5/26/2017
By Charles Payne, CEO & Principal Analyst

I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind, you take somebody that has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street, and I guarantee in a little while they'll be right back up there. 

And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, they'll work their way right back down to the bottom.

-Ben Carson

Despite the howls from the left, I think Doctor Ben Carson is spot on…I’ve seen it first-hand.

Growing up, I saw glimpses of poverty when I visited the South. Amid the poverty, I mostly saw upbeat folks who worked hard and who looked forward to things getting better. 

At the age of 12, I moved to Harlem with my mother and two younger brothers. We arrived penniless, and we all lived in the same bedroom.  This is where my big epiphany about harsh realities of life, including the responsibility that we all owe it to ourselves to change our own condition.

You should despise your situation, but resolve to get out of it.

The keys come with this gift we call life:

• Our brains collect knowledge that develops skills that command compensation 
• Our eyes allow us to see what we can become
• Our arms allow us to reach for the stars and to knock on doors
• Our legs can take us to places where there are opportunities
• Our spirit especially nurtured with faith allows us to contain the pain and the rage to free us to live our dreams

However, if you’re defeated inside and the only thing you cling to is victimhood and woe, then even good fortune can be squandered.

I bet this quote sounds familiar:

 We are going to emancipate ourselves from mental slavery because whilst others might free the body, none but ourselves can free the mind.

Those are the words of Marcus Garvey, who led a movement for black Americans to go back to Africa to build their own nation. His movement fizzled out, but he understood that true freedom comes from within. 

Bob Marley used this quote and title of the speech for his seminal classic, Redemption Song.

I have so many friends who grew up in Harlem and the Bronx that might be upset with Ben Carson’s words; and yet, business owners, construction workers, bus drivers, engineers, and law enforcement workers actually proved his point.

True freedom and prosperity begin in our minds and souls.

Charles Payne
Wall Street Strategies

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