would even save on freight. 
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consequence-s

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 There is no mystery 
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why the Delta originated Singin' the Blues. 
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

76
 Eugene S. Clarke IV 
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 Hollandale, Miss. 
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 Your story is an insult to the citizens of the Mississippi Delta.
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 Many of the problems 
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you presented 
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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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exist in every part of this country. 
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Same-Unit

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Poverty is only two blocks from President Bush's residence. 
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evidence

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For years, we tried to ignore the problem of poverty,
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 and 
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Same-Unit

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now that it has gotten out of hand 
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result

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it's a new crusade for the media and our Democratic Congress. 
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 Nobody should have to live in such poor conditions as in Sugar Ditch, 
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but 
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Same-Unit

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when you travel to Washington, Boston, Chicago or New York,
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circumstance

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 the same problems exist.
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 The only difference is, in those cities the poor are housed in high-rise-project apartments 
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each consisting of one room, with rusty pipes
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 called plumbing, 
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definition

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rodents and cockroaches everywhere and nonworking elevators 
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-- and with the building patrolled by gangs and drug dealers.
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 Many middle-class people would love free food, Medicaid insurance, utilities and rent. 
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circumstance

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Then maybe I could stay home 
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and have seven children 
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and watch Oprah Winfrey, like Beulah in the article,
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 instead of having one child 
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and working constantly 
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just to stay above water, like so many families in this country. 
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purpose

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 Dee Ann Wilson 
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 Greenville, Miss. 
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circumstance

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elaboration-object-attribute-e

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explanation-argumentative

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Signature-Block
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circumstance

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circumstance

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rhetorical-question

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conclusion

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elaboration-additional-e

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explanation-argumentative

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