I’m usually down with a lot of the statements and philosophies that Lupe Fiasco holds because he is a smart brotha with some analytical skills. However this one has me conflicted. He states in an interview with MTV that the west side of Chicago is comparable to Haiti, pre-earthquake as far as poverty and low income etc.. Uhmmmm…. No. I grew up on the west side of Chicago. My family still lives on the west side of Chicago. Yes there are gangs. Yes it is dangerous. Yes there are drugs. Yes we have f**ked up politicians who exploit the poor. However, we are not living like a third world country. For one, there are people with stable jobs, people who own homes and cars etc. Sure Haiti also possess some of those qualities but not to the extent that there are in Chicago’s West Side. There are many people in Haiti who do not even have clean running water. This is not a prevalent issue in Chicago. There are also people in Haiti who do not have the basic tools to live every day like homes made from a stable infrastructure or clean clothes. In fact 80% of the population in Haiti lives in abject poverty. Also 70% of all Haitians depend on the agriculture sector. Meaning if no food grows, you do not eat. There are no grocery stores, and Food marts as readily available to them as there are on Chicago’s west side. Sure there are some people on the west side of Chicago who are homeless etc.. But not at the rate that there are in Haiti. Sure they are both poor but they both have different definitions of the term “poor”. Their definition of poor is higher qualitatively speaking. Meaning it is more on the extreme side than Chicago’s definition of poor. Basically, they have always had it a lot worse than any Chicago neighborhood.

I understand the parallel that Lupe was trying to make in the sense of saying that both places have a high ratio of poor people, or people struggling to make it day by day. I just think that his rational was off. Chicago people would not want to ever be at the level of poor that Haiti was pre-earthquake. On the contrast, Haiti would switch places economically with Chicago west side residents in a heartbeat.